Schizophrenia Memoirs

Professor of psychiatry Elyn R. Saks writes about her struggle with schizophrenia in this unflinching account of her mental illness. In The Center Cannot Hold, Saks draws readers into a nightmare world of medications, a misguided health-care system, and social stigmas. But she would not be defeated. With a strength and force of will that most can only imagine, Saks reclaimed her life and went on to achieve great success.

The Bahamas is a 700-island nation off the coast of Florida, home to 400,000 inhabitants. I grew up there and lived a charmed life: we had a mansion on an acre of land with 270-degree ocean views, a maid, a gardener and a boat. I went to the best school on the island of Nassau, was skippering sunfish boats from the age of 7 and had a happy circle of friends. But I also had early signs of a mood disorder. When the offshore banking crisis of the late 1980s pushed us out of our idyllic paradise, my family and I relocated to Florida, a move that exacerbated my mood disorder at the start of high...

In this memoir essay, we go into the experience of a schizophrenic. We start with beginning from when the psychosis began, give first-hand accounts of all that was experienced by the schizophrenic. We go into detail all the hallucinations experienced and take a trip into the two times the schizophrenic was in the psych ward. We give personal details of his life all the way up until the downhill ride of when he finally finds the right medication and becomes we know today as: A Survivor of Schizophrenia

Little Boy Lost – the true story of one boy’s heartache and hope while coming of age in small-town Tennessee in the 1970s. As the youngest of three sons and a bona fide momma’s boy, David Peters thinks that having a mother who spends months at a time in psychiatric hospitals is normal. Then on St. Patrick’s Day 1974, his world shatters when she commits suicide. At the age of 13, he’s left struggling to make sense of his mother’s death while facing a host of new challenges: the father who has lost his business and checked out of society, the stepmother who despises him and his ...

An intimate, moving book written with the immediacy and directness of one who still struggles with the effects of mental and chronic illness, The Collected Schizophrenias cuts right to the core. Schizophrenia is not a single unifying diagnosis, and Esmé Weijun Wang writes not just to her fellow members of the “collected schizophrenias” but to those who wish to understand it as well.

When journalist Steve Lopez sees Nathaniel Ayers playing his heart out on a two-string violin on Los Angeles' skid row, he finds it impossible to walk away. More than 30 years ago, Ayers was a promising classical bass student at Juilliard - ambitious, charming, and also one of the few African-Americans there - until he gradually lost his ability to function, overcome by schizophrenia.

Over time, the two men form a bond and Lopez imagines that he might be able to change Ayers' life. The Soloist is a beautifully told story of devotion in the face of seemingly unbeatable challenges.

Serious in part, yet at times humorous, Gently Dented chronicles what it is like living with a severe mental disorder. Each chapter explores the various trials of living with an abnormal mind. With absolute truth and conviction, Meaghan Hilary attempts to meet, head on, the challenges of describing the personal and social experiences of being a bipolar schizophrenic. Gently Dented is Meaghan Hilary's written account of living with hallucinations, paranoia, grand delusions, mixed episodes, mania, and depression. It is a peek into the mind of a bipolar schizophrenic. Now with a new afterword ...

When David LaChapelle begins attending Carleton University everything seems to be going in the right direction. But he begins experiencing unexplainable changes in his thought processes which eventually devolves into a full-blown psychotic state. He tries to get help but is turned down, told by the admitting physician that he is fine and not in need of psychiatric care. Not until his family steps in and takes him to the hospital does he come close to receiving any treatment. While there, however, he meets Angela, a fellow patient he will later learn is also suffering from schizophrenia. For...

Now updated with more cases and more insights into the scandals of prominent Fundamental Baptist churches and schools, SCHIZOPHRENIC CHRISTIANITY shows that child molesting is embedded into the culture Christian Fundamentalism. Using case study after case study of Independent Fundamental Baptist pastors accused, indicted, or convicted of child molesting, the author shows that these men continue to serve in the ministry unhindered. With surprising quotes from public leaders of Christian Fundamentalism such as the late Jerry Falwell, the author shows that many ultra-conservative Baptist ...

In David's third book, the author deliberately details the struggles of living with Schizophrenia in an honest and revealing manner. David brings with him 18 years of experience living with psychosis being a born again Christian. He also adds his psychology expertise to the forefront of his insight having earned a psychology degree from Trent University. David talks about his instability originating from failed newer anti-psychotic medications. He describes his personal turmoil of harboring unforgiveness from feeling neglected, rejected and abandoned by family and society having to live ...

This is a personal story of generational trauma, a mother's debilitating paranoid schizophrenia and a daughter who was thrust into foster care, homelessness, drug addiction, and was sexually abused and neglected. This book Discovers the strength of the human spirit and the power of love that defies all odds, a story of resilience and hope. Beautifully written as a heartfelt memoir that invites readers to discover Lorie’s profound journey, The Voices We Couldn’t Hear is a transformative coming-of-age story that delves into poignant themes including abuse, mental illness, and the ...

Updated throughout and filled with all the latest research, treatment plans, commonly asked questions and more, the bestselling resource on schizophrenia is back—now in its seventh edition. “E. Fuller Torrey is a brilliant writer. There is no one writing on psychology today whom I would...

Comedian and actor Byron Bowers’ wild, funny, and fearless memoir proves that healing can be a psychedelic experience—and that sometimes the only way to tell the truth is to laugh about it Byron Bowers is a comic’s comic—the guy other comedians watch from the back of the room wondering...

In this book, the author details his personal insights into the inner workings of suffering with the onset of Schizophrenia: He describes his thoughts and fears with an uncanny outside perspective as he deals with many changes and challenges in his life circumstances. He experiences racing fearful thoughts that he tries his best to ignore and being paranoid not wanting to leave the house to go outside. Being a dependent in a strange small town, with very little financial resources, David sold most of his possessions and drained his life savings on his psychotic adventure. Having little ...

John Forbes Nash, Jr., a prodigy and legend by the age of 30, dazzled the mathematical world by solving a series of deep problems deemed "impossible" by other mathematicians. But at the height of his fame, Nash suffered a catastrophic mental breakdown and began a harrowing descent into insanity, resigning his post at MIT, slipping into a series of bizarre delusions, and eventually becoming a dreamy, ghostlike figure at Princeton, scrawling numerological messages on blackboards.

Schizophrenia has become a recognized psychotic disorder in modern day psychology and research has shown that one in 100 people suffer from this disease in some proportion or degree. It is a dreaded disease and comes as a near death blow to those who are diagnosed with this condition. This fear does not necessarily arise from the scary disease it actually is, but various misconceptions, myths, and misunderstanding that surround it. This disorder has been very thoroughly misunderstood and misrepresented.

Following the death of her husband, Hilda Mahaney Tucker begins a lifelong battle with mental illness. Her son. only fifteen-years-old when he first witnesses the onset of his mother's paranoia, tells the story of her rollercoaster life of isolation, electroshock therapy and psychopharmacology, laced with periods of peace and tranquility.

Since publication in 1983, Surviving Schizophrenia has become the standard reference book on the disease and has helped thousands of patients, their families, and mental health professionals. In clear language, this much-praised and important book describes the nature, causes, symptoms, treatment, and course of schizophrenia and also explores living with it from both the patient's and the family's point of view. This new, completely updated sixth edition includes the latest research findings on what causes the disease, as well as information about the newest drugs for treatment.

Grief, mental illness, and the bonds of family are movingly explored in this extraordinary memoir “suffused with emotional depth and intellectual inquiry” (Rachel Louise Snyder, author of No Visible Bruises) as a writer delves into the tragedy of his mother’s violent death at the hands of...

In this revelatory book by David LaChapelle, the author reaches the final stages of faith by discovering "Freedom in Jesus." David talks about the different ways people abuse their need for control to keep you in bondage. To being set free in Christ, through Humility, Trust, Exercising Authority, Letting Go, to Radiating Love and finally to looking forward to Heaven. The author goes into great detail, about the processes and what is involved in the above mentioned Christian strategies alongside his walk with Christ, being supported by scripture and wisdom from some of the top Christian ...