Mental Illness

Growing up in the 1960s in the suburbs of Chicago, Meg Kissinger’s family seemed to live a charmed life. With eight kids and two loving parents, the Kissingers radiated a warm, boisterous energy. Whether they were spending summer days on the shores of Lake Michigan, barreling down the ski slopes, or navigating the trials of their Catholic school, the Kissingers always knew how to live large and play hard. But behind closed doors, a harsher reality was unfolding.

Happily, ever after can mean so many things. Being broken is like standing outside, your face turned to the sun, it’s the brightest day of the year only I it’s dark. The sky is dark. The house is dark. Everywhere you look – dark. Broken, that’s what I am. That’s all I ever will be. Don’t feel bad for me. I was always destined to be this way. It’s all I’ve ever known. I’ve learned to accept it, embrace it. I am the child nobody wanted. The one left to play alone, like a forgotten plant wilting away. A stranger to my family from as far back as I can remember, a smudge on the...

For more than two hundred years, disturbances of the mind—the sorts of things that were once called "madness"—have been studied and treated by the medical profession. Mental illness, some insist, is a disease like any other, whose origins can be identified and from which one can be cured. But is this true? In this masterful account of America's quest to understand and treat everything from anxiety to psychosis, one of the most provocative thinkers writing about psychiatry today sheds light on its tumultuous past.

An eye-opening report from an award-winning author and former New York Times reporter reveals the link between teenage marijuana use and mental illness, and a hidden epidemic of violence caused by the drug - facts the media has ignored as the US rushes to legalize cannabis.

A best-selling author and neuroscientist offers five proven steps to help you overcome the unhealthy thinking habits that contribute to anxiety, depression, and intrusive thoughts and replace them with positive thinking that leads to health, happiness, and success.

What would you do if you kept having recurring dreams about a family that’s not yours? Lacey Kikelomo has never felt as if she belongs. She wakes up everyday living in a squalid trailer secluded in the woods with no one but her mom and little sister to keep her company. She has no friends, no real sense of freedom and her mom controls her every move. Her only escape from abuse and loneliness is an armful of books, DVDs, and a sweetly recurring dream about a loving family she’s never met but secretly wishes she was a part of. Lacey knows her mom is hiding something from her but can’t ...

Horribly abused as a child Jenny is adopted by a family that purposely and knowingly ignores her mental health needs and her schizoaffective Disorder. This is Jenny's story of what she endured and continues to endure.

August Griffin has lived with mental illness and Tourette’s Syndrome his entire life. For the last five years, he has bounced in and out of the hospital, adding strain to his already precarious living situation with his ailing mother. Life is an uphill battle... that is, until he meets Marnie Robertson in the hospital’s psychiatric ward. The two are complete opposites. Where August is shy and timid, she is wild and vivacious. Where he is poor, she comes from a wealthy family. Despite their differences, August and Marnie share, not only their personal struggles, but their love for ...

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...

Transforming Overthinking Into Empowerment! You find yourself tossing and turning at night, your mind racing through endless lists of what-ifs, regrets, and future worries. Each thought pulls you deeper into a cycle of anxiety and self-doubt, leaving you feeling trapped and exhausted. But what if recognizing this overwhelming mental pattern could be your first step toward liberation? Introducing Dealing With Negative Thoughts, a compassionate guide packed with practical techniques that will help you calm your mind, nurture a resilient mindset, and reclaim your life. Inside Dealing With ...

"Unique and beautifully done...an enriching experience from beginning to end - deep, emotional, and moving." -Sacha T. Y. Fortuné, Discovery Book Review "[Nercessian] is so skilled at creating characters vulnerable and real that we can feel their pain and deeply-set regret...a truly satisfying journey" - Madeline Barbush, Independent Book Review From the author of The Dowry, My Name Was Susan O'Malley follows four college friends in their 60s as they navigate the collateral damage of complicated and tragic relationships — Forty years after Susan’s death, her brother arrives with fresh ...

Simple Ideas to Overcome Depression ~ I’ve noticed something else in my travels. At times, the recollection of what happened to us to cause our depression can be skewed. It can build up in our minds as being much worse than what really occurred. It is only human to want to “pay back” others for what we think they did and for the grief that they caused. If someone was really mean spirited toward you and caused you nothing but grief, I repeat, the best way to “get even” is to “get better”. Remove your invisible “kick me” sign and don’t allow anyone to get the better of you...

After years of trying different therapies for his debilitating anxiety without success, Dr. Russell Kennedy had an epiphany: anxiety does not start in the brain. Anxiety starts in the body, where trauma is stored and physical and emotional perception begin. Alarm bells originating in the body are what trigger those anxious thoughts that we call anxiety, and Russ realized that true healing starts only when we learn not to conflate the two.

For parents and loved one’s alike who discover that their precious loved one is now being gradually and cruelly stolen from them as the predator of addiction and the challenges of mental illness enter the family. Deeply honest and incredibly vulnerable, this true story, told from a father's perspective, tells the reader of the heartbreaking and frustrating journey that is set upon when one finds themself loving, and attempting to care for, a loved one who suffers with mental illness and addiction. My Child Is An Addict also serves as a beacon hope. The lessons learned and shared ...

Climb Back Up is a collection of stories of real people who have faced and still face real life problems. These stories provide you, the reader, hope to deal with problems you face in your life and practical advice for overcoming whatever problems you are dealing with. In other words, Climb Back Up is a great guide to help you climb back up and make your comeback from life's pitfalls. There are no celebrity stories in this book, only ordinary people who show how extraordinary they are when faced with adversity. We all face adversity - sometime minor and sometimes life changing. But we can't...

The legend behind such songs as "Suzanne," "Bird on the Wire," and "Hallelujah" and the poet and novelist behind such groundbreaking literary works as Beautiful Losers and Book of Mercy, Leonard Cohen is one of the most important and influential artists of our era, a man of powerful emotion and intelligence whose work has explored the definitive issues of human life - sex, religion, power, meaning, love. I'm Your Man is the definitive account of Cohen's extraordinary life.

Our brains do their best to help us out, but every so often they can be real assholes - having meltdowns, getting addicted to things, or shutting down completely at the worst possible moments. Your brain knows it's not good to do these things, but it can't help it sometimes - especially if it's obsessing about trauma it can't overcome. That's where this life-changing book comes in. With humor, patience, science, and lots of good-ole swearing, Dr. Faith explains what's going on in your skull, and talks you through the process of retraining your brain to respond appropriately....

The Bipolar Survival Guide Navigating Life, Love, and Mental Health with Resilience, Optimism, and Truth The Bipolar Survival Guide is a candid, compassionate, and deeply insightful guide for those living with bipolar disorder—and the people who love them. Drawing on real-life experience, psychological research, and practical tools, this book empowers readers to reclaim their narrative, reshape their mindset, and build a thriving, fulfilling life despite the diagnosis. This isn’t just a clinical overview or a one-size-fits-all wellness manual. It’s a real-world, stigma-busting, myth-...

In this novel of family and redemption, a mother struggles to save her 18-year-old daughter from the devastating consequences of mental illness by forcing her to deal with her bipolar disorder. New York Times best-selling author Bebe Moore Campbell draws on her own powerful emotions and African-American roots, showcasing her best writing yet.

Moving, harrowing, and ultimately uplifting, Lori Schiller's memoir is a classic testimony to the ravages of mental illness and the power of perseverance and courage. At 17, Lori Schiller was the perfect child - the only daughter of an affluent, close-knit family. Six years later she made her first suicide attempt, then wandered the streets of New York City dressed in ragged clothes, tormenting voices crying out in her mind. Lori Schiller had entered the horrifying world of full-blown schizophrenia.