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As the mother of a beautiful young man who struggles with schizophrenia every day of his life, I am always tempted by magical thinking. What if Ben’s symptoms could be brought under his control without medication? What is he could somehow manage the hallucinations himself, if he only “understood” their origin? Our Brain -How [...] Between the first draft of Ben Behind His Voices and the final one that went to publication, a few chapters (well, about 100 pages) were on the literary equivalent of film’s “cutting room floor.” Here is one of the “lost” segments, from a NAMI Family-to-Family class I was teaching at the time. [...] Let’s talk about the question I get quite often, via reader e-mails, keynote Q & A, or sometimes in the form of a critical tweet or two accusing me of “exploiting” my son Ben by being open about out family’s experience with his illness: schizophrenia. Am I ”Exploiting” my Son by Sharing Our Family Experience [...] The nation weeps Weeks after the tragedy in Newtown, though facts are still to be confirmed about Adam Lanza’s history, we struggle to understand how it might have been prevented – or, at least, how to help prevent it from happening again.
First, some facts: Court-ordered hospitalization for mental illness is authorized in [...] This video, created by Barmont Productions for NAMI in Connecticut, shows in seven short minutes a smattering of some of the ways NAMI has made a difference in the lives of people living with mental illness, and their families and friends. In it, you will hear a small taste of why Ben Behind His Voices [...] As we near the end of National Family Caregivers Month, I’ve been thinking about the less obvious form of caregiving: the fact that so many of our kids return to their old twin (or larger) beds in the family home, long after we’d imagined we’d have a nest empty enough to turn their old bedrooms [...] Yesterday I had the pleasure of swapping stories, issues and tips with Susan Schofield, Host of Bipolar Nation on LA Talk Radio, and her husband Michael, author of January First: A Child’s Descent into Madness, and Her Father’s Struggle to Save Her. (reviewed in my last post) Sure,we were talking author-to-author, host-to-guest, but mostly we [...] January First: A Child’s Descent into Madness and Her Father’s Struggle to Save Her by Michael Schofield My rating: 5 of 5 stars It’s such a mirror reflection of the emotions I went through as the mother of a son with schizophrenia – only my child was in his mid-teens when symptoms began. Jani was [...] This training video for NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, is used to help family members of those with mental illness cope with stigma. This was produced by Danolas Productions, and I was proud to be part of it. Families who survive stigma can be more helpful partners in recovery (and if the stars [...] Catching a train to Boston today, then a drive to Marlborough,Massachusetts to participate in the Parent / Professional Advocacy League (PPAL) 2nd Annual Conference & Celebration as keynote speaker, then a car to Logan Intl airport and a plane to Los Angeles for a US Psych Congress regional event. Presenting about partnering for best recovery [...] |
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