Thank you for that. I’m trying to remember that as I mend my friendship with my parents and other family members.
“I Never Promised You A Rose Garden” I forget the author- I read it as a child. Fiction, but it stoked my young mind. I still hope to read it again!
“Cognitive Behavioral Therapy of Schizophrenia,” by Kingdon and Turkington.
It’s a clinician’s guide but I found that it teaches the principles to patients just the same. It’s been the most helpful CBT book I’ve read. And has helped me tremendously in my own CBT.
It even helped me sort of “train” my therapist on how to deal with me. For example, backing off and being less aggressive when I start to get overwhelmed. Or lowering expectations when I’m experiencing negative symptoms.
Great book!
Blessings,
Anthony
Understanding Your Schizophrenia Illness: A Workbook
The publisher offers paperless copy as the supplementary material. If you are interested, please let me know.
Probably my journal. It’s so true to my life. But I don’t think much of the main character tbh.
For fiction , “the shock of the fall” is decent.i second ‘henrys demons’
My sis is reading that one right now.
One that she’s been passing around a lot lately has been “Ben Behind His Voices”
I enjoyed The Center Cannot Hold, it’s close to my own experience and by coming forward and ‘outing’ herself she’s made life a little less lonely for the highly functioning. Elyn Saks’ illness was a bit more profound than mine but her coping mechanisms and vIews on the value of Psychotherapy for sz echo mine.
Despite how I feel about the movie, A Beautiful Mind is a well written and researched biography. As a biography it’s more objective than many of the first person accounts, and shows much of the dark side of schizophrenia that others gloss over. It’s a bit of a slog to get through, but I found it interesting and rewarding.
Thanks Janet…I will order a used copy soon. Thanks everyone for your input on good books that you have read or can relate too…
A book I thought was a good read was “The Centre cannot hold” by Elyn R Saks. SHe outlines her struggles but she overcomes them with a good attitude and effort. Its an upbeat read.
“The Eden Express” by Mark Vonnegut. I first read it when I was 18, a year before I got sick. It’s about him slowly becoming schizophrenic. His diagnosis has since been changed, but his book made a big impact on me at the time I read it.
I’ve read several of the books mentioned on this thread. The Center Cannot Hold probably my favorite. I’d invite you to read my blog: http://cbdpush.com it has a lot of useful information for family members who have sz.
For the attention of @ky77
The bible…
Would NOT recommend them for any but the most comfortably medically stabilized and CBT / DBT / ACT / MBBT / 10StEP -skilled, but they are my faves for sure:
Bateson, G., Jackson, D., Haley, J.; et al: Perceval’s Narrative: A Patient’s Account of his Psychosis, Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 1961.
Esterson, A.: The Leaves of Spring: Schizophrenia, Family and Sacrifice, London: Tavistock, 1972.
Henry, J.: Pathways to Madness, New York: Random House, 1965.
Jackson, D. (ed.): The Etiology of Schizophrenia: Genetics / Physiology / Psychology / Sociology, London: Basic Books, 1960.
Jackson, D.: Myths of Madness: New Facts for Old Fallacies, New York: Macmillan & Co., 1964.
Laing, R. D.; Esterson, A.: Sanity, Madness and the Family, London: Tavistock, 1964.
Lidz, T.: The Origin and Treatment of Schizophrenic Disorders, New York: Basic Books, 1973.
Lidz, T.; Fleck, S., Cornelison, A.: Schizophrenia and the Family, 2nd Ed.; New York: International Universities Press, 1985.
Scharff, J. S.: Foundations of Object Relations Therapy, London: Jason Aaronson, 1989.
I say so because they explained the subtle ways many sz pts are taught to (mis-)appraise reality in families with similar genetics. And point very understandably to why the following psychotherapies often produce useful – and comforting – results in sz patients who are stabilized with meds, well-supported in their living environments, and ready to use these psychotherapies:
REBT – Rational emotive behavior therapy - Wikipedia
Schematherapy – Schema therapy - Wikipedia
Learned Optimism – Learned optimism - Wikipedia
Standard CBT – Psychotherapy | NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness & scroll down
DBT – What is Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)? – Behavioral Tech
MBSR – http://www.mindfullivingprograms.com/whatMBSR.php
MBCT - Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy: theory and practice - PubMed
ACT – ACT | Association for Contextual Behavioral Science
10 StEP – Pair A Docks: The 10 StEPs of Emotion Processing
MBBT – An Introduction to Mind-Body Bridging & the I-System – New Harbinger Publications, Inc
SEPT – Somatic experiencing - Wikipedia
SMPT – Sensorimotor psychotherapy - Wikipedia
George Bush’s autobiography.
The Center Cannot Hold and I Think I Scared Her: Growing Up with Psychosis