|
Having a serious mental illness such as schizophrenia or severe bipolar disorder isn’t easy for patients, or for their families. In the early days of mental illness, the pressures can tear families apart, and many of them don't know where to turn. As patients and caretakers age, things can get even tougher. While mental health services may provide some support, it's often family members who remain the only "touchstones of reality" for the person suffering with a severe mental illness. Producer Jean Snedegar speaks to several families who face the difficult challenge of supporting their mentally ill family members throughout the course of their lives.
Touchstones of Reality was produced by Jean Snedegar. The show was mixed by Jared Weissbrot.
Links:
Mental Health Crisis Looms
National Alliance on Mental Illness
With over 1,100 affiliated communities in America, NAMI is an organization for people with mental illness that provides services for its members and their families.
U.S lags behind in Mental Illness Treatment
Even though the United States is a front runner in the economic growth of developed countries, it unfortunately is a front runner in the number of mental illnesses.
Bus stabbing by a mentally ill man
Anthony Joseph, a mentally ill man who was realeased from jail despite arrest warrants for robbery and sex offenses, stabbed a man on a london bus.
Books:
 Look Me in the Eye : My Life with Asperger's
by: John Elder Robison, Augusten Burroughs 2007
A social deviant, Robison suffered from Asperger's. He ran away from home and dropped out of high school. Although, his obsessions with machinery took him around the world with the rock band "KISS" as an electronic consultant and he now owns an automobile company.
 Me, Myself, and Them : A Firsthand Account of One Young Person's Experience with Schizophrenia
by: Kurt Snyder, Linda Wasmer Andrews, Raquel E. Gur 2007
Kurt Snyder was just a young college student when he, like many other victims in their youth, began to experience symptoms of schizophrenia and suffered the downfalls of the disease. He managed to bounce back and tell the tale of his thoughts and perceptions that crippled his youth.
 Get Me Out of Here: My Recovery from Borderline Personality Disorder
by: Rachel Reiland 2004
A wife, mother and accountant, Reiland had to deal with the mental illness of bipolar disorder.
 A Beautiful Mind: The Life of Mathematical Genius and Nobel Laureate John Nash
by: Sylvia Nasar 2001
This book tells the compelling true story of John Nash, the mathematical genius who became schizophrenic, recovered and won a Nobel Prize.
 The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness
by: Elyn R. Saks 2007
Now a renowned professor of law, Saks was only eight years old when she experienced her first symptoms of schizophrenia. She discusses her battles between what was real and not, and the struggle for her mind with the voices in her head.
|
