Surviving Schizophrenia: a Manual for Families, Patients, and Providers by E. Fuller Torrey
Surviving Schizophrenia: A Manual for Families, Patients, and Providers
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i read this volume terminal year when i was reading a lot of stuff about my status as a schizophrenic. this was at the aforementioned time the virtually and least helpful book in that streak. information technology was crammed with facts about the disorder and i could tell torrey seems actually sympathetic towards 'consumers' and wants to advocate from their perspective, but this volume also kind of made me feel like shit at the aforementioned fourth dimension. equally someone who can function independently in society for the most part i found information technology sobering to read the whole gamut of shitty symptoms and treatments schizophrenics endure. i liked how hard he tried to get folks to chronicle to and not stigmatize mentally ill people but and so here he is talking like a medical-model-know-it-all-man near what is best for schizophrenics. i simply don't know. tin't really recommend information technology to anyone i know, not even my parents, at least for me personally cus it doesn't actually tell my story and then forth.
also, i know this is standard medical model lingo, but i really don't like being called a consumer, it makes me experience similar shit.
read 'the center will non hold' instead if yous want to learn Firsthand what its like to accept such a disorder.
This must be ane of the all-time books about schizophrenia. I learned a lot. I highly recommend it to anybody. Schizophrenia continues to exist the most misunderstood illness of all. Take home messages: antipsychotic medication is essential for handling; 25% of schizophrenics fully recover, 25% recover a lot, 25% recover a little, and 25% don't recover at all; insight-oriented psychotherapy HARMS schizophrenics, whereas cognitive-behavioral and problem-solving therapies are helpful; drugs, alcohol, and stress exacerbate schizophrenia and cause psychotic relapses.
Finally finished this after literally years of putting it off. As a daughter of a schizophrenic (Torrey's "consumers"), and a onetime psych major, a lot of this information was stuff I already knew. However, I do call back information technology is important to educate everyone - families, consumers, providers, and the public nearly schizophrenia and its furnishings on lives and social club. For someone just being diagnosed with the disease, or their family unit, I recall this is a very helpful book. Since it is broken down into helpful sections - what schizophrenia is, what information technology isn't, treatment options, advocacy, how to deal as a family member, etc - it is like shooting fish in a barrel to target your reading. Torrey focuses on removing the stigma of the illness past frequently comparison it to "real" diseases of the body like diabetes, MS, or epilepsy. I found the sections on agreement the disease from a consumer'south point of view particularly expert. I discover information technology near impossible to accept my mother's illness, but when placing yourself in a consumer's shoes it is clear that there is some logic to their beliefs. Information technology is important to try to empathize where the consumer is coming from, and have the beliefs as valid beliefs in his or her listen - even if they are not necessarily based in reality. I too appreciate Torrey's attacks on the public mental health organisation. He places much blame on the trend to shuffle mental wellness dorsum and forth between federal and state governments, and a recent focus on mental health of the public vs. the mentally ill. Every bit someone who has tried very hard to have a family unit member forcibly committed, the frustration with the ACLU and other patient's rights groups was also very familiar. In general, I retrieve this is a adept all around book about the disease. It breaks down the symptoms in means that the boilerplate person can understand, and much of the data is in a consumer's ain words. Sections on treatment and medication were a petty overwhelming, just could be extremely helpful when tackling actual treatment scenarios and trying to juggle the myriad of medications involved in the process. The appendices include a long listing of resource - good books and videos (and bad examples as well), contact information for advocacy and back up groups, and a lengthy bibliography. The book crams a lot of information in, but is a great resources while still existence attainable to a variety of readers. Certainly a book to read while dealing with the disease - as a consumer or a family member - and to go on on the bookshelf to refer to every bit the handling progresses.
A great resource if you lot know someone with schizophrenia. Torrey explains how, despite over two centuries of medical research, this illness is still highly misunderstood and can be very difficult to navigate. The overview provided and list of further resources helps run across this need for information which can be a life-saver, relieving stress and guilt, and building confidence and even hope. Based on personal experience, I don't agree with his interpretation of cause equally independent of stress and recreational drugs, only still retrieve it is a swell first volume for those of usa simply learning about this illness.
Outstanding. Treats yous like you are an intelligent reader. Learned more here almost schizophrenia- causes, issues, handling, meds - than whatsoever other source. Much material is from people suffering from the disease. Sending from iPhone, so won't write more than now , just I highly recommend this volume.
My teacher for Dual Diagnosis is openly attempting to convert us to clinicians who work with severe mental affliction. She has assigned three books by E Fuller Torrey that are long and are due in a curt amount of time. Mr. Torrey is already being moderately successful in converting me, but mainly I'm just gaining incredible insights into the disease. I experience similar anyone could read this - it's non even that much of a downer similar yous'd recall - it'due south just really fascinating! Mr. Torrey has become somewhat of a pariah in his profession by taking a bold stand on Assisted Outpatient Treatment and even suggesting that people should be medicated against their will. He strongly believes that Clients Rights are secondary (at times) to public rubber. Now that I'm interning in a residential facility providing respite to individuals with chronic, persistent, and astringent mental disease, information technology'due south quite articulate that to ignore client'southward rights is to go u.s. back to a mental health system feature of One Flew Over the Cuckoo'southward Nest. Arg. It'due south not an easy organisation to navigate and Torrey's is passionate about his position. Interesting read!
Although written as a practical, information manual (and succeeding very well!), it turns out to also be ever compassionate, at times sorrowful, and many times scathing towards the insanity of the mental health care system in the US. He intersperses quotations from literature, from poetry, and best, from accounts from schizophrenics. I couldn't put it down. I didn't expect to cry while reading a manual. Or laugh--he has some decidedly stiff opinions almost organizations, psychiatrists, and theories. example, re: American Psychiatric Clan: "Near exhortations produce occasional spasms of institutional guilt, resulting in study groups or conferences merely trivial else. Therefore, virtually of the the time, the APA continues to act simply every bit a spousal relationship for the nation's privately practicing psychiatrists. As such, information technology is no more likely to provide leadership for individuals with schizophrenia than is the Brotherhood of Teamsters or the AFL-CIO."
Torrey has his ain perspective, and he's clearly an older guy, because he can say some offensive things at unlike points. ALSO, I wouldn't want my dearest schizophrenic to start this book considering it begins with a startlingly horrible admission of a mother who would rather her daughter had leukemia over schizophrenia. Just, incredibly informative on the socio-cultural-familial-pharmaceutical how-does-i-survive this affliction fronts. Really learned a lot, (and felt quite a bit freer and happy after finishing, for having learned a bit more). Would honey to know a flake more than about what is know re: biological/social roots of schizophrenia, simply assume he left that out in gild not to cause families guilt or worry about having contributed to the affliction genetically or socially. The book is about how to deal, non how to know everything. Highly recommend for families of schizophrenics.
Compassion follows understanding. I regularly interact with individuals who experience psychosis and symptoms of schizophrenia at the crunch hotline I volunteer with. This book helped bridge my understanding to what individuals with schizophrenia might be experiencing and how they may be acting completely rationally based on how their brains intake stimuli and process the world around them. Additionally, it gave me greater insight into the schizophrenia "spectrum" and its overlap with the symptoms and physical manifestations of bipolar disorder - there is speculation they may both be a function of the same disease. Ultimately, Torrey does an excellent task of explaining a disease that is very hard to understand for someone who is not personally impacted - as well as helps fight the stigma and makes information technology easier to truly empathize with individuals who feel schizophrenia or symptoms of psychosis nowadays in other illnesses. I genuinely believe this book has improved my ability to connect more securely with individuals who take this illness.
Displaying ane - 10 of 58 reviews
Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/190040.Surviving_Schizophrenia
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