Caregiver Resources – Part Two

The books that I so shamelessly promoted last week in Part One were all Canadian. Bridgeross also publishes some American titles although, regardless of the nationality of the author, schizophrenia is schizophrenia and our books sell not just in Canada and the US but in many countries around the world.

What a Life Can Be: One Therapists Take on Schizo-affective Disorder was brilliantly written by the late Dr Carolyn Dobbins who passed away suddenly in 2018 at the age of 57 at her home in Knoxville. Her book still sells well and, I understand, it is used in many university courses.

Carolyn had schizoaffective disorder and wrote her book to try to give people a better understanding of that disease. Her book is written in a very unique style as a series of therapy sessions between a therapist and a patient. Initially, she did not want anyone to know that she, herself, had this affliction but I convinced her to “come out of the closet” and she did. By doing so, the impact of what she wrote was much greater.

My original blurb for her work is that it is “A fascinating look into the world of schizoaffective disorder which, at times, is funny, heartbreaking, but above all uplifting. Dr. Carolyn Dobbins describes the onset and progression of this debilitating disease and gives all readers hope.”

My own hype was shared by many others. Dr E Fuller Torrey described it as “an inspiration for all who have ever experienced psychosis” and highly recommends it. Dr. Thomas G Burish, a professor of psychology and Provost of Notre Dame said “powerful and revealing, and provides a unique insight into chronic mental disease”

George E Doebler M Div. Special Advisor, Dept. of Pastoral Care, U of Tennessee Medical Center:, Executive Director, emeritus: Association of Mental Health Clergy (now Association of Professional Chaplains) said “It will challenge your thinking about mental illness, about hope, about faith, about who you are.”

The review in Library Journal said “people who have been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorders and those close to them will welcome it as an advocacy tool”

When I wrote this obit in 2018, Carolyn had 21 5 star reviews on Amazon. This week, May 2024, she has a total of 93 rating with an average of 4.7 and a rating of 4.0 of 37 ratings on Goodreads. In 2014, her book was reviewed in the Washington Post

Her book is still available in print and in Kindle. ISBN 978-0-9866522-2-6, 226 pages, $19.95

Love’s All that Makes Sense: A Mother Daughter Memoir by Sakeenah and Anika Francis

There is very little on the impact of schizophrenia on a child when the mother is afflicted and very little on schizophrenia in the African American community. Sakeenah Francis describes her life as a Cinderella story in reverse. She grew up in a well-respected, middle-class African American family. She went to college, was homecoming queen, married, began a career and had children. Then, schizophrenia struck and she lost everything. She went from homecoming queen to being homeless and institutionalized. Sakeenah Francis tells her daughter about her darkest moments of living with schizophrenia in a series of letters that chronicle the first time she heard voices in her head, her hospitalizations, her struggle to parent, and her arduous path to long-term recovery.

Both shaken and moved by her mother’s revealing letters, Anika faces the haunting effects her mother’s mental illness had on her. After years of keeping the secret about her mother’s illness, Anika breaks her silence voicing what it was like to grow up with a mother with a severe mental illness. She describes the emotional roller coaster created by her mother’s bouts of recovery and how this impacted her well into adulthood.

“This book will provide validation and inspiration for families who face similar struggles, as well as provide mental health care providers with perspectives that can inform care.” Dr Sarah Y Vinson, Black Mental Health.

Though Sakeenah lost many bouts in her early struggles with schizophrenia, she kept striving. Through it all, there was love which at times was the only thing that made sense to Sakeenah and Anika. Love gave them the strength and resilience to heal and piece together that which schizophrenia had torn apart in their lives. This sobering story carries a message of hope that will be inspiring to people affected by a severe mental illness and the web of people connected to them.

Rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars from 19 reviews on Amazon. Available in print and kindle ISBN 978-1927637005

Shot in the Head A Sister’s Memoir A Brothers Struggle, Katherine Flannery Dering

A bittersweet memoir about life and loss. When her mentally ill brother developed lung cancer, author Katherine Flannery Dering had to overcome her reluctance to deal with the troubled man and step up to help in his care. While manoeuvring through the maze of our mental health system, she (and her eight siblings) got to know social workers and the employees of nursing homes on a first name basis, saw friends and family less often, missed work, and ate fewer meals at home and more fast food.  Along the way, she changed in unforeseen ways, and her perception of her ill brother, Paul, changed as well.

“When mental illness happens, it affects the whole family.  Much has been written about the effect on parents, but not enough about the grief – and importance – of siblings. You will fall in love with the Flannery clan, who stepped up to support their brother Paul throughout his sad journey with schizophrenia. This book takes you through the frustration, the loss, the mistakes and wishful thinking – and, ultimately the love and support that shines through it all –  as the family struggles to understand the illness and the system, stay together, and also show Paul how much he is loved – all while trying to focus on their own lives as well. This is a readable and important book that will open the reader’s eyes to the effects of schizophrenia, the need for change, and the power of family love.”

Randye Kaye, author, Ben Behind His Voices: One Family’s Journey from the Chaos of Schizophrenia to Hope

“During the past half century our treatment system for persons with serious mental illness has become a fragmented disaster. Katherine Dering’s book is about her middle class family’s odyssey during this time as it tries to ensure that her brother with schizophrenia receives adequate services. The book is an extremely well crafted, compelling drama about how a large group of caring siblings interact and cope as their brother becomes severely ill, is repeatedly hospitalized, and endures various attempts to “transition” him into the community. This eye-opening account of the realities of having a seriously mentally ill family member should be at the top of the “must read” list for anyone involved with, or otherwise interested in, improving mental health services for those who are most in need.

The late Fred Frese, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Psychiatry Northeast Ohio Medical University Coordinator, Recovery Project

Available in print and kindle version ISBN   978-1927637210

Amazon rating of 4.7 out of 33 reviews