Product Description
In this powerful, sometimes harrowing, deeply felt story, Patrick Tracey journeys to Ireland to track the origin and solve the mystery of his Irish-American family's multigenerational struggle with schizophrenia.

For most Irish Americans, a trip to Ireland is often an occasion to revisit their family's roots. But for Patrick Tracey, the lure of his ancestral home is a much more powerful need: part pilgrimage, part investigation to confront the genealogical mystery of schizophrenia–a disease that had claimed a great-great-great-grandmother, a grandmother, an uncle, and, most recently, two sisters.

As long as Tracey could remember, schizophrenia ran on his mother's side, seldom spoken of outright but impossible to ignore. Devastated by the emotional toll the disease had already taken on his family, terrified of passing it on to any children he might have, and inspired by the recent discovery of the first genetic link to schizophrenia, Tracey followed his genealogical trail from Boston to Ireland's county Roscommon, home of his oldest-known schizophrenic ancestor. In a renovated camper, Tracey crossed the Emerald Isle to investigate the country that, until the 1960s, had the world's highest rate of institutionalization for mental illness, following clues and separating fact from fiction in the legendary relationship the Irish have had with madness.

Tracey's path leads from fairy mounds and ancient caverns still shrouded in superstition to old pubs whose colorful inhabitants are a treasure trove of local lore. He visits the massive and grim asylum where his famine starved ancestors may have lived. And he interviews the Irish research team that first cracked the schizophrenic code to learn how much–and how little–we know about this often misunderstood disease.

Filled with history, science, and lore, Stalking Irish Madness is an unforgettable chronicle of one man's attempt to make sense of his family's past and to find hope for the future of schizophrenic patients. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (38)

Moved Me

I'd meant to read this book after it won the PEN New England award for nonfiction. It's not the sort of topic one warms to easily so I put it off.Then I saw that Slate magazine had picked it for its list of the 25 top books of the year and I ordered it.

I couldn't put it down. It's a sad story, almost like a ghost story, but a real page turner as the author travels through Ireland in an old camper van to unearth an untold or at least forgotten history of insanity in Ireland.

You feel like you're right there bumping along with him in the passenger's seat. Tracey has created a new genre that is more than memoir. It's a travelogue, a history lesson, a science experiment and an investigation into schizophrenia. Best of all - it's hopeful. I read it in two sittings and will never look at a "crazy homeless person" the same way again.

Not too sure about this one
Although the author's intent is clear, the book is loaded with silly metaphors. I expected to read, "It was a dark and stormy night" at the beginning of each chapter. Interesting and informative, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Wow! Quite sure the best book on the subject.
All I can say is if you are in any way intrigued by the title, read it!

First book from a sibling's viewpoint that tells my story
I have been searching for many years for a book that describes watching a sibling descend into this disease, as I had watched my brother and several cousins do. I finally heard my story loud and clear through Patrick Tracey's words. This book was like a warm blanket to my soul, from his experience of waving up to his grandmother while she looked out the window of the institution, to watching a brilliant sibling disappear, only to be replaced with a "changeling". This so exactly mirrors my childhood, of visiting my grandmother at the state mental institution, to watching my brilliant brother become suddenly ill. As a young child experiencing this, I had a hard time making sense of what had happened. This book helped me come to terms with it and let me know I am not alone. I highly recommend this book to anyone with a sibling with schizophrenia. This book helped me so much.

Irish Schizophrenia
Well, this certainly explains my family, all my uncles, my father, the one aunt, my cousins, all coming from my father's side. Irish to the core. Protestant Irish, but I guess that doesn't matter. Actually, I feel pretty good knowing that there is a reason for this. And why the Irish are known for drinking. Keeping something away . . .I don't know what, though. Most of us are agoraphobic and about a third of us have hearing/deafness problems. I can't wait to buy this book and I'm actually feeling better and calmer about myself just by reading the reviews. So, I am crazy, but not crazy . . .so it's not me, there really is a reason. Still, even Protestants from the Ulster area believe, like me, in the "little people." Leprauchans? I wouldn't bet against them. Thank you for the book. ... Read more

Product Description
In clear, simple language, the doctors cut through the confusion, misconception, and myths that have surrounded schizophrenia, obscuring its reality and compounding its tragedies The book is complete with information about a revolutionary new treatment using vitamin B-3. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Early pioneers in managing brain architecture!
Now seen as "dated" by pharmacological specialists, Hoffer and Osmund, in company with their peer and friend, Linus Pauling, were early leaders in the field of using cheap, available methods to intervene in haywire biology, effectively.Because "there's no money in it" this important research has been downplayed by researchers intent upon developing patent-able products for the industy.Too bad for us!Too bad for those without health insurance to cover hospitalization and expensive (and extensive) drug therapy!A good place to start, in finding where we've been lead into a trap of dependency upon medical professionals and today's bewildering array of chemical formulations.

Response to szwebmaster
I feel I should offer a rebuttal to szwebmaster The report referenced by szwebmaster is the 1973 APA psychological report, a report full of errors, misleading statements and poor arguments. Hoffer has claimed that Niacin & vitamin C works best on acute schizophrenics, the 1973 report used niacin alone on chronic schizophrenics. It sounds like a minor issue, but the biology of schizophrenia and its treatment varies for the two. Hoffer wrote a well thought out retort to the 1973 report entitled `Megavitamin Therapy in reply to The American Psychiatric Association Task Force Report on Megavitamin and Orthomolecular Therapy in Psychiatry.' In it he details all of the misleading statements of the APA report, and I urge everyone here to actually read the 1973 report and its rebuttal. In fact, after reading this retort JR Wittenborn, one of the six authors of the APA report conducted a test of niacin using Hoffer's parameters (acute schizophrenics) and found positive results (A Search for Responders to Niacin Supplementation). Naturally none of the skepticsreference that study. Hoffer claims his theories have helped over 100,000 patients with niacin. Should we discourage all of them to throw their treatments in the trash? PS the methodological flaws referenced by the APA report are mainly a lack of double blinds, which is not only false (hoffer conducted double blinds) but which Hoffer had trouble with due to the Niacin flush.

There was a drug for schizophrenia first discovered over 50 years ago, but because it was a medication unrelated to mental illness nobody wanted to use it. Doctors laughed at other doctors who prescribed it and many in the medical community wrote off how effective it was. However for the doctors willing to shrug off the criticism of the skeptics and who tried it noticed massive improvements. This drug was just an antihistamine, how could it treat schizophrenia? That drug was called thorazine (thorazine was originally an antihistamine), and it started the revolution that led to antipsychotic medications which has helped millions of people. Where would we be if we had just written off thorazine because it was `just an antihistamine'? Why is this better than writing off niacin for being `just a vitamin'?Would we be better off today as a community of medical patients if we had let the skeptics win on that battle? Would we have geodon, abilify or risperdal today if we hadn't fought back against the medical dogmatists fifty years ago?

All I know is my feelings of unreality, my magical thinking and my paranoia are not present now that I am on niacin therapy. No error laden, misleading study written 34 years ago is going to make me feel like I'm not better or take away the fact that I can function better. Schizophrenia is a horrible disease, and it is too important for us to stop looking for every treatment we can find. Instead of believing me or szwebmaster actually ask a schizophrenic on niacin therapy what their experience is/was.

Read Also His Other Books
Dr. Hoffer is a brilliant and extensively published author in both journals and books. His writing is very clear and he doesn't hide complexities. This book is no exception. My only complaint is that his writing does not divide topics very well for easy digestion. His mind is full of facts, and he types what he thinks.

The primary orthomolecular approach to schizophrenia is niacin or niacinamide (vitamin B3) in > 2 g/d doeses. In double-blind trials, 3 grams of niacin daily resulted in a doubling in recovery rate and a 50% reduction in hospitalization. Later double-blind trials did not reproduce the positive results, but Hoffer contends these trials were poorly designed. Subsequent research has been too meager to quote.

There are several complexities to niacin therapy. It must be at least 3,000 mg per day in divided doses. It must not be "time release" forms made by pharmaceutical companies that are dangerous and the root cause of the irrational fears of niacin. There are several forms of niacin. Make sure you follow Dr. Hoffer's guidelines. It's most effective if the patient's schizophrenia is a fairly recent development. Ignoring these issues is probably why some studies are negative.

Please keep in mind there are websites dedicated to trashing megavitamin therapy. They modify other's writings from 1998, change the wording a little, and pretend it's their own recent writing. They then copy and paste the same negative plagerism under several of Hoffer's books. On their web site they reference journal articles "disproving" megavitamin therapy but when you take a closer look, they are often not related to the issue at hand.

Doesn't it seem strange they have to go back all the way to 1973 to find a legitimate and relevant negative reference? That's over 30 years ago. Dr. Hoffer has done a lot of research since then. At 88 he's still mentally active, publishing, and treating patients. His research in the 1950's that showed niacin improves schizoprenia was the first double-blind study in psychiatry. Dr. Hoffer has been trying to make psychiatry a science for a long time, but the influence of money has been a much tougher opponent than ignorance and Frued.

Here's a 2003 interview of Dr. Hoffer:
http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2003/jan2003_report_hoffer_01.html

Clinically Proven Treatment: Hoffer is Right
The United States Patent Office delayed issuing a patent on the Wright brothers' airplane for five years because it broke accepted scientific principles. This is actually true. And so is this: Vitamin B-3, niacin, is scientifically proven to be effective against psychosis, and yet the medical profession has delayed endorsing it.Not for five years, but for fifty.

In 1952, Abram Hoffer, PhD, MD, had just completed his psychiatry residency. What's more, he had proven, with the very first double-blind, placebo-controlled studies in the history of psychiatry, that vitamin B-3 could cure schizophrenia.You would think that psychiatrists everywhere would have beaten down a path to Saskatchewan to replicate the findings of this young Director of Psychiatric Research and his colleague, Humphrey Osmond, MD.

You'd think so.

In modern psychiatry, niacin and schizophrenia are both terms that have been closeted away out of sight. And patients, tranquilized into submission or Prozac-ed into La-La Land, are often idly at home or wandering the streets, where either way it is highly doubtful that they will get much in the way of a daily vitamin intake.Those in institutions fare little better nutritionally.For everyone "knows" that vitamins do not cure "real" diseases. (http://www.doctoryourself.com/hoffer_paradigm.html)

But Dr Hoffer dissents.For half a century Dr Hoffer has dissented.His central point has been this: Illness, including mental illness, is not caused by drug deficiency.But much illness, especially mental illness, may be seen to be caused by a vitamin deficiency.This makes sense, and has stood up to clinical trial again and again.If you do not believe this, this book will provide you with the references to prove it.And remember that it was Dr. Hoffer who started off those clinical studies in the first place.In 1952.

Dr. Hoffer explains the mechanics of how niacin works against schizophrenia. There is a chemical found in quantity in the bodies of schizophrenic persons. It is an indole called adrenochrome.Adrenochrome (which is oxidized adrenalin) has an almost LSD-like effect on the body.That might well explain their behavior.Niacin serves to reduce the body's production of this toxic material. (http://www.doctoryourself.com/hoffer_psychosis.html)

That Dr. Hoffer can compress a lifetime of research experience into one readable and surprisingly short book is a tribute to how clearly he teaches both layman and physician the essentials of niacin treatment.I have taught nutritional biochemistry to high school, undergraduate, and chiropractic students.To most, it is not an especially gripping subject.But when even a basic working knowledge of niacin chemistry can profoundly change psychotic patients for the better, it becomes very interesting very quickly.

Dr. Hoffer has treated thousands and thousands of such patients for nearly half a century.At 87, he still is actively practicing orthomolecular (megavitamin) psychiatry.He has seen medical fads come and go.What he sees now is what he's always seen: that very sick people get well on vitamin B-3.

(Additional books by Dr. Hoffer are posted at http://www.doctoryourself.com/biblio_hoffer.html)

Vitamins Don't Cure Schizophrenia - Disproven Book
If vitamins cured schizophrenia do you honestly think that we'd have 50 million people suffering from this horrible disease in the world today??If something is too good to be true - it probably is - and this is true for this theory too.

This book covers an approach which Dr. Abram Hoffer and others developed in the 1950s, but which by the 1970s was proven to be fruitless. The work of Dr. Hoffer and others is discussed in detail in the American Psychiatric Association Task Force Report, July 1973, which points out methodological flaws in the early work and reviews later studies which failed to show any benefit for such treatments.

In recent years, new medicines, with improved side-effect profiles and techniques to overcome problems with social and occupational functioning, have been well proven advances for the treatment of schizophrenia. Early intervention programs should prevent some of the serious dysfunction of the disease.

Serious illnesses like schizophrenia require proven treatments. Vitamin treatments as "alternative" therapy for schizophrenia should not be recommended. ... Read more

Product Description
The psychotic symptoms of up to 30 per cent of schizophrenic patients do not respond adequately to treatment with antipsychotic drugs, other than clozapine. These refractory patients are generally among the most disabled of all people with schizophrenia and require special assessment and treatment. This volume presents the latest research and recommendations on the definition, causes and therapy of treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS). Methods for identification and optimal management of TRS are reviewed. Clozapine and other atypical antipsychotic drugs which are the primary treatment for TRS, as well as non-pharmacologic treatments such as transcranial magnetic stimulation, cognitive behavior therapy and ECT are discussed in depth. Potential causative factors and identifying features such as genetic factors, poor premorbid functioning, longer duration of untreated psychosis, and biological measures such as structural and functional brain abnormalities are also reviewed in depth in the present volume. ... Read more

Product Description
For the first time in a single volume, distinguished experts address the complex issues—issues rarely confronted in empirical studies of patients with schizophrenia—and controversial research surrounding the assessment of negative symptoms and cognitive deficits in patients with schizophrenia.

Despite recent advances in our understanding of schizophrenia, still notably absent is consensus in assessing negative symptom treatment response. What is the most effective assessment method—given the varying methodologies and contradictory results to date? What constitutes an adequate response? Which medication—none is specifically indicated and licensed for negative symptom treatment—yields the best results? What are the indications for use of this medication? Which instrument best measures negative symptom treatment response (eight rating scales are analyzed here)? Reaching consensus among clinicians and researchers alike is even more difficult because assessment is often thwarted by extrapyramidal side effects of medications, similarities to depressive symptoms, and secondary effects of psychotic experiences.

In addition to clarifying these pressing issues, Negative Symptom and Cognitive Deficit Treatment Response in Schizophrenia also discusses

• The importance of measuring the experience of emotion versus the more traditional objectively measured symptoms in patients with schizophrenia, and how deficits in emotional experience may resist treatment—even in treatment-responsive patients.

• The family as an often overlooked source of information about negative symptom improvement or worsening, and the impact of negative symptoms on patients' relatives.

• How treatment affects social functioning and subjective experience of "quality of life," and the importance of neurocognitive dysfunction in the social deficits of schizophrenia, which often persist despite significant amelioration of other symptoms.

• Specific guidelines for assessing neurocognitive treatment response. Cognitive enhancement is a major factor in improving the quality of patients' lives.

• The latest research on the neurobiology of negative symptoms, including the role of various neurotransmitter systems and brain regions in mediating negative symptom pathology. Also discussed is single vs. multiple pathophysiological processes and single treatment modality vs. distinct treatments for different aspects of negative symptoms.

• How to distinguish "pure" negative symptoms from deficit symptoms (i.e., those that persist for at least 1 year and are not secondary to factors such as depression, medication side effects, anxiety, delusions, and hallucinations), and which treatment is indicated for each.

Highlighted by patient vignettes, this in-depth guide will be welcomed by all clinicians who treat patients with schizophrenia and want to know and document whether their interventions ameliorate negative symptoms and cognitive dysfunction, and by all researchers who study schizophrenia, particularly those interested in clinical issues and treatment studies. ... Read more

Product Description
This book is written to inform and reinforce the idea of hope, recovery, and a normal life for people affected by mental illness. The stigma of mental illness hurts schizophrenics and their families. Stigma, the invisible beast, limits peoples' access to services in the community and even support from family but we can educate and fight against stigma. Despite their disability, people with schizophrenia have normal or above average intelligence and may be highly creative. Antidiscrimination legislation is needed, along with support for families and communities striving to include those with schizophrenia. ... Read more

Product Description
This story of a father guiding his son from despair to hope is a chilling, inspiring journey through the mysterious tunnel of schizophrenia--a world once closed and forbidding, now suddenly radiating excitement as thousands of patients are, in effect, being reborn.

Jeff Wyden, a bright, happy boy in childhood, began to withdraw in adolescence, and by the age of twenty-one was severely psychotic, disconnected from reality. He was schizophrenic. In the ensuing twenty-five years, Peter Wyden accompanied his son into a hell without certainties as they searched for a solution.

We see them pass through the hands of more than fifty psychiatrists and countless hospitals, clinics, and halfway houses. Doctors and health-care providers help and sometimes hinder both father and son in their odyssey through hypnosis, electroshock, dozens of drug therapies, and disabling "side effects."

Throughout their ordeal, the father's management of his son's managers is his daily task, self-assigned despite self-doubt. He is alternately tolerant and challenging while he observes and learns, always primed for more of Jeff's mercurial signs of new crises.

Along the way we learn about the history of the treatment of schizophrenia, from barbaric stopgaps like prefrontal lobotomy to the biomedical treatments that have revolutionized psychiatry. And finally, there is the new drug Olanzapine--a godsend for Jeff, and reason for cheer. It is not a cure, but many consider it the safest, most effective treatment to date (the first of similar medications recently licensed by the Food and Drug Administration, with more on the way). The story of its development is told here for the first time.

Until now, few of us have realized that two and a half million Americans, mostly young and intelligent, are schizophrenic, merely existing through the decades, separated from reason, rendered dysfunctional by the costly and little-understood disease. Fifty million people worldwide suffer from it. This compelling and enlightening book offers useful information about what can be done for them today--and the hope of more help to come.
Amazon.com Review
Described by Nature magazine in 1988 as "arguablythe worst disease affecting mankind, even AIDS not excepted,"schizophrenia is devastating for both sufferers of the affliction--more than 50 million people worldwide--and their families. Conquering Schizophrenia is one family's account of theirterrible, 25-year journey to hell and back.

Jeff Wyden was abubbly and vivacious child, described by his father as "unusuallycharming." In early adolescence, small changes occurred in Jeff'spersonality--his boundless energy was replaced with silence and adevastatingly low self-esteem. By age 21, Jeff had become severelypsychotic and completely withdrawn from reality. So began thenightmare of schizophrenia. Jeff's story is eloquently told by hisfather, Peter Wyden. Although an inspirational book, especially forthose affected by a mental illness, the ConqueringSchizophrenia doesn't lapse into excessive sentimentality. Jeff isfrequently portrayed as a monster, consumed by the wretcheddisease. Treatment options for the illness were particularly grim,including prefrontal lobotomies and electric-shock therapy. For morethan two decades, Peter Wyden searched for a better answer, whicheventually came with the development of new drugs. With thistreatment, Jeff was "almost civilian" again. Wyden is anenergetic and illuminating author who writes of a subject matter withwhich he has lived so closely for several decades. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Not Quite Conquering ....Yet
But still a valuable book that vividly portrays what concerned and responsible families endure when dealing with a psychotic child and trying to make sense of the mental health system that is not really a system. Unfortunately for Peter Wyden, his son became ill at a time when psychiatry was just moving out of the era influenced by Freud with concepts like schizophrenogenic mothers. Today,this crippling disease is becoming properly recognized as a neurobiological problem.

Wyden guided his son through something like 50 different psychiatrists, numerous hospitals, clinics, half way houses, hypnosis and electroshock before the development of olanzapine. While this wasn't the first drug developed, it was the one that worked the best for them. Since this book was written in 1997, a number of other drugs in the olanzapine class have been brought to market. While they do help with many of the symptoms, they have not conquered the illness. In fact, there is now considerable controversy about the side effects associated with these newer agents.

This class of drugs, called atypical antipyschotics, can cause considerable weight gain, elevated cholesterol levels, and the onset of type II diabetes. As a result, many doctors are going back to prescribing some of the older drugs and/or prescribing lower doses of two or more of them simultaneously.

The important point, however, is that with more drug choices that are presently available, there is greater chance that one of them will be effective.The importance of this book is the description of the family role as it should be but is all to often not. Parents need to and should become actively involved in helping their ill children even if that is not appreciated by some psychiatrists.

Marvin Ross
Author Schizophrenia: Medicine's Mystery - Society's Shame

title is a misnomer
author spends a great deal of time (xxx? pages) oscillating between blaming mental health professionals and presenting himself as a devoted father (perhaps too devoted?--i.e. overly responsible?)...furthermoreschizophrenia is not "conquered" at the end of the book...ratheronly the right drug is found--which eliminates symptoms but which, contraryto popular belief, does not "cure" mental illness (since thepatient is only well as long as he is medicated)

A veritable encyclopedia of psychiatry and mental health
Before you ransack the library trying to get straight about mental illness, just read Peter Wyden's "Conquering Schizophrenia - a Father, his Son, and a Medical Breakthrough."Wyden, a writer, tells of his son Jeff's 25-years of crippling psychosis, and his story vibrates withpassionate critique of the mental health system. His journalist's piercingeye fixes the target, while the other eye darts around, taking us on aback-street tour of psychiatry's history, players, and struggles as Wydensearches for perspective on this arena.

What is the target?Is it Jeffhimself, who went from warm,extroverted child to introverted, erraticyouth, then back to a more normal, properly medicated 46-year old man? Isit mental illness itself?Which illness?Jeff's was diagnosed as"school phobia," "anxiety," "depression,""schizophrenia - paranoid type," then "malignant case ofmanic-depressive."Perhaps it is psychiatry itself, with its"foibles,follies, and failures," and its oddly noble persistancein the face of overwhelming enigmas?

In any case, the target keepsmoving. This conveys Wyden's sense of confusion and hair-pullingfrustration through the dozens of psychiatrists, neuroleptics that ravagedthe body while they calmed the mind, the hospitals, and halfway houses thatmake up Jeff's existence.He shows us the "split" between modernmedicaters who treat the physical, and the traditional Freudians whobelieve only in the unconscious and psychoanalytic.He describes thebizarre events of pharmacology finds and the equally bizarre trip throughFDA approval.He narrates the bitter 20-year feud between Dr Spitzer andproponents of DSM series and the older therapists who call it a"straightjacket."

The sound and fury, based on the void of theunknown, rages on.There is an abyss between etiologies, and chaos aboutcategories.Signs of schizophrenia dovetail so slyly into signs ofmanic-depression (hallucinations, hyperagitation) that even"experts" can't say which is primary. Medications for one crossover for the other."My learning curve was turning erratic,"complained Wyden when Clozaril came on the scene. ". . . Anythingmight work. Anything might fail. . . There are no true experts."

Atthe book's end, Jeff is converting from Clozapin to the newer Olanzapine(the "breakthrough"), and seems to be emerging from hisdemi-world into a more responsive, organized person. His real diagnosis isstill up for grabs.

The real breakthrough is hope, for today and fortomorrow, hope that research and medicine can cut through the profounddevastation of a broken brain. Wyden has painted a realistic picture ofmajor mental illness - ambiguous, unpredictable, messy, and bankrupting. Only those who have traveled that tunnel of despair can appreciate thecandle of this seemingly promising advance.

"Conquering Schizophrenia" is thoroughly dishonest book.
"Conquering Schizophrenia" lauds Zyprexa as conqueringschizophrenia. The truth of the matter is that Zyprexa is a very, veryunpleasant medication. Zyprexa is better than other antipsychotics, butthat is faint praise. Jeff, the author's son, is left with negativesymptoms but those are the worst symptoms. The book takes the E. FullerTorrey line. Someone with schizophrenia is dumber than a pigeon. A pigeongiven something good presses the lever. Someone with schizophrenia givensomething good refuses medication. When everyone is off dopamineantagonists then a book with the title "Conquering Schizophrenia"can be written.

Extremely helpful and hopeful. Well written and thorough.

"Conquering Schizophrenia: A Father, His Son, and A Medical Breakthrough", published by Knopf, January 1998, is a father's account of the life of his son Jeff.  Jeff's break came at age twenty-one.  The book chronicles the next twenty-five years along two interwoven paths: the events in the lives of Jeff and his family and the evolution of the mental-health field during this time --its trends, controversies, therapies, medicines, practitioners, advocacy groups, agencies,economics, politics, etc.

The father/author, Peter Wyden, has published a dozen books and was formerly a writer for Newsweek. He writes in a concise, organized, journalistic style that is mercifully free of any self aggrandizement that might have been expected (he candidly acknowledges his missteps) and of any excessive sentimentality (the story itself speaks eloquently of the emotions, frustrations, struggles and celebrations that were there throughout).  He levels some very valid criticisms without being strident.  It is carefully crafted with detailed back-of-the-book chapter notes, bibliography and index for the reader who wants to dig deeper.  It is very up to date, mentioning situations as of Fall, 1997. (Of course we Internet devotees want to know how things are going this morning.)

I strongly recommend this book highly to anyone whose life has been affected by schizophrenia or by any other serious mental illness. I have been struck over the last four years (our 23-year old son was diagnosed with schizophrenia four years ago) how much I read about one mental illness that relates to the others.  (Incidentally, I have no connection to the publisher or author. I wish I did know the Wydens personally).

Jeff was treated by over 50 docs over the 25-year period. He was "treated" in every imaginable theater from the renowned Menninger Clinic, where at the time of Jeff's stay early on, probably did more harm than good, to a run-down half- way house, where he was helped greatly by a dedicated, compassionate social worker.

His symptoms when bad were very bad. He once broke a nurse's nose. He was not an easy patient and not an easy son. But those that got to know the real Jeff were very fond of him. And to his father, even after spending 25 years of struggling with Jeff over meds, docs, hygiene, etc., maybe to some extent because of those struggles, Jeff was a hero, a theme often repeated.

Family support helped (and I suspect help greatly) throughout. There were some talk/cognitive therapies here and there that helped deal with some of the problems of the underlying illness. Jeff's manic periods were helped by lithium. There were other meds that I cannot recount. A breakthrough came with Clozapine, though negative symptoms, especially lack of motivation, remained and a purposeful day, much less the possibility of a job, were not on Jeff's radar screen and he spent his hours at the half-way house. The "conquering" word in the title refers to the next breakthrough which came with Olanzapine in 1996.  Some of the negative symptoms begin to remit. The book ends with Jeff beginning to take some steps into the mainstream world and he gets involved with a local church program and one day asks his dad "Do you think you could get me a watch? I'd like to get my days organized". (!) You would have to read the whole story to understand what a wonderful ending (beginning) this is.

Perhaps I wouldn't have divulged the ending if the book only dealt with Jeff's situation. It would have been a great book if limited to just the Jeff story. Many of us could identify and empathize and imagine our own books.  Not to take away from the story, the real strength of this book for me was the second interwoven thread that dealt with the many aspects of the mental-health system as it evolved over the same twenty-five-year period and the interplay of that with Jeff's life.  The author was relentless in his researching, advocating and mainly getting to know individuals who could help his son. He knew or got to know many of the movers and shakers, those at the tops of their fields, and gleaned from them a detailed and realistic survey of the battlefield on which his son found himself. I have spent a lot of time myself the last few years reading, surfing the Web, meeting, etc., but was left with a lot of questions and perhaps was left without a a good overall perspective of how the many pieces interact.

The author does a masterful job of covering many areas and gleaning the salient features, good and bad, things you are never going to read in a journal or hear admitted for the record. For example, from a discussion with Dr. Solomon Snyder, the inventor of Prozac: "One question has run through Snyder's professional life: What exactly causes schizophrenia? ... 'We know solittle he said', he said sadly. 'There's a screw loose, but we don't know which screw.'" I think I would like to have known this four years ago rather than having to discover it over time. The book is filled with nuggets like this.

The wide-ranging areas covered include: the slow, grudging acceptance of using meds for treatment, later the doctrinaire rejections by the biological guys of the talk therapy guys, (thank goodness my son's doc is dual-track), the fights over wording of the DSM-III, the history of anti-psychotic meds (amazing twists and turns), meds in the pipeline, the R. D. Laing school, orthomolecular treatment, psychosocial treatment, electro-convulsive therapy, schizophrenogenic mothers,"Toxic Psychology" book, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" movie, Marilyn Monroe, atrocious experiments and abridgment of patient rights, sexual abuse, the history of the National Alliance of the Mentally Ill, the champions of mental health legislation in Washington, the big, profitable, competitive pharmacy business (Eli Lily sales of Olanzapine in 1997 about $850 million), the National Institute of Mental Health, various studies and meta studies (and the ongoing puzzlement), interviews with consumers, interviews with the big names, etc.

He writes of many problems/challenges: the general stumbling nature of the progress in this field, the unknown causes of the illness, the problems of diagnosis and the diagnostic categories, questions about treatment, side- effect tradeoffs, stigma, managing the managers, family stresses, under funding of research and support agencies and the crushing work loads, poverty- producing expenses, bureaucracy, on and on.

I found the book very satisfying in many ways. It most of all helps sustain our hope. And makes us appreciate the fact that despite all the difficulties we families are facing in 1998, times and prospects were much worse just a few years age. It chronicles a story we can relate to and can compare to our families' stories.  It always held up the humanity, the personality of Jeff.

It shines a light on the battlefield that still has its challenges and dangers but through which we can now walk with more confidence and with a better chance of survival or even conquest.

I wish the best to the Wydens and to all the many families doing battle. ... Read more

Product Description
Your Guide to Schizophrenia is the patient's ultimate tool to understanding their illness, discovering invaluable advice, and empowering them to make informed choices and to regain control of their life.

Written by the top UK expert in this field, and with the full support of the leading schizophrenia charity, this is an easy-to-read guide to schizophrenia.It explains the symptoms, diagnosis, treatment available, and ultimately how to live a fully functioning life with this misunderstood and often frightening condition.The book firstly explains what schizophrenia is, but more importantly what is is NOT; talks about the diagnosis of the illness, the treatment you will receive, the support you can expect and living with such practicalities as being a parent with mental illness and the impact on daily and social life.It demystifies such things as the mental health act, and provides full resources for carers.With user-friendly features such as 'Q and A' sections, 'Myths and Facts' boxes, explanations of key terms and case histories, this is a friendly and reassuring guide to a complex yet treatable condition. ... Read more

Product Description
Approximately one percent of the population develops schizophrenia during their lifetime. This chronic, severe mental illness can be devastating for patients and their family and friends.Whether you're a newly diagnosed patient with schizophrenia, or a friend or relative of someone suffering from this mental illness, this book offers help. 100 Questions & Answers About Schizophrenia: Painful Minds gives you authoritative, practical answers to your questions about treatment options, sources of support, and much more. Written by an expert on the subject, and including a foreword by parents of a person with schizophrenia, this book is an invaluable resource for anyone coping with the physical and emotional turmoil of schizophrenia. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Very informative
This book contained all of the questions you could possibly have about schizophrenia.A bit technical, and may be a bit too academic for some, but I really got a lot out of it.

Great resource on Schizophrenia
I work as a therapist in residential treatment for adolescent boys.Sometimes we treat teenagers with Schizophrenia.This book is clear and concise and arranged in topic areas, dispelling many misunderstandings about the disease.

My only caution is that there is a preface by a parent of a schizophrenic son.It is clear in its information and touching.However, the young man in question did commit suicide, which is a real and obvious risk with Shizophrenia.However, if you are passing this book on as a resource, I think it is best to have a discussion about this reality and use it with families who are ready to accept this reality and benefit from all the information included in the book.

A valuable resource.........
Dr. DeLisi's book consolidates a lot of meaningful information about schizophrenia in a user-friendly, readable way.It is an important guide for anyone who knows somebody with this devastating illness and is interested in learning more about it. ... Read more

Product Description

Schizophrenia remains an important challenge to psychiatry, with its causes and underlying brain mechanisms yet to be fully revealed. Currently available treatments are neither universally effective nor without unwanted effects. These aspects, together with the high prevalence of schizophrenia, its often debilitating nature, and the associated family and social burden, make this mental disorder one of the most complex public health issues of our times. The purpose of the Advances in Schizophrenia Research series is to provide comprehensive periodic reviews of the wide range of research studies carried out around the world, with the dual purpose of solving the schizophrenia puzzle, and providing clues to new forms of treatment and prevention for this disorder. A special feature of the series is its broad scope, virtually encompassing all fields of schizophrenia research: epidemiology and risk factors; psychopathology; diagnostic boundaries; cognition; outcome and prognosis; pathophysiology; genetics; pharmacological and psychological forms of treatment and rehabilitation; community care; and stigmatization.

Product Description

The experience of madness – which might also be referred to more formally as ‘schizophrenia’ or ‘psychosis’ – consists of a complex, confusing and often distressing collection of experiences, such as hearing voices or developing unusual, seemingly unfounded beliefs. Madness, in its various forms and guises, seems to be a ubiquitous feature of being human, yet our ability to make sense of madness, and our knowledge of how to help those who are so troubled, is limited.

Making Sense of Madness explores the subjective experiences of madness. Using clients' stories and verbatim descriptions, it argues that the experience of 'madness' is an integral part of what it is to be human, and that greater focus on subjective experiences can contribute to professional understandings and ways of helping those who might be troubled by these experiences.

Areas of discussion include:

• how people who experience psychosis make sense of it themselves
• scientific/professional understandings of ‘madness'
• what the public thinks about ‘schizophrenia’ 

Making Sense of Madness will be essential reading for all mental health professionals as well as being of great interest to people who experience psychosis and their families and friends.

Product Description

This book offers a new approach to understanding and treating psychotic symptoms using cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). CBT for Psychosis shows how this approach clears the way for a shift away from a biological understanding and towards a psychological understanding of psychosis.

Stressing the important connection between mental illness and mental health, further topics of discussion include:

• the assessment and formulation of psychotic symptoms
• how to treat psychotic symptoms using CBT
• CBT for specific and co-morbid conditions
• CBT of bipolar disorders.

This book brings together international experts from different aspects of this fast developing field and will be of great interest to all mental health professionals working with people suffering from psychotic symptoms.

Product Description
A guide to behavioral group therapy that helps clients with schizophrenia to overcome addictions. The combination of schizophrenia and drug or alcohol addiction is common, devastating, and difficult to treat. With a focus on skills training, this manual and the companion videotape will help the therapist teach schizophrenic individuals how to avoid drugs and alcohol, recognize signs that they may be headed toward relapse, and build healthy pleasures into their daily routine. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Nicely written and practical
This has greatly improved my understanding and practice of providing psychotherapy and case management services to those individuals who suffer from severe and persistent mental illness. I definitely recommend it.

Author's advice: Get the Skills Illustration Video + book

Note from the Authors:

The book is most effective when used in tandem with a video we produced.The book is for the therapist; the video is for you to show to your clients.In realistic settings, actors clearly demonstrate the skills taught during the skills training sessions.For example, one scene shows how to refuse drugs offered by a friend.Another shows how to discuss a relapse with a support person.Use the video to help clients visualize the skill before they begin to practice it themselves.

The Overcoming Addictions Skills Illustration Video is available from: W. W. Norton and Company at WWNorton.com

At WWNorton.com, click "Search Our Site," then type: Overcoming Addictions (don't use quotations).

You should get several links including the one for the video.The VHS version looks like this:

Overcoming Addictions: Skills Training for People with Schizophrenia
(VHS) (1999)
0-393-70318-5
... Read more

Product Description
The severely and persistently mentally ill (SPMI) have been ignored, ridiculed, stigmatized, locked away in prisons, forgotten in hospitals, or left to wander the streets of our small and large cities. LUCY is a mother's story of her daughter's long struggle with a relentless brain disease-schizophrenia-that has no cure and gives no quarter. It's past time to recognize that Lucy and thousands like her need ASYLUM-places of care, protection, and refuge-in a world that's passed them by."Lucy, the Anguish of Schizophrenia was revised in 2005.That book was used for four semesters in a mental health nursing lab course at the College of Nursing at Florida State University in Tallahassee.It is currently being used for the third year as part of the curriculum in psychiatric nursing at Chattanooga State Technical Community College in Chattanooga, TN and as recommended reading for graduate family therapy courses at the University of Maryland School of Nursing in Baltimore, MD."Megan Trotter, Herald-Citizen staff, Oct. 8,2009 ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

An eye opener
I was required to read this book before the second year of nursing started, which is when we began to learn about psychiatric nursing. This did not seem like a home work assignment to me because it was so interesting to read. This mother wrote so honestly and openly about her experiences, feelings, and depression felt while watching her daughter slowly disappear behind this mental illness, schizophrenia. This gave a really honest and real insight into schizophrenia without having to depend on textbook definitions and "examples". If you really want to understand this mental illness, read this book, and also read the epilogue which goes into detail about the treatment that Lucy endured over the years.

An Intimate Look at the Devastation of Schizophrenia
This book was hard for me to put down. Told from the prospective of her mother, this is the true story about Lucy, a woman who has suffered with schizophrenia since the age of 17. It spans from the time of Lucy's birth through forty plus years to the present; chronicling the early signs, the first breakdown, the numerous hospitalizations and psychiatrists that try to help, and the pain and anguish it inflicts on her family. It offers a glimpse into the everyday challenges of living with someone with a mental illness, and the author shares with us the daily angst and distress she and her husband face knowing their daughter will never live a normal, productive, and independent life. This story helped me understand what schizophrenia looks like up close and personal, something that is hard to get from textbooks and the scientific liturature. It also points out how our healthcare system has failed to meet the needs of people with this illness. This is a short read; the author successfully mixes together "here and now" dialogue in day to day life with Lucy, and at the same time panning out regularly to skim over a few years at a time, smoothly taking us through the years in a direct no-nonsense kind of storytelling. I highly recommend this book.

Overall Excellent
I admire Sarah Holloway's courage to write this book and put her story out in the open. She is a strong woman, and I have learned a great deal from her story.
This book really helps put a name and a face to schizophrenia. it is one thing to learn about schizophrenia out of a nursing textbook, but quite another to see the progression of the illness and its effects on the family as well as the patient. This book does an excellent job of painting a picture of the illness.

-Review by a nursing student at Chattanooga State Technical Community College

A Special Message
My overall opinion of this book is filled with gratitude to a mother who can write of deep heart feelings about her beloved daughter.For anyone who does not have this family problem, it sheds much light on the illness. I appreciated that point since I never clearly understood the unpredictability of this mental illness.But I also appreciate the precious moments when Sarah Holloway shares her broken heart. This story is about a family that loves as well as a clinical study of schizophrenia. We see a story of hope in the midst of dispair and love that never dies.

Dr. Torrey
Lucy: The Anguish of SchizophreniaIs a poignant reminder of the cruelty of this disease and why we need better treatments.Sarah Holloway writes clearly and honestly about her daughter, telling a story that is all too common but that is important to keep telling until we can find a better ending.Strongly recommended.

E. Fuller Torrey, M.D.
Associate Director for Laboratory Research
The Stanley Medical Research Institute ... Read more

Product Description
Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Product Description
Now available in paper for the first time, this book details the practical application of cognitive-behavioral therapy to the pervasive disorder of schizophrenia. Presented are research-supported ways to help patients alleviate the impact of disabling irrational beliefs and improve their daily lives. The interventions described are designed to complement other treatments for schizophrenia, including medication, rehabilitation, and family therapies. Rich clinical examples enhance the practical utility of the text.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Good But...
... they seem to have the idea that delusions and hallucinations have some psychodynamic meaning, rather than being randomly generated.Go figure.

essential reading if you work with people who have schizophrenia
Detailed text summarizing the authors' 15 years' experience doing psychotherapy with people who have schizophrenia.They modify CBT to address hallucinations, delusions, thought disorder, & negative symptoms.They give suggestions for co-morbid syndromes.Many treatment issues are covered in detail.They support use of medication but go well beyond the medical model.They provide a lit review (up to 2005) summarizing, among other things, 16 randomized, controlled trials showing significant benefits for CBT relative to supportive counseling or "befriending".They use 4 case studies to illustrate topics at the end of each chapter.Clearly written, with sample educational handouts & assessment measures included.

A Review
This book is clear, concise, and perspicacious.It brakes down the elements of schizophrenia and its symptoms into understandable, although exaggerated, human experiences.This book would be excellent for any friends and family members of people with schizophrenia, or other psychotic disorders.Kingdon and Turkington describe the intellectual process of psychosis in terms that allow the lay person to comprehend the illness. ... Read more

Product Description
Schizophrenia is one of the most complex and disabling diseases to affect mankind.   Relatively little is known about its nature and its origins, and available treatments are inadequate for most patients. As a result, there are inevitable controversies about what causes it, how to diagnose it, and how best to treat it.   However, in the past decade, there has been an explosion of new research, with dramatic discoveries involving genetic etiology and epidemiological risk factors.  There has also been a catalog of new drugs coming to market, and controversy about the relative advantages and disadvantages of newer compared with older therapies.   In addition, developing technologies in genomics, molecular biology and neuroimaging provide streams of new information.

This book represents a definitive, essential, and up-to-date reference text on schizophrenia. It extensively and critically digests and clarifies recent advances and places them within a clinical context.  The Editors (one American and one British), highly respected clinical psychiatrists and researchers and acknowledged experts on schizophrenia, have again assembled an outstanding group of contributors from the USA, UK, Europe and Australia, It will be of value to practising psychiatrists and to trainees, as well as to clinical and neuroscience researchers interested in keeping up with this field or coming into it.

The book consists of four sections:   descriptive aspects, biological aspects, physical treatments, and psychological and social aspects.   It reviews the theoretical controversies over symptomatology, classification and aetiology (particularly pertinent as DSM-V is being developed), the relationship of schizophrenia to the other psychoses, the significance of positive and negative symptoms and pre-morbid personality. It describes a variety of approaches to integrating the vast research data about schizophrenia, including neurodevelopmental, genetic, pharmacological, brain imaging and psychological findings. The biological treatment section reviews the comparative efficacy of various drugs, the management of drug-resistant patients and both neurological and metabolic complications. The final section looks at psychological therapies, social outcomes, and the economics of schizophrenia.  ... Read more

Product Description
Who's Crazy Here? is a concise guide for people seeking options to psychiatric drugs. Author Gracelyn Guyol ended her bipolar disorder in 2002 by addressing its underlying causes instead of treating the symptoms forever with drugs. When readers of her first book confessed difficulty "wading through" the length and science in most health books, Gracelyn created this 113 page guide to recovery fromADD/ADHD, Addiction, Eating Disorders, Anxiety, PTSD, Depression, Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia, and Autism.Part I covers remedies for the most frequent causes of mental dysfunction: inadequate brain fuel, nutrient imbalances, disruptive substances, four "genetic quirks," flawed digestion, food allergies/sensitivities, environmental toxins, and emotional trauma. Chapters in Part II focus on a specific diagnosis and its unique causes. Innovative practitioners are introduced who have developed effective, drug-free treatments. Each chapter concludes with bulleted Steps to Recovery to discuss with your holistic practitioner.Since it can be difficult to locate doctors trained to treat mental illness without drugs, Chapter 1 provides key words, web sites, and tips for finding one using the Internet. For readers who want more scientific data and details, DVDs, books, and web sites are recommended throughout.Learn about practitioners using methods developed by the late Abram Hoffer, MD, PhD, who enabled 75% of his schizophrenic patients to live "normal" lives. Discover the clinic that ended Gracelyn's bipolar mania in just four months, which has been helping mental patients for two decades. Most addiction programs achieve long-term abstinence for only 3-10%. The approach Gracelyn recommends that addresses the physical causes of addiction enjoys 60-74% success.Even children with autism, the most complex disorder, frequently recover.Explore how holistic treatments can help you or a loved one restore mental health. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

HOPE
This book should be subtitled:HOPE.For that is what it gives to so many people, after so many years of struggle.For me, it has been over 30 years of doctors, therapists, medication management, specialists, etc.This book has truly changed my life, in a big, big way.I have found some local medical professionals who are helping wean me off my medicines.I am feeling better than I ever have, and I'm eating healthier than I ever have.

Restorative Programs for Mental Illness
Who's Crazy Here?
Steps to Recovery Without Drugs
by Gracelyn Guyol,
Ajoite Publishing, Stonington, Connecticut, 2010.
124 pages, ISBN 9780578061764

Recovery from mental illness without drugs? In today's high-stress world, many people experience episodes of anxiety, depression or psychosis. Everybody knows that modern psychiatrists prescribe pills while psychoanalysts prefer talk therapy. Until people develop a mental illness, they don't learn about the complications, the problems and the difficulties that many vulnerable patients experience during episodes, just when they need quality care. The author of this book asks an important question - Who's Crazy Here?

Author Gracelyn Guyol, herself a recovered patient, healed her bipolar disorder in 2002. She remains mentally balanced by taking a daily regimen of vitamins, minerals and other nutritional supplements, avoiding toxins that cause her brain to malfunction and not eating gluten. Her book shares several steps which helped her recover from a serious mental illness.

Part 1 gently outlines Sherlock's Process, a practical approach for identifying mood disruptors, medical conditions and trigger factors. Without analyzing brain chemistry or psychiatry, Guyol politely but firmly encourages readers to consider the causes of their symptoms and find competent health professionals who treat patients safely and effectively.

Part 2 has step-by-step programs for recovering from ADD, addiction, eating disorders, anxiety, autism, depression, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. Each chapter suggests steps for recovery, offers helpful advice and lists reference books and web sites with patient-friendly information.

Who's Crazy Here? explains that mental patients are not crazy to hope for recovery. Even if their psychiatrists only prescribe drugs, Gracelyn Guyol encourages patients to use Sherlock's Process to find health professionals who know how to diagnose and treat the root causes of mental illness, without relying on zombifying doses of prescription medications. The author does not overload readers with biochemistry, research reports or medical terms. Gracelyn knows that patients and families have to start with the basics. Her book presents the facts, concisely, clearly and persuasively. The tone is encouraging, supportive and respectful.

The author introduces two little-known psychiatrists, Dr. A. Hoffer and Dr. H. Osmond, who met in the 1950s in Saskatchewan, Canada. With hundreds of psychotic patients to care for and few effective treatments, they teamed up with medical scientists and clinical professionals to research the metabolic causes of schizophrenia and develop restorative treatments. They used healing doses of vitamins, minerals and other nutritional supplements to complement other treatments. Many of their patients recovered on an orthomolecular program.

Gracelyn Guyol wrote this informative book to help patients, families and caregivers find quality care and recover from a mental illness. Even busy psychiatrists can use this book to understand how a restorative program can complement other treatments. Guyol's book inspires patients to hope, learn and recover, even patients with a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia.

Review by Bob Sealey, BSc, CA - SEAR Publications www.searpubl.ca
Author of Finding Care for Depression, Mental Episodes & Brain Disorders
90-Day Plan for Finding Quality Care

Fantastic information, get this book
I have studied natural health and wellness for over 25 years.Every so often, information comes along that makes me want to shout from the rooftops.That's what I'd like to do right now.If you are interested in health and wellness, struggle with (or care about someone who struggles with) ADHD, autism, addictions, anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, or other chronic condition or persistent symptom that compromises the ability to live well and enjoy life, then read Gracelyn Guyol's concise holistic guide.
The first half of the book covers the nutritional, environmental, genetic, and emotional causes that contribute to most mental dysfunctions - good information for everyone.The second half focuses on specific diagnoses and their unique causes along with the innovative doctors who have developed effective, drug-free treatments.
I can't recommend this book strongly enough, and NOT just for those with diagnosed problems.Who's Crazy Here? is a handbook for all of us who want to optimize our lives.The information, resources and practitioners that Gracelyn has identified, distilled, and recommends are excellent and proven.I've never come across such a thorough yet concise and easy-to-read resource for natural health!
... Read more