Best Schizophrenia

Elyn R. Saks is an esteemed professor, lawyer, and psychiatrist and is the Orrin B. Evans Professor of Law, Psychology, Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences at the University of Southern California Law School, yet she has suffered from schizophrenia for most of her life, and still has ongoing major episodes of the illness. In this engrossing memoir, Saks, a professor of law and psychiatry at the University of Southern California, demonstrates a novelist's skill of creating character, dialogue and suspense. From her extraordinary perspective as both expert and sufferer (diagnosis: Chronic paranoid schizophrenia with acute exacerbation; prognosis: Grave), Saks carries the reader from the early little quirks to the full blown falling apart, flying apart, exploding psychosis. In her jargon-free style, she describes the workings of the drugs (getting med-free, a constant motif) and the ideas of the therapists and physicians (psychologist, psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, cardiologist, endocrinologist).

From the centuries of torture of "lunatiks" at Bedlam Asylum to the infamous eugenics era to the follies of the anti-psychiatry movement to the current landscape in which too many families struggle alone to manage afflicted love ones, Powers limns our fears and myths about mental illness and the fractured public policies that have resulted. "― Ron Suskind, New York Times Book Review "[A] heartbreaking tribute to [Powers's] sons...and an urgent plea for reform. Reading Ron Powers is always an event--you can expect expert research and rich reporting in an engrossing style--but what makes this book soar is the passion of Powers' conviction based off his own intimate experiences with schizophrenia. "Ron Powers writes eloquently, passionately, and persuasively about the failure to properly treat mental illness in America. What makes this book really powerful is Powers's personal story-the harrowing, wrenching tale of his two sons wrestling with the unholy demon of schizophrenia. "Whether Ron Powers is writing about Mark Twain, small-town life in the Midwest, the state of television, or crime, his books resonate. "In telling this gripping and deeply personal story, Ron Powers puts chronic mental illness in the broad context of history, society, and public policy. "This is the book that Ron Powers, one of America's most elegant chroniclers, vowed he would never write. Ron Powers is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author.

Moving, harrowing, and ultimately uplifting, Lori Schiller's memoir is a classic testimony to the ravages of mental illness and the power of perseverance and courage. As the symptoms of her disease waxed and waned, Schiller was in and out of hospitals and treatment programs; her weight soared and she became dependent on cocaine. Entering a program at New York Hospital, she suggested to her therapist that she try a new drug, clozapine, which gradually helped her to cope with her illness.

Elyn R. Saks is an esteemed professor, lawyer, and psychiatrist and is the Orrin B. Evans Professor of Law, Psychology, Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences at the University of Southern California Law School, yet she has suffered from schizophrenia for most of her life, and still has ongoing major episodes of the illness. Her personal experience of a world in which she is both frightened and frightening is graphically drawn and leads directly to her advocacy of mental patients' civil rights as they confront compulsory medication, civil commitment, the abuse of restraints and the absurdities of the mental care system.

He spends time with a death-squad leader institutionalized for mortgage fraud in Coxsackie, New York; a legendary CEO whose psychopathy has been speculated about in the press; and a patient in an asylum for the criminally insane who insists he's sane and certainly not a psychopath. This book brings droll wit to buoy this fascinating journey through 'the madness business.'".

It’s truly moving, eye-opening, incredibly vivid.”—Jon Stewart, The Daily Show NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY. NPR • The Wall Street Journal • Bloomberg Business • Bookish. Written by Naoki Higashida, a very smart, very self-aware, and very charming thirteen-year-old boy with autism, it is a one-of-a-kind memoir that demonstrates how an autistic mind thinks, feels, perceives, and responds in ways few of us can imagine. Using an alphabet grid to painstakingly construct words, sentences, and thoughts that he is unable to speak out loud, Naoki answers even the most delicate questions that people want to know. In his introduction, bestselling novelist David Mitchell writes that Naoki’s words allowed him to feel, for the first time, as if his own autistic child was explaining what was happening in his mind. “It is no exaggeration to say that The Reason I Jump allowed me to round a corner in our relationship.” This translation was a labor of love by David and his wife, KA Yoshida, so they’d be able to share that feeling with friends, the wider autism community, and beyond. Andrew Solomon is the author of several books including Far From the Tree and The Noonday Demon . David Mitchell: Autism comes in a bewildering and shifting array of shapes, severities, colors and sizes, as you of all writers know, Dr. Solomon, but the common denominator is a difficulty in communication. While not belittling the Herculean work Naoki and his tutors and parents did when he was learning to type, I also think he got a lucky genetic/neural break: the manifestation of Naoki's autism just happens to be of a type that (a) permitted a cogent communicator to develop behind his initial speechlessness, and (b) then did not entomb this communicator by preventing him from writing. Language, sure, the means by which we communicate: but intelligence is to definition what Teflon is to warm cooking oil. I guess that people with autism who have no expressive language manifest their intelligence the same way you would if duct tape were put over your mouth and a 'Men in Black'-style memory zapper removed your ability to write: by identifying problems and solving them. The only other regular head-bender is the rendering of onomatopoeia, for which Japanese has a synaesthetic genius – not just animal sounds, but qualities of light, or texture, or motion. DM: Their inclusion was, I guess, an idea of the book's original Japanese editor, for whom I can't speak. But for me they provide little coffee breaks from the Q&A, as well as showing that Naoki can write creatively and in slightly different styles. DM: Naoki has had a number of other books about autism published in Japan, both prior to and after Jump . This involves him reading 2a presentation aloud, and taking questions from the audience, which he answers by typing. (I happen to know that in a city the size of Hiroshima, of well over a million people, there isn't a single doctor qualified to give a diagnosis of autism.). It’s truly moving, eye-opening, incredibly vivid.” —Jon Stewart, The Daily Show “Please don’t assume that The Reason I Jump is just another book for the crowded autism shelf. This is an intimate book, one that brings readers right into an autistic mind—what it’s like without boundaries of time, why cues and prompts are necessary, and why it’s so impossible to hold someone else’s hand. This book takes about ninety minutes to read, and it will stretch your vision of what it is to be human.” —Andrew Solomon, The Times (U.K.). [Naoki Higashida’s] startling, moving insights offer a rare look inside the autistic mind.” — Parade. With about one in 88 children identified with an autism spectrum disorder, and family, friends, and educators hungry for information, this inspiring book’s continued success seems inevitable.” — Publishers Weekly “We have our received ideas, we believe they correspond roughly to the way things are, then a book comes along that simply blows all this so-called knowledge out of the water. Once you understand how Higashida managed to write this book, you lose your heart to him.” — New Statesman (U.K.) “Astonishing. In Mitchell and Yoshida’s translation, [Higashida] comes across as a thoughtful writer with a lucid simplicity that is both childlike and lyrical. Higashida is living proof of something we should all remember: in every autistic child, however cut off and distant they may outwardly seem, there resides a warm, beating heart.” — Financial Times (U.K.) “Higashida’s child’s-eye view of autism is as much a winsome work of the imagination as it is a user’s manual for parents, carers and teachers. “ The Reason I Jump is a wise, beautiful, intimate and courageous explanation of autism as it is lived every day by one remarkable boy. Naoki Higashida takes us ‘behind the mirror’—his testimony should be read by parents, teachers, siblings, friends, and anybody who knows and loves an autistic person. I only wish I’d had this book to defend myself when I was Naoki’s age.” —Tim Page, author of Parallel Play and professor of journalism and music at the University of Southern California “[Higashida] illuminates his autism from within.

"[A]n absorbing journey through a psychiatrist’s dauntingly challenging first case of multiple personality disorder--from the beginning of therapy to stable integration and recovery." Soon Baer receives letters from others claiming to be parts of Karen. Told from Baer's perspective, the gripping accounts are brought to life in a remarkably understated reading by James that showcases his inherent performance ability. --Cameron West, bestselling author of FIRST PERSON PLURAL. “This is Dr. Baer’s incredibly moving and inspiring account of how his patient, Karen, drove herself to heal psychic wounds that surely would have devastated someone less resolute. “SWITCHING TIME takes the reader on an absorbing journey through a psychiatrist’s dauntingly challenging first case of multiple personality disorder -- from the beginning of therapy to stable integration and recovery.

"Some people might think that being 'furiously happy' is just an excuse to be stupid and irresponsible and invite a herd of kangaroos over to your house without telling your husband first because you suspect he would say no since he's never particularly liked kangaroos. And that would be ridiculous because no one would invite a herd of kangaroos into their house. I say he should have been clearer about that before I rented all those kangaroos. Furiously Happy is about "taking those moments when things are fine and making them amazing, because those moments are what make us who we are, and they're the same moments we take into battle with us when our brains declare war on our very existence. An Amazon Best Book of September 2015: Jenny Lawson follows up her marvelous debut Let’s Pretend This Never Happened with her determination to be furiously happy: she will seize the strangest and most glorious moments of her life while she stares down her depression, severe anxiety, avoidant personality disorder, and much more—and dares it to stop her. Then your stomach drops like an artillery shell when Lawson exposes the dark side of her mental illnesses: trying not to cut herself and holing up in her bedroom for days on end. Whether or not you too suffer from depression, you’ll turn the last page fired up by Lawson’s conviction that you can be furiously happy no matter what life hurls at you. But the two things you'll never do is doubt Jenny's brilliance or her fearlessness when it comes to having honest discussions about mental illness, shame, and the power of human resilience. She's changing the conversation one rented sloth at a time.” ― Brené Brown, Ph.D., LMSW, author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller, Daring Greatly.

All around us, every single day, human beings devoid of empathy are wreaking havoc and destroying lives in the coldest, most heartless ways imaginable. This significantly expanded edition of Psychopath Free contains new chapters, updated content, and real survivor experiences. It will open your eyes to human nature, our broken society, and, perhaps most important of all, your own spirit. It will unravel your deepest insecurities, leaving you with a lingering emptiness that haunts your every breath. They’re manipulative people—completely devoid of empathy—who intentionally cause harm to others without any sense of remorse or responsibility. And despite some differences between each disorder, the bottom line is that their relationship cycles can be predicted like clockwork: Idealize, Devalue, Discard. But life is a lot of fun these days—mostly just running around outside in my bathing suit and eating pizza. At PsychopathFree.com, we see new members join every single day, always with a seemingly hopeless and all-too-familiar tale. A stranger who takes pride in their own greatest qualities: empathy, compassion, and kindness. We have a uniquely inspiring user base, full of resilient values and honest friendships. Whether it be a whirlwind romance, a scheming coworker, an abusive family member, or a life-consuming affair, a relationship with a psychopath is always the same. Since the dawn of time, psychopaths have waged psychological warfare on others—humiliating and shaming kind, unsuspecting victims—people who never asked for it; people who aren’t even aware of the war until it’s over. Because if you want to spot toxic people, you cannot focus entirely on their behavior—that’s only half the battle. But you are expected to remain perfect, otherwise you will promptly be replaced and deemed unstable. If you point out their inappropriate behavior, they will always be quick to turn the conversation back on you. • You find yourself explaining the basic elements of human respect to a full-grown man or woman. Psychopaths often appear to be childlike and innocent, but don’t let this mask fool you. You thought you were the only one who could make them happy, but now you feel that anyone with a beating pulse could fit the role. They call you jealous after blatantly flirting with an ex—often done over social networking for the entire world to see. They use your manufactured reactions to garner sympathy from other targets, trying to prove how “hysterical” you’ve become. You probably once considered yourself to be an exceptionally easygoing person, but an encounter with a psychopath will (temporarily) turn that notion upside down. If they’re active on Facebook, you start scrolling back years on their posts and albums. The psychopath uses these people for money, resources, and attention—but the fan club won’t notice, because this person strategically distracts them with shallow praise. Normal couples argue to resolve issues, but psychopaths make it clear that negative conversations will jeopardize the relationship, especially ones regarding their behavior. After once showering you with nonstop attention and admiration, they suddenly seem completely bored by you. They treat you with silence and become very annoyed that you’re interested in continuing the passionate relationship that they created. You find yourself writing off most of their questionable behavior as accidental or insensitive, because you’re in constant competition with others for their attention and praise. They don’t seem to care when you leave their side—they can just as easily move on to the next source of energy. Any ex-partner or friend who did not come crawling back to them will likely be labeled jealous, bipolar, an alcoholic, or some other nasty smear. They once directed all of their attention to you, which makes it especially confusing when they begin to withdraw and focus on other people. If they’re active on social media, they’ll bait previously denounced exes with old songs, photos, and inside jokes. Like a chameleon, they mirror your hopes, dreams, and insecurities in order to form an immediate bond of trust and excitement. If you have a Facebook page, they might plaster it with songs, compliments, poems, and inside jokes. At first, they appeal to your deepest vanities and vulnerabilities, observing and mimicking exactly what they think you want to hear. There are fleeting moments when the charming, cute, innocent persona is replaced by something else entirely. At first, you might think they’re exciting and worldly, and you feel inferior for preferring familiarity and consistency. This makes you feel confused and creates the perception that the psychopath is in high demand at all times. From an early age, most of us were taught to identify physical mistreatment and blatant verbal insults, but with psychopaths, the abuse is not so obvious. Through personalized idealization and subtle devaluation, a psychopath can effectively erode the identity of any chosen target. From an outsider’s perspective, you will appear to have “lost it,” while the psychopath calmly walks away, completely unscathed. As my morning-coffee friend Rydia wrote: “They put forth as little effort as possible and then step it up when you try to disengage.”. • This person becomes your entire life. Despite the humble, sweet image they presented in the early stages, you start to notice an unmistakable air of superiority about them. They have no shame when it comes to flaunting new targets after the breakup, ensuring that you see how happy they are without you. They plant little seeds of poison, whispering about everyone, idealizing them to their face, and then complaining about them behind their backs. But once the relationship turns sour, they’ll run back to everyone they once insulted to you, lamenting about how crazy you’ve become. You tear apart your entire life—spending money, ending friendships, and searching for some sort of reason behind it all. After an encounter with a psychopath, most survivors face the struggle of hypervigilance: Who can really be trusted? You will wonder if you’ve gone absolutely mad—wanting to believe the best in an old friend or a new date, but feeling sick to your stomach when you actually spend time with them because you’re waiting for the manipulative behavior to start. Developing your intuition is a personal process, but I would leave you with this: the world is mostly full of good people, and you don’t want to miss out on that because you’ve been hurt. The work you’ll be doing will not only free you from the grasp of your abuser, but it will also enable you to reclaim yourself—the self that was trampled on, beaten down, and transformed into a shell of who you once were. As you begin this work, I strongly encourage you to seek out a recovery professional or a healing community. As you start to put the pieces together, you’ll feel devastated, miserable, and angry. As you frantically share your story, you latch on to the quickest and most sympathetic ear—anyone who claims to understand you. Those willing to listen to your psychopathic story for hours on end are, unfortunately, not likely to be people who are truly invested in your recovery. I would strongly urge all survivors to avoid seeking out new friendships and relationships for at least a few months. It takes breaking old habits, forming new ones, developing your intuition, and finally coming to understand what it is that you want from this world. If you encounter someone who’s constantly telling you who they are, how much they want to help you, how they will make things right for you, take a step back and look at their actual behavior. Their inappropriate and dishonest actions never actually match up with their promising words, causing an overwhelming cognitive dissonance in the people who trust them. In fact, I don’t think there’s any approach that will allow you to spot a psychopath with 100 percent confidence. Because most people might respond with a vague “fine” and follow up with a casual comment about their weekend, a promotion at work, or their favorite television show. You spend the day trying to keep your thoughts free from painful topics—only to find that your mind keeps racing right back to them. So when you feel those things after a relationship, does it really matter if your ex was a psychopath, a sociopath, a narcissist, or a garden-variety jerk? And here’s what you know from those feelings: someone uprooted your life, introducing a new kind of anxiety that you’ve never felt before. They’ve introduced you to a whole range of horrible emotions that make each day seem unbearable. During the relationship, you may have felt constantly on edge and unhinged, worried that any mistake could mark the end of your dream. Maybe you found yourself desperately comparing yourself to other people, trying to win back your rightful place by your partner’s side. You were tricked into falling in love—the strongest of all human bonds—so that your feelings could be more easily manipulated. Don’t listen to the folks who say your feelings should be totally independent of the world around you. As human beings, we have this incredible gift—the ability to make another person feel wonderful. It could be anyone—your mom, a close friend, your children, your cat, a deceased relative. When you’re away from your Constant, do you spend hours analyzing their behavior and defending yourself from hypothetical arguments? Once you become more comfortable with the idea, you’ll be ready to ask the most important question of all: Shouldn’t I feel this same kind of peace with everyone in my life? Perhaps most insidious of all the psychopath’s evils: their relationship cycle, during which they gleefully and systematically wipe out the identity of an unsuspecting victim. In a matter of weeks, they take over your entire life, consuming your mind and body with unrivaled pleasure. There are three key components to this process: idealization, indirect persuasion, and testing the waters. The idealization phase in a psychopathic relationship will be unlike anything you’ve ever experienced. You will be swept off your feet, lost in a passionate fantasy with someone who excites you on every level: emotionally, spiritually, and sexually. They will be the first thing on your mind when you wake up in the morning, waiting for their cheerful, funny texts to start your day. Jackson MacKenzie is the co-founder of PsychopathFree.com, an online support community that reaches millions of abuse survivors each month.

Groundbreaking and comprehensive, Driven to Distraction has been a lifeline to the approximately eighteen million Americans who are thought to have ADHD. This clear and valuable book dispels a variety of myths about attention deficit disorder (ADD). Since both authors have ADD themselves, and both are successful medical professionals, perhaps there's no surprise that the two myths they attack most persistently are: (a) that ADD is an issue only for children; and (b) that ADD corresponds simply to limited intelligence or limited self-discipline. Using numerous case studies and a discussion of the way ADD intersects with other conditions (e.g., depression, substance abuse, and obsessive-compulsive disorder), they paint a concrete picture of the syndrome's realities.