Book Displays: 5.24 Mental Health Awareness

Despite widespread recognition that the majority of homeless women suffer from severe mental and emotional trauma, our healthcare system has essentially left them untreated--other than to mask their symptoms with psychiatric drugs. Why? And what can be done about it? Addressing this issue, Laura Huey and Rose Ricciardelli not only present an integrated analysis of the ways that the system is failing homeless women, but also propose a sensible alternative to the status quo.

In 1976, Ben Martini was diagnosed with schizophrenia. A decade later, his brother Olivier was told he had the same disease. For the past thirty years the Martini family has struggled to comprehend and cope with a devastating illness, frustrated by a health care system lacking in resources and empathy, the imperfect science of medication, and the strain of mental illness on familial relationships. Throughout it all, Olivier, an accomplished visual artist, drew. His sketches, comic strips, and portraits document his experience with, and capture the essence of, this all too frequently misunderstood disease. In Bitter Medicine, Olivier's poignant graphic narrative runs alongside and communicates with a written account of the past three decades by his younger brother, award-winning author and playwright Clem Martini. The result is a layered family memoir that faces head-on the stigma attached to mental illness. Shot through with wry humour and unapologetic in its politics, Bitter Medicine is the story of the Martini family, a polemical and poetic portrait of illness, and a vital and timely call for action.

Acclaimed author and renowned psychiatrist Irvin D. Yalom distills thirty-five years of psychotherapy wisdom into one brilliant volume. The culmination of master psychiatrist Dr. Irvin D. Yalom's more than thirty-five years in clinical practice, The Gift of Therapy is a remarkable and essential guidebook that illustrates through real case studies how patients and therapists alike can get the most out of therapy. The bestselling author of Love's Executioner shares his uniquely fresh approach and the valuable insights he has gained--presented as eighty-five personal and provocative "tips for beginner therapists," including: *Let the patient matter to you *Acknowledge your errors *Create a new therapy for each patient *Do home visits *(Almost) never make decisions for the patient *Freud was not always wrong A book aimed at enriching the therapeutic process for a new generation of patients and counselors, Yalom's Gift of Therapy is an entertaining, informative, and insightful read for anyone with an interest in the subject.

This is the first international handbook on Black community mental health, focussing on key issues including stereotypes in Mental health, misdiagnoses, and inequalities/discrimination around access, services and provisions. Making use of a cultural competence framework throughout, the book covers many of the classic mental health/developmental areas such as schizophrenia, mental health disorders, ASD and ADHD, but it also looks at more controversial areas in mental health, like inequalities, racism and discrimination both in practice and in graduate school training and the supervisory experiences of black students in universities. Unique among traditional academic texts addressing mental health, the book presents rich personal accounts from Black therapists and students. Many Black students who are training to become therapists or academics in mental health report negative experiences with white university staff in terms of a lack of support, encouragement, resulting in poor graduation outcomes.While institutional racism is a major issue both in society and universities, the editors of this Handbook take personal-level racism, microaggression and everyday racism as better models for understanding and analysing both these students; racialised interaction/communication experiences with white staff at university, as well as the racialised communications and inequalities in misdiagnoses, access to services and provisions in healthcare settings with white managers.

This book examines how the prison environment, architecture and culture can affect mental health as well as determine both the type and delivery of mental health services. It also discusses how non-medical practices, such as peer support and prison education programs, offer the possibility of transformative practice and support. By drawing on international contributions, it furthermore demonstrates how mental health in prisons is affected by wider socio-economic and cultural factors, and how in recent years neo-liberalism has abandoned, criminalised and contained large numbers of the world's most marginalised and vulnerable populations. Overall, this collection challenges the dominant narrative of individualism by focusing instead on the relationship between structural inequalities, suffering, survival and punishment. Chapter 2 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Recent research has found high levels of stress and burnout amongst medical students, leading to students dropping out or leaving the profession early. This book explores burnout in medical students from across the globe, and provides ideas for a model of care to help educators and individuals take steps towards better student wellbeing.

A poignant look at one woman's fight for herself, told in expressively scrawled drawings and commentary. Author Elizabeth Swados takes us on an intimate journey through her long-time struggle with depression that is by turns tender, funny, and uplifting, and will resonate with everyone affected by depression and those who love them. Through the author's charming and frenzied drawings, readers get a unique look into the experience of severe depression, from the black cloud forming in the horizon, to the strained relationships, the side effects of anti-depressants, and the difficulty getting out of bed and functioning. For the many people who suffer from depression, this is a reminder that they are not alone and that their experiences are legitimate and deserve to be part of mainstream awareness. This is an engaging and uplifting story of an illness that has been stigmatized for too long.

'Public Mental Health' provides a comprehensive introduction and reference for the public health approach to mental and behavioural disorders, and to promotion of mental health.

No Victorian portrait of nervous breakdown is more celebrated than John Stuart Mill's description of his own crisis recounted in his Autobiography. But Mill was only the most notable British Victorian to suffer from "shattered nerves," for depression appears again and again in nineteenth-century history and literature, among men and women of all classes. It was a problem that doctors struggled to understand and treat--largely unsuccessfully. Their debates over the nature of depression, Janet Oppenheim writes, offer us a unique window on the Victorian mind. In "Shattered Nerves", Oppenheim looks at how British doctors and patients tried to make sense of depression in an era of limited psychological knowledge and intense social prejudices. Ranging from the dawn of the Victorian era to the First World War, she draws on letters, memoirs, medical reports, literature, and many other sources to paint a detailed portrait of the slowly evolving knowledge of mental illness. She reveals how a host of "nerve specialists" searched for the physical causes of mental depression--even the term "nervous breakdown" came from the belief that mental health depended on maintaining supplies of "nerve force," much like recharging a battery. Especially interesting are her rich descriptions of the impact of Victorian prejudices on the ways in which doctors and patients viewed depression. Overwork and worries about money and other manly responsibilities were seen as acceptable causes of nervous collapse among men--in contrast to the range of sexual causes, including masturbation, which Victorian doctors frequently found at the root of male mental illness. Women, it was assumed, were naturally prone to hysteria and depression--and if they made the mistake of competing with men or pursuing higher education, then mental derangement was sure to follow. On the other hand, Oppenheim also reveals a number of surprises about Victorian medical thinking: For instance, even though Freud's revolution went largely ignored in Britain before the First World War, many physicians considered sexual abstinence to be unhealthy. She also points out that anorexia nervosa was identified as early as 1873 and was extensively discussed before the turn of the century. The nineteenth century was a critical period in the evolution of modern thought about the mind and the body, an era when medical knowledge grew rapidly but human psychology remained enigmatic. In exploring how Victorians addressed this problem, "Shattered Nerves" provides valuable insight into the way they saw their world.

Anxious Americans have increasingly pursued peace of mind through pills and prescriptions. In 2006, the National Institute of Mental Health estimated that 40 million adult Americans suffer from an anxiety disorder in any given year: more than double the number thought to have such a disorder in 2001. Anti-anxiety drugs are a billion-dollar business. Yet as recently as 1955, when the first tranquilizer--Miltown--went on the market, pharmaceutical executives worried that there wouldn't be interest in anxiety-relief. At mid-century, talk therapy remained the treatment of choice. But Miltown became a sensation--the first psychotropic blockbuster in United States history. By 1957, Americans had filled 36 million prescriptions. Patients seeking made-to-order tranquility emptied drugstores, forcing pharmacists to post signs reading "more Miltown tomorrow." The drug's financial success and cultural impact revolutionized perceptions of anxiety and its treatment, inspiring the development of other lifestyle drugs including Valium and Prozac. InThe Age of Anxiety, Andrea Tone draws on a broad array of original sources--manufacturers' files, FDA reports, letters, government investigations, and interviews with inventors, physicians, patients, and activists--to provide the first comprehensive account of the rise of America's tranquilizer culture. She transports readers from the bomb shelters of the Cold War to the scientific optimism of the Baby Boomers, to the "just say no" Puritanism of the late 1970s and 1980s. A vibrant history of America's long and turbulent affair with tranquilizers,The Age of Anxiety casts new light on what it has meant to seek synthetic solutions to everyday angst.

As American Melancholy reveals, if you read about depression anywhere today--medical journal, popular magazine, National Institute of Mental Health pamphlet, or pharmaceutical company drug promotional literature--you will find three main pieces of information either explicitly stated or strongly implied: depression is a disease (like any other physical disease); it is extraordinarily prevalent in the world; and it occurs about twice as frequently in women as in men. Yet, depression was not classified as a disease until the 1980 publication of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-III (DSM-III). How is it that such an illness, thought to affect between 14 and 17 million Americans, was not specifically defined until the late twentieth century? American Melancholy traces the growth of depression as an object of medical study and as a consumer commodity and illustrates how and why depression came to be such a huge medical, social, and cultural phenomenon. It is the first book to address gender issues in the construction of depression, explores key questions of how its diagnosis was developed, how it has been used, and how we should question its application in American society.

Highly Commended in the 2018 British Medical Association Book Awards What is the difference between fear and excitement and how can you tell them apart? How do the mind and body make emotions? When can anxiety be good? This science-based graphic book addresses these questions and more, revealing just how strange anxiety is, but also how to unravel its mysteries and relieve its effects. Understanding how anxiety is created by our nervous system trying to protect us, and how our fight-or-flight mechanisms can get stuck, can significantly lessen the fear experienced during anxiety attacks. In this guide, anxiety is explained in an easy-to-understand, engaging graphic format with tips and strategies to relieve its symptoms, and change the mind's habits for a more positive outlook.

"I had the idea to make a comic about your experience of PTSD. I'd like to understand more about it and I think it could help other people too." In this illustrated conversation between Samuel C. Williams and his friend, Matt, they talk candidly about Matt's struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder. From scoping out quick exits in coffee shops to re-experiencing traumatic events through triggers as seemingly insignificant as a sound or smell, Matt describes his unique experiences of the condition, how he has learnt to cope with it, and his new career path. This comic will offer support and understanding to anyone who has been affected by PTSD no matter what the cause.

#1 New York Times bestseller "Essential reading for anyone interested in understanding and treating traumatic stress and the scope of its impact on society." --Alexander McFarlane, Director of the Centre for Traumatic Stress Studies A pioneering researcher transforms our understanding of trauma and offers a bold new paradigm for healing in this New York Times bestseller   Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world's foremost experts on trauma, has spent over three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he uses recent scientific advances to show how trauma literally reshapes both body and brain, compromising sufferers' capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust. He explores innovative treatments--from neurofeedback and meditation to sports, drama, and yoga--that offer new paths to recovery by activating the brain's natural neuroplasticity. Based on Dr. van der Kolk's own research and that of other leading specialists, The Body Keeps the Score exposes the tremendous power of our relationships both to hurt and to heal--and offers new hope for reclaiming lives.

From the bestselling author Philippa Perry, this compelling story of psychotherapy vividly explores what really happens between a client and therapist throughout a year of therapy sessions. Sharing fascinating insights into the thoughts of both therapist and client, this glorious, warm and witty graphic novel shows the reality of a therapeutic journey as we see their true emotions unfold and their relationship develop with every session. Beautifully illustrated by Flo Perry, this illuminating book offers an insightful and thought-provoking exploration of therapy, from both sides of the couch.

A story without words. A picture of everyday survival. It's getting dark early... The first book from Hannah Bradshaw, Dark Early is an artist's portrayal of depression, the allure of self-destruction, and the ability to recreate one's identity.

Eisner Award-nominated author Laura Lee Gulledge's The Dark Matter of Mona Starr isa bold and original YA graphic novel about one teen's battle to understand her mental illness--and find her creative genius. Sometimes, the world is too much for Mona Starr. She's sweet, geeky, and creative, but it's hard for her to make friends and connect with other people, and her depression seems to take on a vivid, concrete form. She calls it her Matter. The Matter seems to be everywhere, telling Mona she's not good enough and that everyone around her wishes she'd go away. But with therapy, art, writing, and the persistence of a few good friends, Mona starts to understand her Matter and how she can turn her fears into strengths. Heartfelt, emotionally vulnerable, and visually stunning, The Dark Matter of Mona Starr is a story about battling your inner doubts and fears--and finding your creative genius. "This immersive portrayal of a sensitive teen learning to live with mental illness will earn nods of recognition from readers coping with anxiety or depression but will also resonate with young people facing any fear." --School Library Journal (Starred Review)

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A literary tour de force that chronicles a prize-winning author's descent into an almost suicidal depression. "Compelling ... Harrowing ... a vivid portrait of a debilitating disorder ... It offers the solace of a shared experience."--The New York Times A work of great personal courage and a literary tour de force, this bestseller is Styron's true account of his experience of crippling depression. Styron is perhaps the first writer to convey the full terror of depression's psychic landscape, as well as the illuminating path to recovery.

Longlisted for Canada Reads; Finalist, City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize In this intimate and moving graphic memoir, Teresa Wong writes and illustrates the story of her struggle with postpartum depression in the form of a letter to her daughter Scarlet. Equal parts heartbreaking and funny, Dear Scarlet perfectly captures the quiet desperation of those suffering from PPD and the profound feelings of inadequacy and loss. As Teresa grapples with her fears and anxieties and grasps at potential remedies, coping mechanisms, and her mother's Chinese elixirs, we come to understand one woman's battle against the cruel dynamics of postpartum depression. Dear Scarlet is a poignant and deeply personal journey through the complexities of new motherhood, offering hope to those affected by PPD, as well as reassurance that they are not alone.

A love letter to those who dream of being fashionable but consider theirweight as an obstacle, this uplifting comic essay by a plus-sized authorchronicles her own journey with body positivity and learning to love herselfas she is.

Acclaimed author and renowned psychiatrist Irvin D. Yalom distills thirty-five years of psychotherapy wisdom into one brilliant volume. The culmination of master psychiatrist Dr. Irvin D. Yalom's more than thirty-five years in clinical practice, The Gift of Therapy is a remarkable and essential guidebook that illustrates through real case studies how patients and therapists alike can get the most out of therapy. The bestselling author of Love's Executioner shares his uniquely fresh approach and the valuable insights he has gained--presented as eighty-five personal and provocative "tips for beginner therapists," including: *Let the patient matter to you *Acknowledge your errors *Create a new therapy for each patient *Do home visits *(Almost) never make decisions for the patient *Freud was not always wrong A book aimed at enriching the therapeutic process for a new generation of patients and counselors, Yalom's Gift of Therapy is an entertaining, informative, and insightful read for anyone with an interest in the subject.

A Kirkus's Best Middle Grade Books of 2021 Pick From the author of The Deep & Dark Blue comes a tender graphic novel, perfect for our time, that gently explores themes of self-discovery, friendship, healing from tragedy, and hope for a better tomorrow. Struggling with anxiety after witnessing a harrowing instance of gun violence, Manuel Soto copes through photography, using his cell-phone camera to find anchors that keep him grounded. His days are a lonely, latchkey monotony until he's teamed with his classmates, Sebastian and Caysha, for a group project. Sebastian lives on a grass-fed cattle farm outside of town, and Manuel finds solace in the open fields and in the antics of the newborn calf Sebastian is hand-raising. As Manuel aides his new friends in their preparations for the local county fair, he learns to open up, confronts his deepest fears, and even finds first love. This title will be simultaneously available in paperback.

How do you know if you're on the verge of a nervous breakdown? For seventeen-year-old Stacy Black, it all begins with the smashing of a window. After putting her fist through the glass, she checks into a mental hospital. Stacy hates it there but despite herself slowly realizes she has to face the reasons for her depression to stop from self-destructing. Based on the author's experiences,How I Made it to Eighteen is a frank portrait of what it's like to struggle with self-esteem, body image issues, drug addiction, and anxiety. How I Made It to Eighteen is a 2011 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

An insight into what it is like to live with the "Black Dog" and the strength and support that can be found within and around us to tame it.

The award-winning New York Times bestseller about the extraordinary things that can happen when we harness the power of both the brain and the heart   Growing up in the high desert of California, Jim Doty was poor, with an alcoholic father and a mother chronically depressed and paralyzed by a stroke. Today he is the director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at Stanford University, of which the Dalai Lama is a founding benefactor. But back then his life was at a dead end until at twelve he wandered into a magic shop looking for a plastic thumb. Instead he met Ruth, a woman who taught him a series of exercises to ease his own suffering and manifest his greatest desires. Her final mandate was that he keep his heart open and teach these techniques to others. She gave him his first glimpse of the unique relationship between the brain and the heart.   Doty would go on to put Ruth's practices to work with extraordinary results--power and wealth that he could only imagine as a twelve-year-old, riding his orange Sting-Ray bike. But he neglects Ruth's most important lesson, to keep his heart open, with disastrous results--until he has the opportunity to make a spectacular charitable contribution that will virtually ruin him. Part memoir, part science, part inspiration, and part practical instruction, Into the Magic Shop shows us how we can fundamentally change our lives by first changing our brains and our hearts.  

Nominated for 2023 Eisner Awards in the Best Graphic Memoir and Best Writer/Artist categories Nominated for the 2023 Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award Included in Forbes' "The Best Graphic Novels of 2022" list   "Thorogood elevates the dark material with her expressive use of the comics medium and the urgency of her voice. One to watch for the 2020s." --Forbes "This has the force of a fist punching through the page." --Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) "Thorogood taps into sensation and the way that it is experienced in a way that is unlike anything I've seen before. It's astonishing." -- AIPT (review link)   Cartoonist Zoe Thorogood records six months of her own life as it falls apart in a desperate attempt to put it back together again in the only way she knows how. IT'S LONELY AT THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH is an intimate and metanarrative look into the life of a selfish artist who must create for her own survival. A poignant and original depiction of a young woman's struggle with mental health--through the ups and downs of anxiety, depression, and imposter syndrome--as she forges a promising career in sequential art and finds herself along the way.  

A groundbreaking approach to transforming traumatic legacies passed down in families over generations, by an acclaimed expert in the field Depression. Anxiety. Chronic Pain. Phobias. Obsessive thoughts. The evidence is compelling- the roots of these difficulties may not reside in our immediate life experience or in chemical imbalances in our brains-but in the lives of our parents, grandparents, and even great-grandparents. The latest scientific research, now making headlines, supports what many have long intuited-that traumatic experience can be passed down through generations. It Didn't Start with You builds on the work of leading experts in post-traumatic stress, including Mount Sinai School of Medicine neuroscientist Rachel Yehuda and psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk, author of The Body Keeps the Score. Even if the person who suffered the original trauma has died, or the story has been forgotten or silenced, memory and feelings can live on. These emotional legacies are often hidden, encoded in everything from gene expression to everyday language, and they play a far greater role in our emotional and physical health than has ever before been understood. As a pioneer in the field of inherited family trauma, Mark Wolynn has worked with individuals and groups on a therapeutic level for over twenty years. It Didn't Start with You offers a pragmatic and prescriptive guide to his method, the Core Language Approach. Diagnostic self-inventories provide a way to uncover the fears and anxieties conveyed through everyday words, behaviors, and physical symptoms. Techniques for developing a genogram or extended family tree create a map of experiences going back through the generations. And visualization, active imagination, and direct dialogue create pathways to reconnection, integration, and reclaiming life and health. It Didn't Start With You is a transformative approach to resolving longstanding difficulties that in many cases, traditional therapy, drugs, or other interventions have not had the capacity to touch.

Cartoonist Jesse Reklaw's other books (LOVF, Couch Tag) have dug deep into the themes of childhood trauma and mental illness. This new collection of diary comic strips takes the concept of "art as therapy" even further, as Reklaw uses the comics form to help maintain stability in his everyday life.

Renowned astronomer Maggie Hill is giving a lecture about her career, to inspire young women to work in science. She's also attending her first ever therapy session in order to overcome some debilitating anxiety. These events force Maggie to examine her greatest achievements and biggest regrets as she tackles space science, mental health, and communication - both interpersonal and intergalactic. A new comic about legacy, loss, human curiosity and the economics of failure - adapted by illustrator Lizzy Stewart and writer Molly Naylor from Naylor's play of the same name.

A physician shares the darkest depths of his depression, suicidal ideation, addiction, and the important lessons he learned through years of personal recovery. Pediatric oncologist and palliative care physician Dr. Adam B. Hill suffered despair and disillusionment with the culture of medicine, culminating in a spiral of depression, alcoholism, and an active suicidal plan. Then while in recovery from active addiction, he lost a colleague to suicide, further revealing the extent of the secrecy and broken systems contributing to an epidemic of professional distress within the medical field.  By sharing his harrowing story, Dr. Hill helps identify the barriers and obstacles standing in the way of mental health recovery, while pleading for a revolutionary new approach to how we treat individuals in substance use recovery. In fighting stereotypes/stigma and teaching vulnerability, compassion, and empathy, Hill's work is being lauded as a road map for better practices at a time when medical professionals around the world are struggling in silence.

"an inventive and introspective memoir . . . crafted with equal parts mystery, honesty, and empathy." --Publishers Weekly Once, years ago, while walking her dogs in the woods, Elizabeth found a dead body.  Trauma can make truth hard to find.Have you ever experienced a terror, grief, or confusion so great that when you try to share it you can only find shattered images floating in darkness? You try over and over, but can't tell the story, to yourself or to anyone else. Look Again presents us with six variations of the same event, seen through the different lenses caused by other life revelations. It explores the fragmenting nature of trauma by tracing the convoluted evolution of the author's story, a process often experienced by trauma sufferers and their loved ones.

Cartoonist Ellen Forney explores the relationship between "crazy" and "creative" in this graphic memoir of her bipolar disorder, woven with stories of famous bipolar artists and writers.   Shortly before her thirtieth birthday, Forney was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Flagrantly manic and terrified that medications would cause her to lose creativity, she began a years-long struggle to find mental stability while retaining her passions and creativity. Searching to make sense of the popular concept of the crazy artist, she finds inspiration from the lives and work of other artists and writers who suffered from mood disorders, including Vincent van Gogh, Georgia O'Keeffe, William Styron, and Sylvia Plath. She also researches the clinical aspects of bipolar disorder, including the strengths and limitations of various treatments and medications, and what studies tell us about the conundrum of attempting to "cure" an otherwise brilliant mind. Darkly funny and intensely personal, Forney's memoir provides a visceral glimpse into the effects of a mood disorder on an artist's work, as she shares her own story through bold black-and-white images and evocative prose.

In the insightful narrative tradition of Oliver Sacks, Monkey Mind is an uplifting, smart, and very funny memoir of life with anxiety--America's most common psychological complaint. Daniel Smith's Monkey Mind is the stunning articulation of what it is like to live with anxiety. As he travels through anxiety's demonic layers, Smith defangs the disorder with great humor and evocatively expresses its self-destructive absurdities and painful internal coherence. Aaron Beck, the most influential doctor in modern psychotherapy, says that "Monkey Mind does for anxiety what William Styron's Darkness Visible did for depression." Neurologist and bestselling writer Oliver Sacks says, "I read Monkey Mind with admiration for its bravery and clarity....I broke out into explosive laughter again and again." Here, finally, comes relief and recognition to all those who want someone to put what they feel, or what their loved ones feel, into words.

A deeply emotional graphic memoir of a young woman's struggles with self-esteem and body image issues. All Marie-Noëlle wants is to be thin and beautiful. She wishes that her thighs were slimmer, that her stomach lay flatter. Maybe then her parents wouldn't make fun of her eating habits at family dinners, the girls at school wouldn't call her ugly, and the boy she likes would ask her out. This all-too-relatable memoir follows Marie-Noëlle from childhood to her twenties, as she navigates what it means to be born into a body that doesn't fall within society's beauty standards. When, as a young teen, Marie-Noëlle begins a fitness regime in an effort to change her body, her obsession with her weight and size only grows and she begins having suicidal thoughts. Fortunately for Marie-Noëlle, a friend points her in the direction of therapy, and slowly, she begins to realize that she doesn't need the approval of others to feel whole. Marie-Noëlle Hébert's debut graphic memoir is visually stunning and drawn entirely in graphite pencil, depicting a deeply personal and emotional journey that encourages us to all be ourselves without apology. Key Text Features graphic novel comic style

With uncommon humanity, candor, wit, and erudition, award-winning author Andrew Solomon takes the reader on a journey of incomparable range and resonance into the most pervasive of family secrets. His contribution to our understanding not only of mental illness but also of the human condition is truly stunning.The Noonday Demon examines depression in personal, cultural, and scientific terms. Drawing on his own struggles with the illness and interviews with fellow sufferers, doctors and scientists, policymakers and politicians, drug designers and philosophers, Solomon reveals the subtle complexities and sheer agony of the disease. He confronts the challenge of defining the illness and describes the vast range of available medications, the efficacy of alternative treatments, and the impact the malady has had on various demographic populations around the world and throughout history. He also explores the thorny patch of moral and ethical questions posed by emerging biological explanations for mental illness.The depth of human experience Solomon chronicles, the range of his intelligence, and his boundless curiosity and compassion will change the reader's view of the world.

"And suddenly I am flooded... terror, shame, despair, horror, disgust." "How can I talk about things I can't pin down?" With subtlety and sensitivity, this powerful graphic novel draws the reader into the experience of trauma and dissociation caused by sexual violence. It reveals the intrusive traumatic memories and distress experienced by a victim of childhood sexual exploitation in her adulthood and follows the process of coming to terms with her past through therapy and art. Positive and hopeful at its heart, it demonstrates her ability to be a good parent irrespective of mental health struggles and explores the importance of relationships with people in the present. Tackling complex issues including the nature of traumatic memory, self-harm, victim-blaming, racism in the police, health and education services and the media's impact, this graphic novel reveals how the past can be triggered by the present and how victims of sexual abuse can be excellent parents and successful in life in spite of this.

The extraordinary story of a young man's struggle to reconstruct his father's past. A devastating mental illness with no known cure, schizophrenia strikes people in the prime of their lives.  For Charles Lachenmeyer, its onset was a life-altering event. In 1978, Charles was a happily married professor of sociology who lived in the New York suburbs with his wife and his nine-year-old son, Nathaniel.  He seemed to have everything: a promising career, a loving family, and a comfortable home.  But underneath his sociable exterior, Charles' world was falling apart.  Within a few short years, schizophrenia would cost him everything: his sanity, his career, his family, even the roof over his head. In 1981, Charles and his wife divorced.  Haunted by the belief that his wife and the CIA were co-conspirators in a plot to control his thoughts and steal his sociological research, Charles left New York, seeking refuge in cities throughout the Northeast.  Over the years, he traveled from city to city, passing in and out of psychiatric hospitals, all the while trying unsuccessfully to return to academia.  He continued to correspond with his son, but as Charles' symptoms became more severe, what had once been a close father/son relationship changed dramatically.   In 1989, overwhelmed and emotionally drained by his father's erratic behavior and bizarre beliefs, Nathaniel finally broke off all contact, writing: "I can't live in your world, and you can't live in mine."  Four years later, Charles was living on the streets. This powerful story is the result of the author's painstaking efforts, upon learning of his father's death in 1995 and his time on the streets, to retrace Charles Lachenmeyer's movements in the years after he left the family, and to find a way into the alien world in which he lived.  As Nathaniel Lachenmeyer gradually weaves together the scattered pieces of his father's life, what emerges is the compelling story of a son struggling to understand what happened to his father, and to know the man he became. The Outsider is an unsentimental yet profoundly moving look at one family's experience with mental illness.  Rich in imagery and poignant symbolism, and framed by the author's highly personal dialogue with the reader, The Outsider moves beyond more straightforward accounts of mental illness to create a suspenseful and moving account of a son's search for the truth behind his father's haunted, solitary existence.  It is a beautifully written memoir of a father's fight to survive with dignity, and a son's struggle to know the father he lost to schizophrenia long before he finally lost him to death.

Bastien is eight years old, and his mother is ill. Sheoften has what his father and grandparents call "episodes." She screams andfights, scratches and spits, and has to be carted away to specialized clinicsfor frequent treatments. Bastien doesn't like it when she goes, because when shecomes home, she isn't the same. She has no feelings, no desires, and not muchinterest in him. According to the doctors, Bastien's mother suffers from"bipolar disorder with schizophrenic tendencies," but he prefers to imagine heras a comic-book heroine, like Jean Grey, who may become Dark Phoenix and explodein a superhuman fury at any moment. Based on thecreator's own childhood experiences, The Parakeet is the story of a boy whoseonly refuge from life's harsh realities lies in his imagination. In his eyes, wesee the confusion and heartache he feels as he watches his mother's illnessworsen and the treatments fail. Through his eyes, we see how mental illness canboth tear families apart and reaffirm the bonds of love. Poignant yet playful,The Parakeet follows Bastien's struggle to accept the mother he has whilewishing for the mother he needs.

Psychiatric Tales draws on Darryl Cunningham's time working in a psychiatric ward to give a reasoned and sympathetic look into the world of mental illness. In each chapter, Cunningham explores a different mental health problem, using evocative imagery to describe the experience of mental illness, both from the point of view of those beset by illness and their friends and relatives. As Cunningham reveals this human experience, he also shows how society's perceptions of and reactions to mental illness perpetuate needless stigma, for example, the myth that schizophrenic people are more likely to commit crimes than non-schizophrenic people. Psychiatric Tales is a groundbreaking graphic work; it deftly demythologizes and destigmatizes the disorders that 26.2 percent of American adults live with every day. Concluding with a reflection on how mental illness has affected his own life, Darryl Cunningham's Psychiatric Tales is a moving, engaging examination of what is, at its root, the human condition. Darryl Cunningham is the creator of the Web comics Super-Sam and John-of-the-Night and The Streets of San Diablo. He is a prolific cartoonist, sculptor, and photographer, and lives in Leeds, England. This is his first book.

Singelin's PTSD is an adult fiction graphic novel that grapples with the reality of being a war veteran about a traumatized war vet who must fend for herself against all odds. After returning home from an unpopular war, Jun becomes an outsider in an indifferent world. Alone, desperate, and suffering from wounds both mental and physical, she seeks relief in the illicit drugs she manages to purchase or steal. Jun's tough exterior served her well in combat, but she'll need to nurture her vulnerability and humanity to survive at home. With the support of her fellow vets, the kindness of a stranger who refuses to turn away, and the companionship of a dog named Red, Jun learns to navigate the psychological trauma that she experienced in the war.

Rock Steady: Brilliant Advice From My Bipolar Life is the eagerly awaited sequel/ companion book to Forney's 2012 best-selling graphic memoir, Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me. Whereas Marbles was a memoir about her bipolar disorder, Rock Steady turns the focus outward, offering a self-help survival guide of tips, tricks and tools by someone who has been through it all and come through stronger for it.

"Psychologist Scarlet, a childhood survivor of the Chernobyl nuclear explosion, draws on the techniques of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) in this innovative approach to helping readers with emotional and psychological difficulties."  --Publishers Weekly "Eye-catching art and a focus on setting simple, achievable daily goals, makes this a promising alternative to more conventional self-help programs." --Booklist Winner of the United Nations Association's Eleonor Roosevelt Human Rights Award! A hero's journey always begins with a struggle--what's yours? For the first time ever, psychologist Janina Scarlet and Marvel and DC Comics illustrator Wellinton Alves join forces to create Superhero Therapy--a dynamic, illustrated introduction to acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to help you vanquish your inner monsters, explore your unique superpowers, and become a Superhero questing for what matters to you. Haven't you ever wanted to be a Superhero? Wished that you could have amazing superpowers, such as super-strength, the ability to fly, or the ability to heal people? Or maybe you wished that you could travel through time and space, enjoying the many adventures that you would encounter along the way? Many of us wish we had special abilities to help us navigate through life--especially when super villains like anxiety, depression, anger, or shame make an appearance. This fun, unique, and "outside-the-box" self-help guide provides everything you need to begin your very own superhero training using evidence-based ACT and mindfulness skills. Within these colorful pages, you'll team up with a group of troubled heroes--inspired by both fictional characters and real-life people--enlisted at the Superhero Training Academy. By learning to face up to their inner villains and monsters, these characters will inspire you to overcome your problems as well. When you're finished, you'll have a slew of new tools you can use--like mindfulness, self-compassion, and values--to help you conquer whatever life throws your way. Sometimes life is hard, and it takes super inner super strength to succeed and reach your goals. With this fun and unique guide under your belt, nothing will stand in your way.  

Founded in 1956, the French psychiatric clinic La Chesnaie is an open and welcoming facility that houses about one hundred people of all ages. It provides traditional forms of care for people with serious mental illness, but it does so in a uniquely supportive environment where patients and caregivers participate equally in the day-to-day operations of the clinic. The driving force of La Chesnaie is the "Club," a nonprofit organization serving as a liaison between the clinic and the outside world. It arranges cultural and recreational outings for the patients as well as activities like concerts and exhibitions that bring the public to La Chesnaie. As a result, days at the clinic are quite lively and never routine. Author Aurélien Ducoudray and illustrator Jeff Pourquié immersed themselves for a time in the culture of La Chesnaie. Like everyone there, including the patients, supervisors, and caregivers, they took part in the daily chores of the clinic, cooking and cleaning. They participated in group events and even led a comics workshop to teach the residents about their craft. The Third Population is the engaging, inspiring, and often poignantly funny result of this project. The Third Population is a sensitive and uncompromising portrayal of daily life in this singular psychiatric health facility where patients are encouraged to build human relationships in spite of the difficulties that mental illness can pose. As the supervisors and caregivers take part in the daily activities of their patients, differences are erased and empathic bonds are formed, with the result that sometimes it is difficult to distinguish the patients from the caregivers.

Among the many challenges faced by therapists today is the treatment of trauma and abuse. Based upon a framework that integrates a wide range of therapeutic theories of PTSD and techniques, including Ericksonian, solution-oriented and hypnotherapeutic approaches, Tools for Transforming Trauma provides clinicians with specific skills for treating traumatized individuals. Detailed, how-to instructions and rationales for the implementation of over 30 "tools" throughout the different phases of treatment make this book an ideal resource for anyone working with trauma, abuse, and dissociative disorders. In this unique integration of approaches, Dr. Schwarz provides the reader with tools for transforming trauma in diverse areas such as affect dysregulation, ego strengthening, transforming negative memories, the false memory controversy, working with beliefs, cultivating a positive life, energy work, spirituality, and managing the therapeutic relationship during the process of healing.

Combining scientific and clinical perspectives, this volume brings together leading authorities on complex traumatic stress and its treatment in adults. Contributors review the research that supports the conceptualization of complex traumatic stress as distinct from PTSD. They explore the pathways by which chronic trauma can affect psychological development, attachment security, and adult relationships. Chapters describe evidence-based assessment tools and an array of treatment models for individuals, couples, families, and groups. See also Drs. Courtois and Ford's authored book, Treatment of Complex Trauma, which presents their own therapeutic approach for adult clients in depth, and their edited volume Treating Complex Traumatic Stress Disorders in Children and Adolescents.

Josh thought he was living the artist's dream. The young, ambitious comic book creator had a hip Portland apartment, an affectionate fiancé, and his whole life ahead of him. Until the night he finds himself on Burnside Bridge, willing himself to jump. How did he get here? Two Stories is a confessional graphic memoir that grapples with questions of faith, mental illness, depravity, and, ultimately, redemption in a fallen world.

The true-life story of a psychotherapist who suffered clinical depression and agreed eventually to undergo electro shock therapy. The book through humorous, heartbreaking and harrowing diary entries lays bare the depths and dimension of severe clinical depression.

A graphic medicine book looking at how Psychoanalytic, Jungian, Feminist, Narrative, and Mindfulness theory address Vicarious Trauma. Each of these theoretical concepts has something to offer in how to process difficult experiences. Are you feeling unable to integrate what you hear from your clients? It keeps you up at night? You are isolating from your friends and family because you are so exhausted? You have become more spiritual or agnostic trying to make sense of the pain and suffering you have heard about? All of these are common responses of Vicarious Trauma. Your told by your boss to remember "Self Care" but nothing seems to bring you back to the self you were before you started direct services work. At the end of each section, there is a directive to help you put theory into practice and take a deeper look at why these stories are impacting you. Drawing on my eight years as an Internship Supervisor for a Masters in Counseling, everything in this book has been tested and reworked with folks working with our most vulnerable populations. I would see students turn from bright-eyed new clinicians to dragging themselves to their placement sites and class feeling utterly hopeless about the system, their clients ability to "get better" and who they were as therapists. I had the term Vicarious Trauma, even felt it myself, seen it in my coworkers, but something there was something different watching it in weekly three hour chunks, one a face of a student paying a lot of money to train to be a therapist. I began researching protocols, of which there are many and no one has heard of them, and creating my own.

By being her anxious, honest, and just plain silly self, Jackie Davis' potato-shaped character proves that, even though opening up to others is scary at first, vulnerability can be a superpower. Vulnerability Is My Superpower features Jackie Davis's relatable diary comics about self-discovery, mental health, relationships, and childhood. From bouts with anxiety and insecurity to the thrill of simple pleasures like secretly trying on other people's coats at a party, she's figuring things out as she goes along, navigating domestic life with her husband, Pat (aka "the Purple Guy"), and sharing her most embarrassing thoughts and habits so you don't have to. For anyone who struggles with self-confidence or just likes to scrutinize the curious workings of relationships and everyday life, the confessional comic gems in this book invite laughter at even the most awkward and vulnerable moments while making you feel less alone.

What does it feel like to fall in love too hard and too fast, to hate yourself in equal and opposite measure? To live in such fear of rejection that you drive friends and lovers away? Welcome to my world. I'm Courtney, and I have borderline personality disorder (BPD), along with over four million other people in the United States. Though I've shown every classic symptom of the disorder since childhood, I wasn't properly diagnosed until nearly a decade later, because the prevailing theory is that most people simply "grow out of it." Not me. In my illustrated memoir, The Way She Feels: My Life on the Borderline in Pictures and Pieces, I share what it's been like to live and love with this disorder. Not just the hospitalizations, treatments, and residential therapy, but the moments I found comfort in cereal, the color pink, or mini corndogs; the days I couldn't style my hair because I thought the blow-dryer was going to hurt me; the peace I found when someone I love held me. This is a book about vulnerability, honesty, acceptance, and how to speak openly--not only with doctors, co-patients, friends, family, or partners, but also with ourselves.

Sophie Yanow, acclaimed creator of War of Streets and Houses, returns with another autobiographical tale of her trip to Iceland. Air travel in our environmentally fraught times is juxtaposed with her reflections on a relationship that ended a year prior.

Frank and full of gentle humour, Terian Koscik's graphic memoirshares her experiences of living with anxiety, finding the courage tosee a therapist, and learning more than she could have imagined. Evenin childhood, anxious thoughts would seep into Terian's day. Yetshe never thought that getting professional help was for her, simplyconcluding that her problems weren't "real" problems. Butwhen her anxiety finally became overwhelming, she knew it was time tosee a therapist. To her surprise, Terian learned endless copingtechniques through her therapy sessions. She shares how mindfulnessstrategies helped her and how "I" statements encouraged herto express feelings more openly. But perhaps the most important thingshe learned was that there really is no right way to feel.

"Willow Weep for Me is the powerful journey of a young black woman's descent into despair." "Meri Danquah, a "working-class broke," twenty-two-year-old single mother, began to suffer from a variety of depressive symptoms after she gave birth to her daughter, which led her to suspect that she might be going crazy. Understanding the importance of strength in a world that often undervalues black women's lives, she shrouded herself and her illness in silence and denial. But eventually, she could no longer deny the debilitating sadness that interfered with her ability to care for her daughter, to pursue her career as a writer, and to engage in personal relationships." "This book is a testimony to the universality of the severity of depression in any culture. Danquah writes with brutal honesty as she confronts her traumatic childhood events - sexual abuse, neglect, and loss - that lie beneath her grief. This is not simply a memoir about depression, it is a meditation on courage and a litany for survival."

If you're floundering in life, striking out in love, struggling to pay the rent, and worried about it all -- you're in luck! World Champion Worrier and Expert Insomniac Gemma Correll is here to assure you that it could be much, much worse. In her hugely popular comic drawings, Gemma Correll dispenses dubious advice and unreliable information on life as she sees it, including The Dystopian Zodiac, Reward Stickers for Grown-Ups, Palm Reading for Millennials, and a Map of the Introvert's Heart. For all you fellow agonizers, fretters, and nervous wrecks, this book is for you. Read it and weep...with laughter