The following books on mental health and recovery are recommended by NAMI WLA’s Family-to-Family class teachers.
An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay Redfield Jamison (1997) . On a psychiatrist’s own personal experience with bipolar disorder.
I’m Not Sick, I Don’t Need Help: How to Help Someone With Mental Illness Accept Treatment by Dr. Xavier Amador (2010). On the most effective ways to communicate and help loved ones who do not have insight into their mental health conditions.
A First-Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links Between Leadership and Mental Illness by Nassir Ghaemi (2011) . On the correlation between mental illness and successful leadership, with stories of political figures in history.
No One Cares About Crazy People: The Chaos and Heartbreak of Mental Health in America by Ron Powers (2017). On two boys diagnosed with schizophrenia and the challenges the family faced in the mental health system.
Crazy: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness by Pete Earley (2006). On the mental health system and criminal justice system and the challenges faced by a reporter trying to help his son.
The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness by Elyn R. Saks (2007). On a psychiatrist’s personal experience with paranoid schizophrenia.
Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness by William Styron (1990). On the author’s personal experience with clinical depression.
72-Hour Hold by Bebe Moore Campbell (2005). Fiction. On the experiences of a mother and her daughter, who has bipolar disorder.
Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction by David Sheff (2008). On the author’s experience with a son with methamphetamine addiction.
Personal Therapy for Schizophrenia and Related Disorders: A Guide to Individualized Treatment by Gerald E. Hogarty (2002). On effective, evidence-based psychotherapy for people with schizophrenia and related disorders.
Insane Consequences: How the Mental Health Industry Fails the Mentally Ill by DJ Jaffe (2017). On the state of our mental health system.
Madness in The Streets: How Psychiatry and the Law Abandoned the Mentally Ill by Rael Jean Isaac and Virginia C. Armature (1990). On the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill in the 1970s.
Noah’s Schizophrenia: A Mother’s Search for Truth by Kartar Diamond. On the author’s experience advocating for her son living with schizophrenia.
Laws We Need to Know: Understanding Rules and Programs for Persons with Mental Illness by Baron L. Miller. On the legal issues affecting persons with mental illness, from an attorney.
He Came with It: A Portrait of Motherhood and Madness by Miriam Feldman. On the author’s experience advocating for her son living with schizophrenia.
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