- Paperback: 409 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins; 3rd edition edition (9 Nov 1994)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0060950765
- ISBN-13: 978-0060950767
- Product Dimensions: 20.3 x 13.5 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 717,372 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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"A comprehensive, realistic, and compassionate approach.....should be of tremendous value to anyone who must confront these questions." -Psychology Today"
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
The third edition of this indispensable manual thoroughly details everything patients, families, and mental health professionals need to know about one of the most widespread and misunderstood illnesses.
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First Sentence
Schizophrenia, I said. The word itself is ominous. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Schizophrenia, I said. The word itself is ominous. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is really a great book for anyone who has had to deal with schizopphrenia or any other kind of psychosis, whether in themselves or in their family members or friends. Torrey is the ultimate guide to understanding that serious mental disorders are brain diseases and that neither the sufferer nor his/her parents deserve any blame for causing them. Biopsychiatrists are often stereotyped as right-wing, simplistic and authoritarian. Torrey is none of these. While he criticises the extreme left he falls well within the economically liberal camp as an advocate of greater government spending to assist the menatlly ill. Contrary to popular stereotype, he does not view ALL unusual behavior as the reult of a brain disease, only that which meets reasonable criteria. For instance, cultural factors must be considered. Someone who has lived all of his/her life in a Hatian cultural setting is likely to believe in voodoo because it is part of the culture. A conserevative Catholic is likely to believe that the sacramental wine transforms into blood during the Mass, etc. These things seem unusual to outsiders, but are easily explained by social and cultural factors. But what about a WASP businessman in Connecticut who all of a sudden stars behaving in an agitated manner and saying that his neighbors are using curses on him? This would be a sign of a brain dirorder, since it exists outside of a social or cultural context and also because it leads to disordered behaior where genuine religious and cultural beliefs tend to give oder and meaning to life. Another problem Torrey addresses is the issue of metaphor and figurative language. We must ascertain whether the person who says that she has butterflies in her stomach literally believes this or is simply using the common English idiom to express nervousness and tension. Thus, it is imperative that native-born American psyhiatrists be trained to understand the cultures of their immigrant and minority patients and that immigrant psychiatrists be trained to! understand the culture of the majority population so that tragic misdiagnoses do not occur. When we have reason to believe that someone has schizophrenia or some other major mental/brain disorder it is necessary to get them on the proper medication and keep them on it. Torrey has done much to de-stigmatize psychiatric medication. Why is it so bizzare or shameful that an organ in you body (in this case the brain) has some kind of chemical imbalance and that you need medication to correct it so that you can live a normal life? We don't judge asthmatics or diabetics after all. It would be impossibe to mention all of the brilliant ponts that Torrey makes in the book, so at this point, I can only reccommend that people who's lives have been touched by mental illness read it and live by its advice.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book covers pretty much all the aspects of Schizophrenia. It details everything, starting with what it is like to have such an illness to outcomes and treatment of Schizophrenia.I found this book extremely accurate detailing what I myself experienced as a shizophrenia sufferer.
21 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I am a mother of a schizophrenic. Reading this book helped our family understand what was going on. We learned what was 'normal' behavior, what we could expect in the future, and how to lessen the stress this illiness created in our lives. I wish it was updated to include the wonderful results that some of the newest medicines can achieve. I need a new copy; I loaned out the other one to a nurse and never got it back!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Not sure about this...
I'm not sure what to make of this book - the anecdotes where certainly interesting, but I wasn't sure how typical they were. Read more
Published on 21 May 2004
Potentially harmful book of schizophrenia
Another example of a book that espouses the biological myth of schizophrenia. While I appreciate mental health providers are "on the same side", I can not agree that... Read more
Published on 22 Jun 1999
Info-packed and helpfull, around the corner.
While my mind was troubled, it did not search out more information about this disorder. For years I survived with old school information, now this book helped me to get a bigger... Read more
Published on 6 July 1998
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