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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
expert practical advice to carers of the mentally-ill, 21 Mar 2002
This is a book addressed to carers of people with serious mental illness such as schizophrenia, with the purpose of helping them to understand why their loved ones refuse to acknowledge their illness and therefore refuse the medications they need, often as a matter of life and death.In a very simply written and highly accessible style, Dr Xavier Amador, a professor of psychology with a mentally ill brother, discusses why the illness is denied and treatment refused. He advises carers how to help loved ones (as he prefers to call them rather than 'patients' or 'consumers') to accept treatment, when to commit or not to commit to hospital, and lastly how to keep the program of treatment in progress. The book is written with the help of Anna-Lisa Johanson, whose own mentally-ill mother suffered national humiliation as the stalker of a television celebrity until she took her own life, which is in itself a shocking endorsement of the need for this book to be read by the widest possible readership. Every page of the book analyses and explains yet another aspect the vast subject of serious mental illness, and how it impacts on patients and their carers. The simple and readily available program of treatment is represented by the acronym LEAP: Listen, Empathise, Agree, Partnership. The treatment of the question of 'when to commit?' is similarly effective. However, if one has a criticism, it would be that the level of confidence in local police being sympathetic to the actions of a mentally-ill person during an episode could be a little high. In many countries there have been incidents where police have been called to help with such a person but the outcome has been tragic. In short, a wonderful book of practical advice and suggestion written with deep compassion, providing carers with a renewed sense of hope through a practical program and the wider society with a heightened level of understanding.
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