Mermier, Martha Brinton

Coping with Severe Mental Illness: Families Speak Out

1993 0-7734-9285-2
This book describes the overwhelming problems families face in dealing with their relatives who suffer from psychiatric disorders. The majority of the text consists of direct anonymous quotations from a questionnaire mailed to families of hospitalized patients as well as results from interviews done in the course of the author's employment as a clinical social worker in a state hospital. There is an examination of the period when the illness first appears, and the difficulties of finding appropriate treatment and handling the patient's resistance to care are addressed in detail. It gives insight into the problems of daily living -- handling money, interpersonal relationships, marriage and work. It also examines the more unique aspects of psychiatric disorders, such as suicide, aggressive behavior, and frequent substance abuse.