After Schizophrenia: The Story of My Sister's Reawakening After 30 Years - Softcover

Hawkins, Margaret

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98 ratings by Goodreads

9781573245357: After Schizophrenia: The Story of My Sister's Reawakening After 30 Years

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1573245356 ISBN 13: 9781573245357

Publisher: Red Wheel, 2011

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Schizophrenia affects more than 3 million American adults. Despite being classified as a severe mental illness, a brain disease that can be treated, it remains misunderstood. Schizophrenia still carries a stigma that too often devastates and silences families.

For 30 years, Margaret Hawkins' sister Barb lived cloistered in her family home in suburban Chicago, a prisoner of undiagnosed schizophrenia. Hearing voices and paralyzed with fear, she was never evaluated, never treated, and refused to leave the house.

After Schizophrenia is the story of Barb's descent into severe mental illness and the healing that has come only in recent years: after her parents' death when Margaret became her guardian. With uncanny grace and humor, Margaret chronicles her family's struggle with Barb's mental illness, the love that carried them through, and the virtual army of healthcare angels willing to come to Barb's aid. This is an extraordinary story of severe mental illness and the healing that is possible with prompt diagnosis, good drugs, good care, and a fierce belief in the power to get well.

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About the Author:

Margaret Hawkins teaches writing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and was an art critic for the Chicago SunTimes for more than two decades. She is also a Chicago correspondent for ARTnews. Her essays have appeared in a variety of national publications. Her debut novel, A Year of Cats and Dogs, published last year to strong reviews and her new novel, How to Survive a Natural Disaster, publishes this fall.
Carolyn S. Spiro, MD is a coauthor of Divided Minds.

From the Foreword:

"My advice: Read this book. If your light isn't blown into flame after reading it the first time, Read It Again. Then, buy it for a friend. As a thank you gift." -Carolyn Spiro, MD, author of Divided Minds: Twin Sisters and Their Journey Through Schizophrenia

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