Recovery In Action | Winter 2019

In the fall of 2012 after 15 years of marriage and 18 years together, my husband and I decided to divorce. This was one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life. We have two wonderful sons together. The night we told the boys they cried.  I felt like a failure, but I knew I couldn’t live with this man any longer.

During the last 5 years he had become mentally and emotionally abusive. I couldn’t do anything right. It was never enough. The house was never clean enough. We never had enough money in the bank.

haiku

by Paul Teerlinck

Parched and haggard, he
Trudged to the river and gulped
The current of life.

I surrender now
Releasing the shackles of
Justified torment.

I have no demands
On the wind, nor do I have
A command for you.

Schizophrenia For Dummies was written by two professionals for those who care for people with schizophrenia. Even though I am not a caretaker, in fact I have schizophrenia, I found it very helpful. It was interesting to learn more about schizophrenia.

The first part of the book was about understanding schizophrenia and getting a proper diagnosis. This was fascinating to me because I was misdiagnosed for many years before finally getting the correct diagnosis.

My actual correct diagnosis is schizoaffective disorder. The book says this is not a form of schizophrenia, which I disagree with because my doctor told me it is. Schizoaffective disorder is basically schizophrenia mixed with a mood disorder. But before I was given the diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder, I was diagnosed as having depression, bipolar disorder, and several personality disorders. I was very thankful to finally get the correct label for my illness!

The next part of the book was about getting help and treatment for schizophrenia. Medical approaches, counseling, group therapy and research were all discussed. Then the authors discussed how to cope with schizophrenia in the family – supporting the loved one through the illness, finding housing, dealing with crisis situations and meeting the persons needs.

The book offers hope, helping caretakers understand that schizophrenia is no one’s fault and that people can and do recover from schizophrenia. I recommend this book to those who care for those with the illness as well as to those with the illness if they want to learn more about what’s going on with them. It is a clearly written and helpful book that provides much more information than I can summarize here.