Trending
May is Mental Health Month and the Peter White Public Library is engaged in Community Conversations around the topic of Mental Wellness.
Check out our website and Facebook page for events and activities for all ages around this topic. In the meantime, check out one of these books to learn more about how people can help themselves and other achieve mental wellness.
"You Are Not Alone" by Ken Duckworth is the first book published for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), a grassroots group that educates and supports people with mental illness and their families and caregivers. Duckworth writes this book with authority and compassion for individuals and families seeking expert guidance on diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. It features inspiring true stories from over 125 real people in their own words, sharing experiences that they have had as they continue on their journey towards mental wellness. It is a powerful reminder that you are never alone.
"The Concise Guide to Bipolar Disorder" by Francis Mark Mondimore is a detailed but small guide on everything you need to know about Bipolar Disorder. It starts with the definitions and types of Bipolar Disorder. Then, it goes into treatment methods such as medications, nutritional supplements, brain stimulating treatments as well as the importance of therapy and counseling. Mondimore also talks about recovery and staying well, how to live with the disorder and helping the patient and the family handle emergencies and family matters. Lastly, this concise book looks at what causes Bipolar Disorder and how treatments work. A must read for anyone with Bipolar Disorders and their families.
"Malady of the Mind" by Jeffrey A. Lierberman is a brilliant portrait of schizophrenia -- the most malignant and least understood mental illness-interweaves cultural and scientific history with dramatic patient portraits and clinical experiences to impart a revolutionary message of hope: that for the first time in human history, schizophrenia cannot just be effectively treated, but even prevented. The truth is that today's treatments have the potential to be game-changing and often lifesaving. In this rigorously researched, deeply compelling biography of schizophrenia, Dr. Jeffrey Lieberman tells the story of the past, present, and future of this historically dreaded, often disabling illness. Dr. Lieberman describes how the complexity of the brain, the checkered history of psychiatric medicine, and centuries of stigma combined with misguided legislation and health care policies have impeded scientific and clinical progress. And yet, there is hope: by offering evidence-based treatments that combine medication with psychosocial services, doctors are now able to effectively treat schizophrenia. A must-read for fans of psychological histories and anyone whose life has been affected by schizophrenia.
"The Way She Feels" by Courtney Cook is a witty debut graphic memoir of how the author is finding her way in life -- and herself -- one day at a time. The author describes her experience with Borderline Personality Disorder also known as BPD. Though she has shown every classic symptom of BPD since childhood, the author was not properly diagnosed until nearly a decade later, because the prevailing opinion that most people would say would is that she will "grow out of it." The author shares her story with BPD in a vulnerable way. It is just not the hospitalizations, treatments, and residential therapy, but true heartfelt feelings experienced by the author of this honest memoir. The book also shows how Cook was able to honestly and vulnerably speak openly with her doctors, co-patients, friends, family, partners, and more importantly with herself.
By Amy Salminen
Adult Services Department Head