Product Description
COMBAT SCHIZOPHRENIA WITH THE MEGAVITAMIN AND NUTRITIONALSTRATEGIES OF ORTHOMOLECULAR PSYCHIATRY - Schizophrenia is a diseaseand syndrome with biochemical origins that has the hallmarks ofdebilitating perceptual disorders and thoughtdisturbances. Orthomolecular psychiatry, a treatment strategy thatuses megadoses of vitamins B-3 and C in conjunction with correctnutrition, yields a 90 percent recovery rate in acute cases and up to50 percent in chronic patients. This guide by the cofounder oforthomolecular therapy offers a step-by-step approach so that patientsand their families will get the maximum benefits from treatment. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

It is very very helpful
I just received it today and jumped into reading it, it is very good little book and contains very useful information for me as I now can be quite confident to convince my best friend who is schizophrenic and his family to let him take it. I do believe that it would help him recover. It makes me feel so happy thinking about that. This book is just an evidence in paper and ink, in fact, I have been searching on Orthomolecular therapy for a while and my best friend has secretly taken it as my advice and it has been two weeks so far since he took it on and he has showed significant improvement! I strongly recommend this for people who suffered or have their family member or their friends suffering from schizophrenia.

Orthomolecular treatment saved our Marriage!!!
I am a Doctor with a wife, daughter, and wifes sister that all developed Schizophrenia. We have followed the typical Medical road for 20 years that included all types of Psychotropic Drugs, anti depressants, psychotherapy, that never really cured her disease, but just made her into a drugged out person.
And always caused severe side effects from the medications.
20 years ago we came across the orthomolecular approach, and now 20 years later, as long as I keep my family on megadoses of nutrition, they remain relatively symptom free! There is a definate corralation that people with mental illnesses have a brain chemistry that is out of balance, and many of them become niacin deficient and dependent. If anyone would like to hear more, feel free to email me @ wetrock@bellsouth.net.
Dr. Bob & Carol Waterstone

We should all thank Hoffer
Hoffer has done us all a service. Following his suggestions, even using lower doses of the recommended vitamins, has resulted in marked improvement in a family member's symptoms. The symptoms occurred after multiple jaw and teeth fractures left her anorexic. Five months after the accident that caused her mouth to be wired shut, she snapped. No one suggested pellagra could be involved, but she had the classic symptoms. Everyone is eager, chomping at the bit actually, to prescribe tranquilizers and anti-psychotics, some causing irreversible side effects, but I can find no one in N.C. so far who will consider orthomolecular treatment.Shame.
The only down side to having Hoffer's info is the frustration one faces trying to get health care providers in the U.S. to look at it. Living in the South, where pellagra was once epidemic (after the Civil War), you'd think they'd be the first to get it, but they seem, rather, the most resistant.
I'd like to see this as required reading at all university hospitals, especially in the South. In epidemiology courses at these schools they tell about the guy, Dr. Snow, who removed thepump handle from the water source he was sure was poisoning a community, causing Cholera.He was right. Sometimes the simpler and most resisted solution is the best one.

Very Helpful
I found this book to be very helpful.I was able to better advise my paitent. The nutrients discussed are common and easy to aquire.

Response to B. Chiko's statements
The study Chiko references is the 1973 APA report, one which was highly misleading, poorly designed and flawed. It used the wrong vitamins on the wrong patients, for all intents and purposes. To see a better explanation of why the 1973 report is misleading read Abram Hoffers retort to it 'megavitamin therapy'. it used niacin alone on chronic schizophrneics, bipolar patients & schizoaffective patients to prove that niacin & vitamin C (vitamin C reduces adrenochrome and is integral to treatment) doesn't work to treat acute schizohprenics. Using the wrong medications on the wrong patients usually doesn't work. Abram Hoffer claims in his 128 page retort to the 1973 report that nobody has recreated his studies (as of the mid 70s), all studies have been small and/or poorly designed, if not intentionally misleading like the 1973 studies. In fact, after one of the 1973 authors realized his study was poorly designed he created a well designed study and found benefits to niacin therapy. At the moment the US government is conducting a legitimate, unbiased, fair study of vitamin therapy for schizophrenia and the results should be ready by 2009. Anyone who wants to read Abram Hoffer's retort to the 1973 report should click on citation #13 under 'abram hoffer' in wikipedia. Understanding all sides of a story is necessary to making a good decision. I urge everyone here to read HOffers books, the 1973 report and HOffers 128 page retort to the 1973 retort. And always think critically while you are doing it, don't just accept one or the other at face value, always ask questions and ask for evidence.

Several recent research projects have also shown that the gene coding for the enzyme glutathione transferase, an enzyme that metabolizes adrenochrome, is defective in many acute schizophrneics. If this research continues to grow this adds weight to Dr. Hoffer's adrenochrome hypothesis. This could lead to a renewal of the adrenochrome hypothesis for the 21st century with gene therapy replacing niacin & vitamin C (for those who don't know, niacin & vitamin C remove toxic adrenochrome, which Hoffer feels is a major cause of schizophrenia).

As a society we must never mistake medical dogma for medical science. Just because an idea is weird or new doesn't make it bad or stupid. Germ theory was once weird and new too, and because of that it took a long time to catch on due to heavy resistance. With over 100,000 improved patients on niacin & vitamin C, a valid hypothesis and at least nine studies showing benefits of niacin/vitamin C deserves a place in the treatment of schizophrenia. But I'm sure some people will assume that all 100,000 patients who experienced improvements are just placebos.

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Product Description
Argus Ward is a former U.S. Secret Service agent who runs a protection agency catering to the rich and famous. His best-kept secret--which he shares with lawyers and doctors and even psychiatrists--is his status as a high-functioning paranoid schizophrenic. One day, with little warning, he turns psychotic for the first time in twenty years. Helands in a secure psychiatric facility, charged with the murder of his most famous client, high tech industry billionaire John Helms, the wealthiest man in America.

Argus has no memory of the killing. A blood test suggests to him that some unknown enemy had switched his anti-psychotic medication with identical-looking dummy pills to purposely drive him insane.

A sign of lingering paranoia? His doctor thinks so. Even his wife.

Yet Argus escapes incarceration to prove his theory. With the law on his trail and a ticking time bomb in his head--due to a lack of medication--he discovers that his disease had been "weaponized" by a powerful group to secretly assassinate John Helms as part of a multiple assassination conspiracy of world-wide significance.

Or has Argus simply lost his mind again? What in the end is "real" and what is only imagination in his story?

And what is justice for the criminally insane?

Come lose your grip on reality. Read CRACK-UP.

********

This ebook also contains bonus excerpts:

Chapter 1 of THE PROPHET MOTIVE by Eric Christopherson

Chapter 1 of FRAME-UP by Eric Christopherson and Brad Schoenfeld

Chapter 1 of ORIGIN by J.A. Konrath ... Read more

Customer Reviews (31)

Interesting Story, Poorly Edited
This book is in desperate need of a good editor. While I found the plot to be compelling I really struggled with how poorly written and edited this book was.

Hooked from the start
`"Listen to me, son," said the caller. My father? "Kill John Helms." Then he hung up.'

What happens when the lines between reality and delusion start to blur? Paranoid schizophrenic Argus Ward sees and hears things, but how much of it is real? What about the voices telling him to kill his most famous client...

Crack-up hooked me from the start. By the end, I was almost as paranoid as Argus. A fast-paced, excellently crafted thriller, gripping from start to finish. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Amazing, Original Thriller
This is an amazing look into the mind of the paranoid schizophrenic, complete with auditory and visual hallucinations. Conspiracy theorists will love the plot with its many twists and mysteries, each compounded by the fact that every single minute could be a delusion or hallucination or could be real...the reader, trapped in the mind of the unmedicated schizophrenic is along for the ride, trying to parse out what's real and what isn't, all while trying to solve a conspiracy that could lead to (another) murder.

The fast pace of this book makes it feel short, although it's actually a pretty good length for a novel. It's well written, with almost no formatting errors, and kept me entertained with it's unusual and original premise. Despite it's fantastic nature, the novel actually reads like it's a believable situation and you will find yourself second guessing your first assumptions over and over again.

A great read. Well worth the 99 cents they were charging for it in Kindle edition. I'm looking for other novels by this author, and I wouldn't be surprised if they up the price soon because the quality is worth much more than that.

awake all night
Very different plot and a great page-turner.Fine writing style with dry humor and some amazing facts.Can't say anything negative (and I'm a book snob).Enjoy!

Hard to Believe
Not bad writing. Not a bad idea. Problem: believability. I just couldn't buy, the whole time, that a crazy guy who has to take drugs not to see hallucinations would ever be allowed anywhere near the presidential secret service. I've worked in Washington and other guv jobs, (but never in secret service). I can tell you there is NO WAY he would get such a job if there was even a blip of uncertainty on that lie detector or drugs in his records. No way. Not ever.

Nor would such a person be allowed to be a hot-shot rich guy's bodyguard. Background checks would be performed there as well. These stark pieces of reality kept occurring to me throughout the book, and halting my enjoyment. I still give it 3 stars, because the book isn't bad otherwise and its cheap.


... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

If there, where was I?
This book is far too technical to have fugue-ing in the index. It doesn't even have confabulation. Sullivan's book, The Interpersonal Theory of Psychiatry (I gave my copy to my son last year, so I'm not seeing it now) might be a better source for functional definitions of the terms that I should be thinking about when I run my thinking into America's experience in Nam. I was hoping that, looking at descriptions of schizophrenia, I could find some technical description of aggravation, like: try grabbing a machine gun and shooting it straight up in the air ~ it works the same way.

Due to a 150 day drop when I ended my tour as a draftee in Nam, I only served 19 months in the U.S. Army. SCHIZOPHRENIA AS A HUMAN PROCESS by Harry Stack Sullivan contains a paper, "Psychiatric Training as a Prerequisite to Psychoanalytic Practice" originally reprinted from Amer. J. Psychiatry (1934-35), in which Stack attempted to convince the American Psychiatric Association to require psychiatric training in a mental hospital to contribute to "the professional competence of the psychoanalyst." (p. 309). In order to learn anything, "I personally favor heartily the requirement that the young physician make many written statements as to his view of this and that. Suave, quick-minded people often conceal in their spoken comments misapprehensions that they entertain. Once their views are recorded, deficiencies in their formulations are readily pointed out. Intensive criticism . . . coupled with some clinical demonstrations of how things really are done and of what has significance in the relationship of a competent psychiatrist and his patient, would vastly abbreviate the staggering amount of time it takes the average intern to find a clue to the nature of psychiatric therapy. I have said often that it takes 18 months residence . . . Moreover, adequate supervision would remedy immediately one grave development that now involves many young physicians who enter the psychiatric field. I refer to the damnable business of learning how to `get away with it' without really knowing what is going on, or caring." (pp. 317-8).

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Product Description
Margaret Hawkins spent her girlhood dazzled by her vivacious, high-achieving sister, Barb. Younger than Barb by eleven years, Margaret saw her sister as the star of her family. And no wonder. Barb's high school years were filled with achievement inside and outside of the classroom. After college, Barb married a charming young professor, Karim Shallal, and embraced living abroad with him, when he was offered a full professorship at Basra University in Iraq. That was in 1971.

In three years, everything changed. As Margaret Hawkins writes in her new book, How We Got Barb Back: The Story of My Sister's Reawakening after 30 Years of Schizophrenia, "On a promising day in 1974, my family's life blew up. That was the day my beautiful, bright, and very American older sister returned from Iraq. Something had changed during those years she was gone, and the Barb we knew never really returned. That Barb had vanished, and though her husband tried to bring her home, she was already gone."

Unimaginable as it might seem, for the next 32 years Barb went undiagnosed and untreated. How We Got Barb Back recounts the story of those years and the steps Margaret Hawkins took to bring her sister back from the depths of crippling mental illness. This story of sisterly love is both full of surprises and profoundly inspiring. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

An Account of 30 years of Codependency..And Spoiler Alert!
After reading the first 200 pages of this book it was clear to me that the promised happy ending was not in store for me.The core of the book is the description of how Barbs' parents, especially her father,dedicated more than 30 years to a refusal to address what was causing her odd, delusional and hallucination driven behavior. In retrospect it becomes clear that this was a long standing dysfunctional family coping strategy.Barb's mother suffered from untreated depression especially after her own mother's suicide and the family never acknowledged or addressed those problems during the parent's lifetimes either. Barb's father refused to seek any treatment for Barb during his lifetime and died at age 90 without ever seeking any sort of psychiatric help for her.The author and her brother were unable to sway her father from his loving codependent behavior or his fear and aversion to any psychiatric treatment for Barb.For me this is primarily a story of the profound power of parental love distorted to codependency.Only in retrospect does Hawkins show reasonable insight of how her parents' guilt and the stigma of mental illness led to their lifelong denial of the reality of Barb's profound mental illness.The fact that Barb improved significantly when her sister was able to obtain treatment for her after their father's death only adds to the sadness of the story in my opinion. For me this is primarily a cautionary tale about the damaging effects of codependency, guilt and personal and societal stigma around mental illness.Though apparently motivated by love,Barb's parents' actions and the inability of her siblings to influence their parents made her life much less than it could have been with treatment.Hawkins choses to portray the signficant improvements in Barb's life in the year after their father's death as a victory, but for me it was a hollow one.

Heartbreaking, yet inspiring
As someone with a mental illness, I know only too well the stigma and discrimination that is a reality for people with mental illness. It is hard to believe that stigma would still exist in the age of the internet. People can get cutting edge information with the simple click of a mouse. But as anyone with a mental illness can tell you, the stigma is very real. This is true of all mental illness, but perhaps no mental illness is more stigmatized and misunderstood than the one this book discusses:schizophrenia.

This book tells the story of Barb (the author's older sister) and her battle with schizophrenia. Barb went from being a vibrant, funny, engaging person, to a ghost of her former self. She spent more time communicating with her voices, than with people in the real world. She was sullen and withdrawn and basically took herself out of life. She was unwilling to live the house. Nothing seemed to really phase her.

It didn't help matters any, that Barb's parents were both very cynical and distrustful of the medical profession in general, but especially of therapists and psychiatrists. They also felt deep shame about their daughter's behavior. Their method of coping was to simply ignore the problem. To make matters worse, the common belief about mental illness was that it was a sign of personal weakness and the result of poor parenting. If there was mental illness in a family, the sanity of the rest of the family was called into question. This made them even more stubborn and determined not to get help for Barb. Instead, they just overlooked her odd behavior and expected others to do the same. But they seemed blind to the impact Barb's illness was having on the rest of the family. On the one hand, you can definitely sympathize with the parents. But at the same time, you have to wonder why they couldn't lay their own issues aside long enough to get their daughter the help she truly needed. Even though this book is written by Barb's sister Margie, it is very much Barb's story.

Even though this book describes the hell (in my opinion, that is the only word for it)a person with paranoid schizophrenia lives with without treatment, this is ultimately a book of hope. Even with modern medicine, there is no cure for schizophrenia. But the symptoms can be managed with medication. Barb is living proof of this. It took over 30 years, but Barb does eventually rejoin the living world. Glimmers of her previous personality, humor, and vibrancy begin to return. But I couldn't help be sad and wonder why it took over 30 years for her to get on medication.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who has personal experience with schizophrenia. I would recommend it for someone who has a friend or family member who has been newly diagnosed. This book definitely opened my eyes to the nature of the disease. I plan on donating this book to my local chapter of NAMI, in the hopes that it will help and encourage someone else.

LOVED IT!Kind, honest, heart-warming story of mental illness
I have a relative, through marriage, who has had schizophrenia so I was especially interested in the story of Barb.Really, it is the story of Margaret, growing up with an older sister whose increasingly strange behavior shaped the lives of an entire family.The story is told with a lot of kindness and love, and generosity towards Barb's parents, who did the best they could in caring for her despite their personal limitations.It is clear that the author believes that her sister would have been better off had her parents consented to medical treatment when the symptoms of paranoia and psychotic breaks began.We are, after all, a culture that has more faith in medicine than in anything else and Margaret's beliefs would be echoed by a lot of people - i.e. that Barb would not have spent 30 years as a quietly paranoid agoraphobic if she had been medicated, and that her parents were to blame.

The irony is, if Barb had been medicated from the 70's until now, there would have been nothing left of her mind to emerge!The drugs in use during the70s and 80s would have destroyed whatever was left of her mind.That is precisely what has happened to my relative.He is an obese, blank, chain-smoking,TV-addicted institutionalized patient.His story has been repeated in many, many families.Drugs did not cure him, nor did they give him any kind of life.They made him manageable in an institutional setting.Barb lived at home.She lived on her own schedule, at what she wanted, argued with her voices, played small power games with her overbearing father, and was LOVED by her family members.Was she so badly off?

As it is, her parents did her a favor - kept her off drugs, took care of her, allowed her to be herself - and thirty years later, after the death of her parents, Barb CONSENTED to take some mild medication which freed her from her inner voices enough to live somewhat independently.

It is easy to assume that the mentally ill are miserable.Was Barb miserable in her untreated state?It's a good question.I will leave it up to other readers to decide for themselves.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone from mature teen on up.And I would recommend it to anyone who struggles with mental illness.

How we lost Barb.
This book is not so much about finding Barb, but about how Barb's brother and sister sat back for thirty years while their parents allowed Barb to stay in her room at their house without any treatment for her schizophrenia.

The book is readable, but basically repeats the same thing over and over.The author wasn't really around her sister very much for many years while she was away from home at school.Later she lived in the same city but only visited infrequently.So she often writes, "I can imagine what happened.....".

My problem is separating my feelings about how Barb was allowed to vegetate for 30 years from my enjoyment of the story as a story.I cannot explain why she wasn't treated without giving away too much of the story.If you are interested in knowing how it all happened read the book.But if you want to read an insightful, memoir about how they got Barb back, read the last fifty pages of the book.

Very interesting, attention grabbing story
This is Margaret Hawkins' story about her life with a schizophrenic sister who after her college graduation and brief marriage remained undiagnosed for more than twenty years. This is a true tale of how Margaret spent the majority of her life struggling to find a way to help her sister.It was pretty much impossible to aid Barbara in receiving medical care due mainly to her father's sheltering.

I'd say more, but I don't want to spoil the story.All I can tell you is that this book is very well worth reading; however, I'd say that it reads more like a novel than any kind of medical or self-help book (which it never claims to be anyway).

From a personal standpoint I found the story to be depressing, since I am someone who also has a close relative who has suffered from the same illness.While this is a "success story", I can't get beyond the fact that I feel those afflicted are generally "robbed" of a normal life by this debilitating disease. ... Read more

Product Description
In this powerful, sometimes harrowing, deeply felt story, Patrick Tracey journeys to Ireland to track the origin and solve the mystery of his Irish-American family's multigenerational struggle with schizophrenia.

For most Irish Americans, a trip to Ireland is often an occasion to revisit their family's roots. But for Patrick Tracey, the lure of his ancestral home is a much more powerful need: part pilgrimage, part investigation to confront the genealogical mystery of schizophrenia–a disease that had claimed a great-great-great-grandmother, a grandmother, an uncle, and, most recently, two sisters.

As long as Tracey could remember, schizophrenia ran on his mother's side, seldom spoken of outright but impossible to ignore. Devastated by the emotional toll the disease had already taken on his family, terrified of passing it on to any children he might have, and inspired by the recent discovery of the first genetic link to schizophrenia, Tracey followed his genealogical trail from Boston to Ireland's county Roscommon, home of his oldest-known schizophrenic ancestor. In a renovated camper, Tracey crossed the Emerald Isle to investigate the country that, until the 1960s, had the world's highest rate of institutionalization for mental illness, following clues and separating fact from fiction in the legendary relationship the Irish have had with madness.

Tracey's path leads from fairy mounds and ancient caverns still shrouded in superstition to old pubs whose colorful inhabitants are a treasure trove of local lore. He visits the massive and grim asylum where his famine starved ancestors may have lived. And he interviews the Irish research team that first cracked the schizophrenic code to learn how much–and how little–we know about this often misunderstood disease.

Filled with history, science, and lore, Stalking Irish Madness is an unforgettable chronicle of one man's attempt to make sense of his family's past and to find hope for the future of schizophrenic patients. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (38)

Moved Me

I'd meant to read this book after it won the PEN New England award for nonfiction. It's not the sort of topic one warms to easily so I put it off.Then I saw that Slate magazine had picked it for its list of the 25 top books of the year and I ordered it.

I couldn't put it down. It's a sad story, almost like a ghost story, but a real page turner as the author travels through Ireland in an old camper van to unearth an untold or at least forgotten history of insanity in Ireland.

You feel like you're right there bumping along with him in the passenger's seat. Tracey has created a new genre that is more than memoir. It's a travelogue, a history lesson, a science experiment and an investigation into schizophrenia. Best of all - it's hopeful. I read it in two sittings and will never look at a "crazy homeless person" the same way again.

Not too sure about this one
Although the author's intent is clear, the book is loaded with silly metaphors. I expected to read, "It was a dark and stormy night" at the beginning of each chapter. Interesting and informative, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Wow! Quite sure the best book on the subject.
All I can say is if you are in any way intrigued by the title, read it!

First book from a sibling's viewpoint that tells my story
I have been searching for many years for a book that describes watching a sibling descend into this disease, as I had watched my brother and several cousins do. I finally heard my story loud and clear through Patrick Tracey's words. This book was like a warm blanket to my soul, from his experience of waving up to his grandmother while she looked out the window of the institution, to watching a brilliant sibling disappear, only to be replaced with a "changeling". This so exactly mirrors my childhood, of visiting my grandmother at the state mental institution, to watching my brilliant brother become suddenly ill. As a young child experiencing this, I had a hard time making sense of what had happened. This book helped me come to terms with it and let me know I am not alone. I highly recommend this book to anyone with a sibling with schizophrenia. This book helped me so much.

Irish Schizophrenia
Well, this certainly explains my family, all my uncles, my father, the one aunt, my cousins, all coming from my father's side. Irish to the core. Protestant Irish, but I guess that doesn't matter. Actually, I feel pretty good knowing that there is a reason for this. And why the Irish are known for drinking. Keeping something away . . .I don't know what, though. Most of us are agoraphobic and about a third of us have hearing/deafness problems. I can't wait to buy this book and I'm actually feeling better and calmer about myself just by reading the reviews. So, I am crazy, but not crazy . . .so it's not me, there really is a reason. Still, even Protestants from the Ulster area believe, like me, in the "little people." Leprauchans? I wouldn't bet against them. Thank you for the book. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (1)

clinical behavior studied for what anyone knew about schizophrenia
I tend to think of people freaking out as a cultural response to the lack of wealth and status that will become more common as Americans run out of money and lose their homes. The Ionia State Hospital for the Criminally Insane is not likely to solve our problems after it has closed and the files were studied for how particular cases were treated during the twentieth century. I lived in Grand Rapids, Michigan, when I was in high school, and had greetings from the draft board in Michigan a few years later, but I have been avoiding the people who exhibit the kind of social activities I consider pathological as much as possible. Trying to say anything about the profound imposters who have set up tremendous repudiations that make a significant number of Americans seek treatment for mental illness is becoming as tricky as the condemnation of witchcraft was for a jurist who studied enough about wichcraft to practice it himself and turned himself in as a witch. American society is not particularly nice. Some fights become official matters which create hostile attitudes that makes any form of authority suspect. Then when DSM-II 295.3 Schizophrenia, Paranoid Type says, "Excessive religiosity is sometimes seen" (p. 96), it might be because so many religions get used to being persecuted. David Koresh was worried that April 19, 1993, was in the cards according to the book of seven seals in Revelation, but he did not want to be evaluated by anyone who was checking how rational he was.

America is Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. I was even in Vietnam when my commanding officer asked, "Why didn't you shoot him?" That attitude was part of the training. ... Read more

Product Description
A User's Guide to Capitalism and Schizophrenia is a playful and emphatically practical elaboration of the major collaborative work of the French philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. When read along with its rigorous textual notes, the book also becomes the richest scholarly treatment of Deleuze's entire philosophical oeuvre available in any language. Finally, the dozens of explicit examples that Brian Massumi furnishes from contemporary artistic, scientific, and popular urban culture make the book an important, perhaps even central text within current debates on postmodern culture and politics.Capitalism and Schizophrenia is the general title for two books published a decade apart. The first, Anti-Oedipus, was a reaction to the events of May/June 1968; it is a critique of "state-happy" Marxism and "school-building" strains of psychoanalysis. The second, A Thousand Plateaus, is an attempt at a positive statement of the sort of nomad philosophy Deleuze and Guattari propose as an alternative to state philosophy.Brian Massumi is Professor of Comparative Literature at McGill University. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

A Necessary Companion to Capitalism and Schizophrenia
Massumi saunters purposefully through the landscape created by Deleuze and Guattari while simultaneously staying true to the two authors' signature style.If you have read ANTI-OEDIPUS and/or A THOUSAND PLATEAUS, this book is an excellent supplement.Massumi seems to target young scholars or readers who are struggling with Deleuze and Guattari's vocabulary and concepts.Advanced scholars will probably not find anything new or extremely helpful in this book, but students will find it extremely helpful.

read this book
Still the best book on Deleuze and Guattari out there. Extremely creative on its own right, but also great for situating Deleuze and Guattari in relation to other currents in intellectual thought (like psychoanalysis, marxism). And it provides a helpful jumping-off point for thinking aspects of Deleuze's thought that often go unmentioned in introductory works on D+G. (I would say "other" introductory works, but calling this work introductory would be wrong.) Highly recommended.

Great book, but not about Deleuze and Guattari
Massumi's user's guide is a wonderful little book, but unfortunately is not a book about Deleuze and Guattari.At the outset, one initially thinks that Massumi will be giving a close reading of _A Thousand Plateaus_, but quickly finds that the text is a patchwork pieced together out of Deleuze'svarious writings. For instance, the first part of Massumi's book, entitled"Force" discusses D&G in the context of the Plateau in ATPentitled the "Geology of Morals", but greatly broadens thisdiscussion by interpreting D&G's appropriation of Hjelmslev's semioticsin the context of the reading of force Deleuze gives in _Nietzsche andPhilosophy_.Now, not only does Massumi severely simply D&G'sappropriation of Hjelmslev, but he does the same with Deleuze's account offorce in Nietzsche.Moreover, in Deleuze's own independent philosophicalworks and in the context of his work with Guattari, Deleuze never makes useof the concept of force.Now, in and of itself this is not a bad thing andMassumi ends up producing a very useful model of analysis, but it'squestionable as to whether such a reading really helps the reader penetratewhat D&G are up to in ATP.

It seems to me that this sort ofstrategy is symptomatic of a lot of works on both Deleuze and Deleuze'swork with Guattari.No one would deny that the works with Guattari andDeleuze's works "written in his own name" are exceedinglydifficult and require a lot of work to unlock, and that as a rule hiswritings in the history of philosophy are remarkably clear.As a result,there seems to be a refusal to read the independent works on their ownterms and a tendency to attempt to reduce them to the historical writings. While I would be the last to claim that the histories are to be ignored, itis nonetheless the case that the use of them ought to center arounddemonstrating how they converge with the independent works, how Deleuzerethinks their problematics, and where Deleuze diverges from them.

Itis also likely that much of this textual practice comes from the latentimperative in Deleuze's philosophy to create.This has to do withDeleuze's textual strategy of "getting behind the author and creatinga monsterous offspring."As a result, those that write on Deleuzesimultaneously experience the necessity of merely doing commentary on whathe said in order to show how it belongs to a philosophical tradition andproblematic, while nonetheless being forced to remain silent on what hesaid.What seems to be forgotten are Deleuze's words immediately followinghis pronouncement of getting behind the author, where he claims that theonly rule is that the author himself must be shown to have said it. Moreover, much of the "creating" that goes on in the name ofDeleuze and Guattari comes to look like an arbitrary activity based on thewill of the author, rather than an expression of the impersonal andnecessary that D&G were always quick to emphasize.In other words,sometimes the greatest usefulness in writing about a text consists ingetting clear on what that text actually says in its own terms.

Massumi'sbook can be highly illuminating and is a great and exciting read, but isnot necessarily the best source for coming to understand Deleuze andGuattari's difficult texts. One would do much better to first readsomething like Eugine Holland's book if their seeking to get an accuratepicture of what's going on in Deleuze and Guattari.

A postmodern self-help manual
Ten minutes out of the box and I had made my very own desiring machine

a practical survival manual
Finally!...a user's guide to Deleuze and Guattari's opus magnum. The rough guide to the skull-splitting mazes of AntiOedipus. Step by step instructions! Maps! Illustrations! The works! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Rushdoony is the real Morpheus
The above review by Kurt was wonderful.

Ludwig Wittgenstein once said, "The limits of my language mean the limits of my world."Rushdoony read a book a day for 50 years.He is my favorite author after reading his, "The word of flux" and now this one.He will show you the Matrix.

Schizophrenia simply means narrow mindedness and because of Solipsism we may be cursed with schizophrenia if we know it or not.All thought is in the Cogito and this cogito is one mind only = narrow mindedness.

Here is a paragraph which discusses this book.I highly recommended reading Rushdoony as the limits of your world may branch out infinitum.

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"There is no law, no society, no justice, no structure, no design, no meaning apart from God."

As the title implies, Intellectual Schizophrenia: the author identifies the basic contradiction that pervades a secular society that rejects God's sovereignty but still needs law and order, justice, science, and meaning to life. Secular man wants to use the things of creation while denying their Creator. So modern man becomes schizophrenic. He wants to assert his autonomy while rejecting the divine order that gives meaning to life. It is therefore no accident that modern schools have become such dangerous places, intellectually, morally, physically, and psychologically. They embrace the intellectual schizophrenia of man in total rebellion against God.

Wonderfully enlightening
Rousas John Rushdoony (1916-2001) was a Christian pastor, theologian, and philosopher, and the founder of the Chalcedon Foundation. In 1961, he published this prophetic book. In it, Rev. Rushdoony argues that the modern humanist system is ultra-statist cosmopolitan in that it aspires to create man whose home is the one-world, and as such is by nature hostile to home, community and church. The state-run school then must subscribe to a "blank-slate" view of children, who require conditioning to break them of any backward looking, localist attachments. However, human beings never are blank slates, and as such the educational establishment creates a form of intellectual schizophrenia among its students.

And what is the end result of the modern, public, humanistic educational project? "A culture not convinced of its own value is incapable of its own defense. Its energy is replaced by apathy, and its convictions by the torments of self-analysis." Does this not sound like the modern American war on terrorism?

Overall, I found this to be a fascinating book. When it was written it was forward looking to the point of being prophetic. Now, more than 40 years later, this book is a clear and cogent explanation of the development of the modern world, of how we got from World War II to the War on Terror. I found this book wonderfully enlightening, and I give it my highest recommendations! ... Read more

Product Description
Although there are many books that consider aspects of schizophrenia such as research or clinical care, now there is a single resource that puts the many facets of this widely misunderstood disorder in perspective. The American Psychiatric Publishing Textbook of Schizophrenia offers broad coverage that encompasses the current state of knowledge the cause, nature, and treatment of schizophrenia. Experts in a wide range of disciplines from North America and Europe have contributed chapters that address the complexity of schizophrenia in a comprehensive volume on this singularly perplexing mental illness.

No disorder is more challenging to psychiatrists and mental health care providers than schizophrenia, a condition that robs people of their personality and intellect and leaves them permanently disabled. This book leads readers through the maze of questions surrounding the disorder, from historical overview and epidemiology to consideration of comorbid conditions. It covers both genetic and environmental causes, describes all of the leading theories of schizophrenia—neurodevelopmental, neurochemical, phospholipid, and neuroprogressive—and explores the involvement of abnormal brain circuitry and the results of the latest neuroimaging studies. For practicing clinicians, the topics covered represent the most essential, timely, and informative insights for treating this most prototypic of mental illnesses:

• Approaching cognitive impairment as a potential psychopharmacological target for treatment, plus treatment strategies for improving functioning in individuals with social or vocational impairment.
• An overview of selected antipsychotic drugs-—ncluding common side effects—as well as antianxiety/hypnotics, antidepressants, mood stabilizers, and dopamine agonists.
• A review of current proven psychosocial interventions designed to augment and complement drug therapy, highlighting the trend toward optimizing patient preference in the choice of treatment modality.
• Keys to early identification of individuals vulnerable to psychoses and to assessing the potential for intervention with the promise of treatment earlier in life.
• Optimal treatment approaches for first episodes—including individual, group, and family therapies—to increase the likelihood of full recovery.
• Special considerations for treatment of chronic schizophrenia, addressing frequently asked questions faced by psychiatrists in their daily encounters with patients.

While its causes and cure remain elusive, schizophrenia can be better understood with the help of the authoritative knowledge collected in these pages. Squarely confronting a disease that has long afflicted and baffled human society, this textbook will serve as a dependable source of knowledge for a generation of students, scientists, and clinicians to come. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

mixed bag
The book is not as densely layered with information as one might expect. It approximates the Kaplan and Saddock style. There are only a few illustrations and tables, and chapters that require graphs etc are even printed on a different kind of paper.

The depth of information contained could and should be more extensive; the book is definitely not a reference book in my library. It does not approach the exhaustiveness and comprehensiveness of the Hirsch/Weinberger Schizophrenia textbook when it comes to reviewing scientific data (even though it is almost 10 years newer) nor does it render itself all too useful when looking for up-to-date treatment information. ... Read more

Product Description
A guide to behavioral group therapy that helps clients with schizophrenia to overcome addictions. The combination of schizophrenia and drug or alcohol addiction is common, devastating, and difficult to treat. With a focus on skills training, this manual and the companion videotape will help the therapist teach schizophrenic individuals how to avoid drugs and alcohol, recognize signs that they may be headed toward relapse, and build healthy pleasures into their daily routine. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Nicely written and practical
This has greatly improved my understanding and practice of providing psychotherapy and case management services to those individuals who suffer from severe and persistent mental illness. I definitely recommend it.

Author's advice: Get the Skills Illustration Video + book

Note from the Authors:

The book is most effective when used in tandem with a video we produced.The book is for the therapist; the video is for you to show to your clients.In realistic settings, actors clearly demonstrate the skills taught during the skills training sessions.For example, one scene shows how to refuse drugs offered by a friend.Another shows how to discuss a relapse with a support person.Use the video to help clients visualize the skill before they begin to practice it themselves.

The Overcoming Addictions Skills Illustration Video is available from: W. W. Norton and Company at WWNorton.com

At WWNorton.com, click "Search Our Site," then type: Overcoming Addictions (don't use quotations).

You should get several links including the one for the video.The VHS version looks like this:

Overcoming Addictions: Skills Training for People with Schizophrenia
(VHS) (1999)
0-393-70318-5
... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (1)

Useful clinical resource
This is a useful book for any clinician working with people with schizophrenia. One of its attractions is the broad range of topics covered, all written in a simple and direct style towards clinicians with a minimum of references and lengthy research reviews, and an emphasis on providing practical clinical guidelines. The book is divided into 8 sections: Core Science and Background (11 chapters), Assessment and Diagnosis (4 chapters), Somatic Treatment (5 chapters), Psychosocial Treatment (10 chapters), Systems of Care (5 chapters), Special Populations and Problems (11 Chapters), Policy, Legal, and Social Issues (6 Chapters), and Special Topics (8 chapters), with most chapters in the 7-15 page range. The greatest strength of the book is its comprehensivecoverage of psychosocial treatments (including chapters addressing topics such as cognitive-behavior therapy for psychosis, family treatment), and special populations and problems, (including chapters such as first episode psychosis, aggression, medical comorbidity, and intellectual disability). An especially unique chapter is devoted to the issue of promoting health sexuality in schizophrenia, a common but neglected problem.

Clinical Psychologist ... Read more

Product Description
Separated from her mother at an early age, Tara Elgin Holley became her mother's legal guardian at age 16 and set about trying to rescue the blonde fairy princess she remembered from the shambling street person her mother had become. An inspiring story of one woman's struggle to struggle through the pain to reach a better understanding of her mother, herself and a devastating mental illness. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

A very well written memoir
I thought this was a very well written memoir, and I read A LOT of memoirs. It was fascinating reading about Schizophrenia I learned about that disease and reading it has brought about me getting interested in reading more about that mental illness (and other types as well)I read this book within a couple of days. It has very good character development--the results are feeling for everyone in this family and others (that are looking in on the family):)

Excellent book that provided much comfort
As a young woman with a mother who has paranoid schizophrenia, this book was invaluable to me.My mom was missing for 12 years, and I received this as a gift not long after finding her (about a year and a half ago).It was personally very comforting for me to read this wonderful book, and I would recommend it to anyone. Ms. Holley's close bond with her mom reminded me of the bond I had/have with mine, and the inherently conflicted feelings that result from that bond.

A Must Read
My Mother's Keeper is an excellent autobiography/biography in one of a mother and daughter and their separate and entwined lives.I am a mental health RN and have been studying about schizophrenia.This book has helped me see in places I have never been able to see into before.I now have a broader perspective of schizophrenia and how families must feel also.Ms. Holley's writing is easy to read and follow.So much so, that it is very hard to put the book down.This is definitely a must read for anyone who wants to find out more about schizophrenia.

Moving telling of a difficult story
This was an exceptionally well written memoir, one that must have been very difficult to write. Ms. Elgin moves gracefully along the line between her mother's story and her own, and (it appears) honestly grapples with theups and downs of both.Thank you.

Accurate, yet sensitive and personal
This book provides an accurate description of the development and chronic course of schizophrenia, one of the most debilitating illnesses of our time.The Holleys' sensitive portrayal of Mrs. Elgin's life touched me deeply.I thank them for giving us and honest depiction of this illness. ... Read more

Product Description
Schizophrenia is one of the most devastating and mysterious mental illnesses. People with schizophrenia have the unique sensation that their brain is being taken over by external entities and that their heads are filled with voices that are not their own. Although it is increasingly recognized as a biological illness of the brain, it also has profound psychological implications for how we perceive reality.

The Madness Within Us: Schizophrenia as a Neuronal Process is an illuminating discussion of these two aspects of the illness. Dr. Robert Freedman, who is both a neuroscientist and a practicing clinical psychiatrist, outlines the emerging understanding of shizophrenia as a neurobiological illness and shows how these new insights can be used as a bridge to the psychological understanding of the delusions and hallucinations. He combines the findings of modern brain science with insights from the clinical practitioner's empathic listening to patients as they describe their problems. ... Read more

Product Description
Unifies Dr. Abram Hoffer's How to Live with Schizophrenia and Common Questions about Schizophrenia, with informationon new research and treatments featuring the nutritional treatment of schizophrenia. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Worth Every Penny!
Wow!I have learned more from this 213 page book than I have from five years worth of doctors.I have put into use some of the suggestions in the book and my family member is doing so well one of their medications is being eliminated.Well worth trying!
Healing Schizophrenia: Complementary Vitamin & Drug Treatments

Advisedly optimistic
When I stumbled across this book I was looking for some help for a sibling.My family and I had seen the detrimental tranquilizing affects of anti-psychotic meds first hand.Moreover, their side effects (even with the new generation of meds) can include tardive dyskinesia. This book provided some much needed hope that there might be something proposing an alternate.This is a well written book intended for comprehension by the general public. And while I am aware of the APA's 1973 criticisms of niacin therapy, I was disposed to try it anyway.Dr. Hoffer provided convincing anecdotal evidence that there was at least some efficacy in the use of his regimen.He does not claim that all schizophrenics will be entirely off anti-psyche meds with the use of his regimen.A nice side effect of niacin therapy (we use inositol hexanicotinate) at high dosages is a reduction of LDL cholesterol.At any rate, Hoffer's book ultimately convinced us to try the treatment.My sibling has now been off anti-depressants and anti-psyche meds for some time now. The tardive dyskinesia sx that had emerged are also gone.It is too early to state that my sibling is entirely free of previous sx and to be convinced that they may not return.However, even in the event they do return, my sibling will have had a reasonably lengthy "drug holiday".It has meant much to my sibling and to us to have allowed the personality, love of life, awareness, to have returned for a time.I highly recommend Abram Hoffer's book for those interested in learning about schizophrenia, its symptoms, causes, and potential alternative treatments.I might add that prayer and requests for divine intervention have been a big part of our treatment plan as well.

Response to criticism of niacin therapy
I feel I should offer a rebuttal to B. Chiko. The report referenced by Chiko is the 1973 APA psychological report, a report full of errors, misleading statements and poor arguments. Hoffer has claimed that Niacin & vitamin C works best on acute schizophrenics, the 1973 report used niacin alone on chronic schizophrenics. Hoffer wrote a well thought out retort to the 1973 report entitled `Megavitamin Therapy in reply to The American Psychiatric Association Task Force Report on Megavitamin and Orthomolecular Therapy in Psychiatry.' In it he details all of the misleading statements of the APA report, and I urge everyone here to actually read the 1973 report and its rebuttal. In fact, after reading this retort JR Wittenborn, one of the six authors of the APA report conducted a test of niacin using Hoffer's parameters (acute schizophrenics) and found positive results (A Search for Responders to Niacin Supplementation). Naturally none of the skepticsreference that study. Hoffer claims his theories have helped over 100,000 patients with niacin. Should we encourage all of them to throw their niacin in the trash? I urge everyone here swayed by either my or Chikos arguments to actually read the 1973 report, then read the rebuttal.

There was a drug for schizophrenia first discovered over 50 years ago, but because it was a medication unrelated to mental illness nobody wanted to use it. Doctors laughed at other doctors who prescribed it and many in the medical community wrote off how effective it was. However for the doctors willing to shrug off the criticism of the skeptics and who tried it noticed massive improvements. This drug was just an antihistamine, how could it treat schizophrenia? That drug was called thorazine (thorazine was originally an antihistamine), and it started the revolution that led to antipsychotic medications which has helped millions of people. Where would we be if we had just written off thorazine because it was `just an antihistamine'? Why is this better than writing off niacin for being `just a vitamin'?Would we be better off today as a community of medical patients if we had let the skeptics win on that battle? Would we have geodon, abilify or risperdal today if we hadn't fought back against the medical dogmatists fifty years ago?

All I know is my feelings of unreality, my magical thinking and my paranoia are not present now that I am on niacin therapy. No error laden, misleading study written 33 years ago is going to make me feel like I'm not better or take away the fact that I can function better.

comphrensive and to the point
Thanks God, for doctors like Abram Hoffer.His book(s) have given me great insight into the true nature of schizophrenia.My son may one day soon have a life because of Dr. Abram Hoffer and his students.

Seller Trustworthy!
Excellent Seller -- prompt sending of product; book as stated, fine condition! Thanks! ... Read more

Product Description
Approximately one percent of the population develops schizophrenia during their life-time. This chronic, severe mental illness can be devastating for patients and their family and friends. Whether you're a newly diagnosed patient with schizophrenia, or a friend or relative of someone suffering from this mental illness, this book offers help. Completely revised and updated, 100 Questions & Answers About Schizophrenia: Painful Minds, Second Edition gives you authoritative, practical answers to your questions about treatment options, sources of support, and much more. Written by an expert on the subject, and including a foreword by parents of a person with schizophrenia, this book is an invaluable resource for anyone coping with the physical and emotional turmoil of schizophrenia. ... Read more

Product Description
Your Guide to Schizophrenia is the patient's ultimate tool to understanding their illness, discovering invaluable advice, and empowering them to make informed choices and to regain control of their life.

Written by the top UK expert in this field, and with the full support of the leading schizophrenia charity, this is an easy-to-read guide to schizophrenia.It explains the symptoms, diagnosis, treatment available, and ultimately how to live a fully functioning life with this misunderstood and often frightening condition.The book firstly explains what schizophrenia is, but more importantly what is is NOT; talks about the diagnosis of the illness, the treatment you will receive, the support you can expect and living with such practicalities as being a parent with mental illness and the impact on daily and social life.It demystifies such things as the mental health act, and provides full resources for carers.With user-friendly features such as 'Q and A' sections, 'Myths and Facts' boxes, explanations of key terms and case histories, this is a friendly and reassuring guide to a complex yet treatable condition. ... Read more

Product Description
How do political, economic, and labor market forces shape social responses to the mentally ill, and influence the onset and course of one of the most common forms of mental illness? In this revised and updated third edition, Dr. Warner analyzes the latest research and tells us whether conditions and outcome for people with schizophrenia are getting better or worse. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A neglected contribution
(I have not yet read the second edition of this book but it is reasonable to assume that it is an updated version of the first edition, which is the book I am referring to.) This is an extraordinary book which reviewsthe entired field of social structure and mental illness. (In fact my onlyobjection to the book is the title, which suggests a far narrower fieldthan is actually covered in the work.)Warner seems to have read all therelevant literature and has the distinct advantage of being able to placestudies of mental health in a social, historical and cross-culturalcontext.His analysis is thorough and creative and he makes a verypersuasive case that the predominant causes of mental illness, includingschizophrenia, are more deeply rooted in the social system than the myopic,insulated views of most psychiatrists, psychologists and therapists canenvision. His arguments against the "social drift" hypothesis andother self serving illusions of contemporary psychotherapeutica reaserchare extremely important.His willingness to incorporate insights from avariety of social thinker, including Marx (yet, that Marx) give the book adeep analyitic resonance. It is not accidental that this book is notwidely known for it does not fit easily into the reified bioligicalaccounts of mental illness that have been playing havoc with the field forthe last 25 years or so. ... Read more

Product Description
The psychotic symptoms of up to 30 per cent of schizophrenic patients do not respond adequately to treatment with antipsychotic drugs, other than clozapine. These refractory patients are generally among the most disabled of all people with schizophrenia and require special assessment and treatment. This volume presents the latest research and recommendations on the definition, causes and therapy of treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS). Methods for identification and optimal management of TRS are reviewed. Clozapine and other atypical antipsychotic drugs which are the primary treatment for TRS, as well as non-pharmacologic treatments such as transcranial magnetic stimulation, cognitive behavior therapy and ECT are discussed in depth. Potential causative factors and identifying features such as genetic factors, poor premorbid functioning, longer duration of untreated psychosis, and biological measures such as structural and functional brain abnormalities are also reviewed in depth in the present volume. ... Read more

Product Description
Approximately one percent of the population develops schizophrenia during their lifetime. This chronic, severe mental illness can be devastating for patients and their family and friends.Whether you're a newly diagnosed patient with schizophrenia, or a friend or relative of someone suffering from this mental illness, this book offers help. 100 Questions & Answers About Schizophrenia: Painful Minds gives you authoritative, practical answers to your questions about treatment options, sources of support, and much more. Written by an expert on the subject, and including a foreword by parents of a person with schizophrenia, this book is an invaluable resource for anyone coping with the physical and emotional turmoil of schizophrenia. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Very informative
This book contained all of the questions you could possibly have about schizophrenia.A bit technical, and may be a bit too academic for some, but I really got a lot out of it.

Great resource on Schizophrenia
I work as a therapist in residential treatment for adolescent boys.Sometimes we treat teenagers with Schizophrenia.This book is clear and concise and arranged in topic areas, dispelling many misunderstandings about the disease.

My only caution is that there is a preface by a parent of a schizophrenic son.It is clear in its information and touching.However, the young man in question did commit suicide, which is a real and obvious risk with Shizophrenia.However, if you are passing this book on as a resource, I think it is best to have a discussion about this reality and use it with families who are ready to accept this reality and benefit from all the information included in the book.

A valuable resource.........
Dr. DeLisi's book consolidates a lot of meaningful information about schizophrenia in a user-friendly, readable way.It is an important guide for anyone who knows somebody with this devastating illness and is interested in learning more about it. ... Read more

Product Description

Schizophrenia remains an important challenge to psychiatry, with its causes and underlying brain mechanisms yet to be fully revealed. Currently available treatments are neither universally effective nor without unwanted effects. These aspects, together with the high prevalence of schizophrenia, its often debilitating nature, and the associated family and social burden, make this mental disorder one of the most complex public health issues of our times. The purpose of the Advances in Schizophrenia Research series is to provide comprehensive periodic reviews of the wide range of research studies carried out around the world, with the dual purpose of solving the schizophrenia puzzle, and providing clues to new forms of treatment and prevention for this disorder. A special feature of the series is its broad scope, virtually encompassing all fields of schizophrenia research: epidemiology and risk factors; psychopathology; diagnostic boundaries; cognition; outcome and prognosis; pathophysiology; genetics; pharmacological and psychological forms of treatment and rehabilitation; community care; and stigmatization.