Through two special characters, renowned psychiatrist Theodore Isaac Rubin reveals the complex struggles of children with severe mental illness. Lisa and David are two troubled teens whose growing friendship breaks communication barriers.

Drawing on more than thirty years' experience as a practicing psychiatrist, Dr. Rubin shows the reader the heartrending and hope-filled stories of emotionally disturbed children as they struggle to make it through each day. Along with two classic stories in the literature of psychology, Lisa and David and Jordi, Dr. Rubin has now added Little Ralphie and the Creature. Together they demonstrate the power of love and its ability to heal. Meet these four extraordinary young people as they search for a place and time in the world where is it safe to be themselves. David: Extremely intelligent, with extraordinary abilities in math, physics, and chess. He is passionately interested in clocks. He cannot bear to be touched, is petrified of germs and human contact. Suffers overwhelming panic attacks and obsessive-compulsive behavior. Lisa: A schizophrenic who must constantly speak in singsong rhymes to avoid losing herself to Muriel--her moody, brooding, scowling, silent other self. Jordi: Schizophrenic, with autistic tendencies. He's afraid of garbage cans, all garbage cans, because he believes them to be ears. Ears that will hear him. Only his "jiggler"--a doorknob tied to a long string--can offer him any comfort or protection. Little Ralphie: Actue schizophrenic reaction--catatonic type. Ralphie hides in alternate realties to escape his unbearable pain. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Looks at how therapy and the "talking cure" have been portrayed in the movies.

Global awareness of autism has skyrocketed since the 1980s, and popular culture has caught on, with film and television producers developing ever more material featuring autistic characters. Autism in Film and Television brings together more than a dozen essays on depictions of autism, exploring how autistic characters are signified in media and how the reception of these characters informs societal understandings of autism. Editors Murray Pomerance and R. Barton Palmer have assembled a pioneering examination of autism’s portrayal in film and television. Contributors consider the various means by which autism has been expressed in films such as Phantom Thread, Mercury Rising, and Life Animated and in television and streaming programs including Atypical, Stranger Things, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Community. Across media, the figure of the brilliant, accomplished, and “quirky” autist has proven especially appealing. Film and television have thus staked out a progressive position on neurodiversity by insisting on screen time for autism but have done so while frequently ignoring the true diversity of autistic experience. As a result, this volume is a welcome celebration of nonjudgmental approaches to disability, albeit one that is still freighted with stereotypes and elisions.