The fascinating, shocking, and ultimately quite hopeful story of one teen’s downward spiral into mental illness by the bestselling author of Tweak and son of David Sheff (author of Beautiful Boy, the memoir adapted into a movie of the same name starring Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet). Miles is the ultimate unreliable narrator—a teen recovering from a schizophrenic breakdown who believes he is getting better . . . when in reality he is growing worse. Driven to the point of obsession to find his missing younger brother, Teddy, and wrapped up in a romance that may or may not be the real thing, Miles is forever chasing shadows. As Miles feels his world closing around him, he struggles to keep it open, but what you think you know about his world is actually a blur of gray, and the sharp focus of reality proves startling. Written by Nic Sheff, son of David Sheff (author of Beautiful Boy, the memoir adapted into a movie of the same name starring Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet), Schizo is the fascinating, and ultimately quite hopeful, story of one teen's downward spiral into mental illness as he chases the clues to a missing brother. Perfect for fans of Thirteen Reasons Why, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and It’s Kind of a Funny Story. “This spare book is a well-written, but painful, read, as readers come to understand the hopelessness Miles feels about his life and his future.”—VOYA “In his first novel, memoirist Sheff (Tweak) provides an insightful perspective on one teen’s struggle with mental illness.”—Publishers Weekly

This is the first book to address the clinical and neurobiological interface between schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). There is growing evidence that obsessive-compulsive symptoms in schizophrenia are prevalent, persistent and characterized by a distinct pattern of familial inheritance, neurocognitive deficits and brain activation. This text provides guidelines for differential diagnosis of schizophrenic patients with obsessive-compulsive symptoms, and patients with primary OCD alongside poor insight, psychotic features or schizotypal personality. Written by a leading expert in the coexistence of obsessive-compulsive and schizophrenic phenomena, Schizo-Obsessive Disorder uses numerous case studies to present diagnostic guidelines and to describe a recommended treatment algorithm, demystifying this complex disorder and aiding its effective management. The book is essential reading for psychiatrists, neurologists and the wider range of multidisciplinary mental health practitioners.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • ONE OF GQ's TOP 50 BOOKS OF LITERARY JOURNALISM IN THE 21st CENTURY • The heartrending story of a midcentury American family with twelve children, six of them diagnosed with schizophrenia, that became science's great hope in the quest to understand the disease. "Reads like a medical detective journey and sheds light on a topic so many of us face: mental illness." —Oprah Winfrey Don and Mimi Galvin seemed to be living the American dream. After World War II, Don's work with the Air Force brought them to Colorado, where their twelve children perfectly spanned the baby boom: the oldest born in 1945, the youngest in 1965. In those years, there was an established script for a family like the Galvins--aspiration, hard work, upward mobility, domestic harmony--and they worked hard to play their parts. But behind the scenes was a different story: psychological breakdown, sudden shocking violence, hidden abuse. By the mid-1970s, six of the ten Galvin boys, one after another, were diagnosed as schizophrenic. How could all this happen to one family? What took place inside the house on Hidden Valley Road was so extraordinary that the Galvins became one of the first families to be studied by the National Institute of Mental Health. Their story offers a shadow history of the science of schizophrenia, from the era of institutionalization, lobotomy, and the schizophrenogenic mother to the search for genetic markers for the disease, always amid profound disagreements about the nature of the illness itself. And unbeknownst to the Galvins, samples of their DNA informed decades of genetic research that continues today, offering paths to treatment, prediction, and even eradication of the disease for future generations. With clarity and compassion, bestselling and award-winning author Robert Kolker uncovers one family's unforgettable legacy of suffering, love, and hope.

In this book, thirty-five young, recently diagnosed patients speak about schizophrenia and the process of recovery, while two specialists illuminate the medical science, psychoeducation, and therapeutic needs of those coping with the illness, as well as access to medical benefits and community resources. A remarkably inclusive guide, the volume informs patients, families, friends, and professionals, detailing the possible causes of schizophrenia, medications and side effects, the functioning of the brain, and the value of rehabilitation and other services. In their dialogues, participants confront shame, stigma, substance use, and relapse issues and the necessity of healthy eating, safe sex practices, and coping skills during recovery. Clinicians elaborate on the symptoms of schizophrenia, such as violent and suicidal thoughts, delusions, hallucinations, memory and concentration problems, trouble getting motivated or organized, and anxiety and mood disorders. Adopting an uplifting tone of manageability, the participants, authors, and clinicians of this volume offer more than advice--they prescribe hope.

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER NOW A MAJOR FILM, STARRING STEVE CARELL AND BAFTA AND GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATED TIMOTHEE CHALAMET ‘It was like being in a car with the gas pedal slammed down to the floor and nothing to do but hold on and pretend to have some semblance of control. But control was something I'd lost a long time ago.’ Nic Sheff was drunk for the first time at age 11. In the years that followed, he would regularly smoke pot, do cocaine and ecstasy, and develop addictions to crystal meth and heroin. Even so, he felt like he would always be able to quit and put his life together whenever he needed to. It took a violent relapse one summer to convince him otherwise. In a voice that is raw and honest, Nic spares no detail in telling us the compelling true story of his relapse and the road to recovery. He paints an extraordinary picture for us of a person at odds with his past, with his family, with his substances, and with himself. Tweak is a raw, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful tale of the road from relapse to recovery and complements his father’s parallel memoir, Beautiful Boy. Praise for Nic Sheff:- ‘Difficult to read and impossible to put down.’Chicago Tribune 'Nic Sheff's wrenching tale is told with electrifying honesty and insight.' Armistead Maupin

Schizophrenia is one of the most complex and puzzling diseases toaffect mankind. It is the most common of the severe mentalillnesses (psychoses) with an estimated prevalence of 0.5 - 1% inthe general population and accounts for a very large portion of theday to day workload of the average psychiatrist. 50% of long-termpsychiatric patients in mental hospitals are schizophrenic. There is a great deal of controversy about the causes, diagnosisand treatment of schizophrenia with the consequence that a hugeamount of research is carried out in the field by psychiatrists,psychologists, neuroscientists and pharmacologists. For the averagepractising psychiatrist seeing schizophrenics on a regular basis,making sense of the vast body of information on the subject andfiltering out what is of clinical relevance can be very difficult.There is a constant stream of new drugs emerging and the newergeneration of drugs (the so-called atypicals) is very effective,but often expensive. The Editors (one American and one British) are both highlyrespected clinical psychiatrists who are probably the leadingexperts on schizophrenia from their respective countries andjointly have published almost 150 papers on the subject. They have brought together a strong group of contributors from theUSA, UK and Europe to produce what will be an essential referencefor the trainee and practising psychiatrist. The book consists of four sections; descriptive aspects,causative aspects, physical treatments andpsychological/behavioural/social treatments. There will bediscussion of the theoretical controversies over symptomatology,classification and aetiology, the relationship of schizophrenia tothe other psychoses, the significance of positive and negativesymptoms and pre-morbid personality. There will be chapters onorganic models of schiziophrenia, neurodevelopmental, genetic andstructural studies and the role of high-expressed emotion. Thefinal section will cover social and environmental treatment, therole of the families of schizophrenics and the psychoanalyticaltherapies. There is a new chapter on the patient's perspectivewritten by a former patient.

Two leading schizophrenia researchers present an accessible and comprehensive guide to dealing with the disease. They provide key information on the integration of drugs and psychological treatments and discuss how family members can be a helpful part of the treatment process.