Advice on Helping Your Loved Ones, from the medical director of the country's largest state mental health system and the mental health editor of The Huffington Post More than fifty million people a year are diagnosed with some form of mental illness. It spares no sex, race, age, ethnicity, or income level. And left untreated, mental disorders can devastate our families and communities. Family members and friends are often the first to realize when someone has a problem, but it is hard to know how to help or where to turn. Our mental health “system” can feel like a bewildering and frustrating maze. How can you tell that someone has a mental illness? What are the first and best steps for you to take? Where do you go to find the right care? The Family Guide to Mental Health Care is the first comprehensive print resource for the millions of people who have loved ones suffering from some kind of mental illness. In this book, families can find the answers to their most urgent questions. What medications are helpful and are some as dangerous as I think? Is there a way to navigate privacy laws so I can discuss my adult daughter’s treatment with her doctor? Is my teenager experiencing typical adolescent distress or an illness? From understanding depression, bipolar illness and anxiety to eating and traumatic disorders, schizophrenia, and much more, readers will learn what to do and how to help. Real-life scenarios and authoritative information are written in a compassionate, reader-friendly way, including checklists to bring to a doctor’s appointment so you can ask the right questions. For readers who fear they will never see the light at the end of the tunnel, this book gives hope and a path forward. As one of the nation’s leading voices on quality care in mental health, Dr. Lloyd Sederer has played a singular role in advancing services for those with mental illness. Now, the wealth of his expertise and clear guidance is at your disposal. From the first signs of a problem to sorting through the variety of treatment options, you and your family will be able to walk into a doctor’s office know what to do and what to ask.

When a loved one with mental illness comes into contact with the law, trying to advocate for them can be an overwhelming and frustrating endeavor. Mental illness adds a layer of complexity to legal processes, and the justice system can be downright bewildering, even for the most well-intentioned. How can families find out if their loved one is being mistreated or ignored, and how can they make sense of their rights under various laws and regulations? Family Guide to Mental Illness and the Law offers the nuts-and-bolts legal information and problem-solving steps families need. This accessible resource explains how common legal issues uniquely impact people with various forms of mental illness and what family members can do to help. Readers will learn how to · help protect a loved one's job, housing, or medical care · participate in hearings about guardianship, involuntary commitment, bankruptcy, and more · assist in making financial arrangements · navigate federal laws surrounding the Family and Medical Leave Act, HIPAA, disability claims, and workers' compensation · steer criminal proceedings away from jail and toward treatment Beyond the legal system, this book also guides readers in interacting with officials and authorities, lobbying for better laws, and working with local governments towards improving policies that affect those with mental illness. Complete with real-world examples, Family Guide to Mental Illness and the Law provides practical advice and eases the feelings of isolation that often accompany loving someone with mental illness.

With up-to-date research, illustrative examples, and a practical approach forindividuals and families, this handbook features an overview of mental healthdisorders, basic strategies for improving as well as preventing mental healthissues, and more.

Over 50 million Americans have a mental illness, but as many as 20 million don't have their illness detected. And many others get substandard treatment. Family members play a crucial role in recognizing mental illness, and helping a loved one get the treatment they need. The early signs of mental illness are clear if you know what to look for, and getting rapid and effective treatment will help your relative get better faster. If you think a family member or friend may be struggling with a mental illness, or isn't getting effective treatment, this guide will help you recognize symptoms, get the right treatment, and work together as a family to help your loved one get better. Inside you'll find step-by-step support and information for determining whether someone you care about is suffering from a mental disorder, and what you can do to help. The Family Intervention Guide to Mental Illness outlines the nine fundamental steps to recognizing, managing, and recovering from mental illness. It provides both diagnostic information and details about therapy options and useful medications. With the right advice, determined effort, and a lot of love, you can make a difference.

Endorsement from Benedict Carey, science reporter, The New York Times: "Across my career covering mental health, I have fielded scores of urgent calls from readers: 'My brother's suicidal;' or, 'my daughter is on the street, psychotic' -what do I do? There was never one good answer. But now there is: a warmly written, deeply informed guide for families in crisis, by true experts with a lifetime of experience." About the book A Family Guide to Mental Health Recovery is for parents of adult children who struggle with a serious mental illness. Serious mental illness is complex, the mental health treatment system in the U.S. is fragmented, and you may often feel like your child's future has been overlooked. We want you to know there is hope for recovery. This guide is intended to help families get their bearings, understand the mental health system and its limitations, and build a path forward towards person-centered recovery. Additional Endorsements "This is a 'break the glass' kind of document to help you know how to respond to an emergency." "When you have just gotten the diagnosis, you think, "What the heck should we do?" This guide would have given us a new way of thinking about what was going on and what to do next. And it would have helped us in a crisis to know about all of the options." "I like how you have helped us to see that there is no single path to recovery. It would be good to repeat that there is no tried and true method for everyone. Each person is different." "Your treatment planning section shows that having a diagnosis does not mean that my family member should forget about her dreams of having a good life. The overall theme is that there is hope; there are things that are useful to try."

When a loved one has OCD, it's a constant struggle. It hurts to see your spouse so anxious or your teen spending so much time alone. You've tried logic, reassurance, even accommodating endless rituals--but, too often, these well-meaning attempts actually make OCD worse. Psychologist Jonathan Abramowitz has worked with countless families affected by OCD, and he understands the strain. He also knows you can turn things around. Grounded in state-of-the-art treatment research, this compassionate guide helps you change your own behavior to support your loved one's recovery. By gently but firmly encouraging the person you care about to face their fears, you can stop being controlled by the disorder, disentangle yourself from unhealthy patterns, and see your whole family grow more confident and hopeful. Vivid stories, dos and don'ts, and practical tools (which you can download and print for repeated use) help you follow the step-by-step strategies in this life-changing book.

Too often American veterans return from combat and spiral into depression, anger and loneliness they can neither share nor tackle on their own. Military Mental Health Care: A Guide for Service Members, Veterans, Families, and Community seeks to aid our troubled, returning forces by dissecting the numerous mental health problems they face upon arriving stateside. Don Philpott and Cheryl Lawhorne-Scott, co-authors with Janelle Hill of the highly successful Wounded Warrior Handbook, detail not only each issue’s symptoms, but also discuss what treatments are available, and the best ways for veterans to access those treatments while readjusting to civilian life. In addition, they connect and explain many alarming trends, such as joblessness, poverty and addiction, appearing in our nation’s veteran population on a broader scale. PTSD and struggles with anxiety affect far more than veterans themselves, as sobering phenomena like homelessness, suicide, domestic violence and divorce too often become realities for those returning from war. Military Mental Health Care is both a resource for struggling veterans and a useful tool for their loved ones, or anyone looking for ways to support the veterans in their lives.