The Skipping Stone
Second Edition
Ripple Effects of Severe Mental Illness on the Family
Mona
Wasow
Drawings
by Elinor Randall
304 pages,
6 x 9 in.
ISBN 978-0831400828
$18.95 paperback
Two significant
new chapters expand the successfull first edition of The Skipping
Stone - one on parents of people with severe mental illnesses, the
other on preparing families for when care-giving parents die. Many other
updated and new topics - including spirituality's role in coping - round
out this portrait of families struggling with ripple effects of mood disorders,
the schizophrenias, or the dementias.
Mixing
compassion and practicality in equal parts, Mona Wasow has created
an out-standing book for families ... of great value to anyone who must
live with or treat these diseases.
- E. Fuller Torrey, M.D.
When someone
has a severe mental illness (SMI), what's it like for the rest
of the family? How can professionals benefit by working with relatives
of their SMI clients?
With insight
and poignancy, Mona Wasow explores experiences of the families
of people with schizophrenia or a mood disorder. Her work includes the
first information on how grandparents feel and react to the ripples.
It is also among the first to talk about the rest of the extended family,
as well as parents, siblings, children, and spouses.
Wasow's clinical recommendations and vignettes draw from in-depth interviews
with 100 family members, with various professionals, and
from available literature. This book creates more room for people
of different convictions to work together with respect and compassion.
Mona
Wasow, LCSW, is a legendary clinical professor of social work at
the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Her first book, Coping with
Schizophrenia, was especially popular with families and within the
National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, where she continues to be a valued
member and speaker.
... a compassionate but stirring wake-up call to professionals to hear
and to address the concerns of all types of family members, e.g. children,
siblings, spouses, grandparents, aunts, and uncles ...
- Mary Ann Test,
Ph.D., Professor, School of Social Work, Univ. of Wisconsin at Madison
... her conversational style gives the impression that you have entered
into a heart-to-heart talk with the author as she shares her extensive
research-based knowledge, personal advice, and information from a wide
range of up-to-date sources ... a strong message of compassion for self
and others
- Marilyn Wedenoia, for the NAMI Literature Committee
... shows that mental illness is indeed a family affair, because no family
is left untouched by its anguish. These are stories of grieving and loss,
of wanting distance from the source of pain, and also of resilience, loyalty,
and hope.
- Harriet Lefley, Professor of Psychiatry, Univ. of Miami School
of Medicine
... immensely wise and lovingly written. Its original research illuminates
with its humanity and reminds us of the power of story ... inspiring in
its message that families, educators, and clinicians need to work together
- Ann Deveson, Australian filmmaker and author of Tell Me I'm Here
