(Part 2) Best books about schizophrenia according to redditors

I think there is some link between inflammation and schizophrenia. The research is far behind other fields, like cardiology. The gold standard now is Clozapine, and the best authority on this is Dr. Robert Laitman,
https://www.amazon.com/MEANINGFUL-RECOVERY-Schizophrenia-Serious-Clozapine/dp/172748424X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542128772&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+laitman

Don't know if this story is legit or not, but there was a time when people were being institutionalize din mass for civil disobedience. During the civil rights movement. Read Protest Psychosis

You should read Shamans Among Us: Schizophrenia, Shamanism and the Evolutionary Origins of Religion by Joseph Polimeni. He gets deep into the science of evolution to argue that schizophrenia may not be a true disease since it has some value for the survival of the species.

In my opinion, extreme states of inspiration like hypomania, ecstatic trance, and visions may serve the purpose of giving the individual the ability to transcend tired, worn out modes of thought. The tribe then benefits from an individual capable of suggesting new rituals and traditions to replace the old ways of doing things which can become sub-optimal when the ecosystem changes. In other words, an elasticity of the mind can be enormously useful when faced with challenging circumstances. Therefore nature selects for individuals who sacrifice their rigid rationality for a more fluid understanding of reality.

The fact that psychosis often features visions of an apocalypse or dismemberment followed by a rebirth strongly suggests that psychosis is a natural process of refashioning the mind or the society.

My Friend just wrote a book on how he has successfully kicked his Schizophrenia in the teeth, Might be of interest to you https://www.amazon.com/Defeating-Mental-Illness-Nick-Griemsmann/dp/1494965631

I’m real big into reading, I feel like the more you know about your brain the easier it is to battle. I have a few good books that I’ve read that might be able to help.

This book is about SZ, not SZA but I have SZA and I found it extremely informative for the positive and negative symptoms. It’s hard to find books on sccuizoaffective so I ended up reading books on SZ, bipolar and depression and just kinda mashing the information together. The kindle version is cheaper than the physical copy: https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Schizophrenia-Practical-Patients-Professionals/dp/1440831505/ref=mp_s_a_1_13?crid=271OTT20AOESF&keywords=schizophrenia+books&qid=1554948320&s=gateway&sprefix=schizophren&sr=8-13

This is the book I bought for my family to pass around after they finally understood that it was a real thing. They all enjoyed it and said it made things easier to understand: https://www.amazon.com/Schizoaffective-Disorder-Simplified-Martine-Daniel/dp/1849915121/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=2SBF34QLMYD7&keywords=schizoaffective+disorder+books&qid=1554948451&s=gateway&sprefix=schizoaffec&sr=8-3

Those are my two favorites, I’m sure other folks on here have good suggestions too. If you need anything else or just someone to vent to feel free to PM me, diagnosis is hard but it’s a really good step in the recovery process. Once it has a name it’s easier to understand :)

Some books that may help: Surviving Schizophrenia, The Complete Family Guide to Schizophrenia, and, if needed, I Am Not Sick, I Don't Need Help. They can be found on Amazon.

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Don't try to talk him out of his hallucinations or delusions. Only a professional should attempt it. You don't have to indulge his delusions either. You can just empathize. "That sounds very stressful." "I'm sorry you're going through that." Good luck.

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https://smile.amazon.com/Surviving-Schizophrenia-6th-Family-Manual-ebook/dp/B00JOGB22Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539451361&sr=8-1&keywords=surviving+schizophrenia

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https://smile.amazon.com/Complete-Family-Guide-Schizophrenia-Helping-ebook/dp/B005DB7HA2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539451411&sr=8-1&keywords=the+complete+family+guide+to+schizophrenia

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https://smile.amazon.com/Someone-Mental-Illness-Treatment-Anniversary/dp/0967718937/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539451491&sr=8-1&keywords=i%27m+not+sick+i+don%27t+need+help+by+xavier+amador&dpID=51o23eUllGL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch

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Edit: As a family member, you may find this forum to be more helpful: https://family.schizophrenia.com/

I would recommend books by neurologist V.S. Ramachandran such as Phantoms in the Brain

From a more psychiatric slant, books by Ronald K Siegel like Whispers and Fire in the Brain are collections of case studies about delusions and hallucinations

I'm rushing out the door rn, but I can go more in depth later. Heres the big two:

1. https://www.amazon.com/Muses-Madmen-Prophets-Hearing-Borders-ebook/dp/B000SEHBZ0
   
   
2. https://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1507&context=etd_hon_theses
   
   

Hi Fried, I don't agree that what gets labeled schizophrenia is a "disorder" - that's a value judgment about how people respond to adverse experiences, psychological and biological.

Also do not agree that these problems have a biological origin (if by origin one means cause); that has never been confirmed. What I believe is that there are biological and epigenetic correlates to extreme distress as the person and environment interact.

Lastly, there been many, many accounts of full recovery from a diagnosis of schizophrenia; I thought that issue was already resolved and am always sincerely surprised when people say they think schizophrenia is incurable. I'll paste in here my list of reading of intensive psychotherapeutic approaches to schizophrenia, starting from decades ago and going up till the present, which contains a few hundred cases with many stories of "cure"; I think if people were more familiar with this work they'd be a lot more optimistic:


Wilhelm Reich (1945) – Character Analysis, 3rd Edition

http://www.amazon.com/Character-Analysis-Wilhelm-Reich/dp/0374509808/

Paul Federn (1952) – Ego Psychology and the Psychoses

http://www.amazon.com/psychology-psychoses-basic-classics-psychiatry/dp/B0007DODH6/

Freida-Fromm Reichmann (1960) – Principles of Intensive Psychotherapy

http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Intensive-Psychotherapy-Phoenix-Books/dp/0226265994/

Bryce Boyer and Peter Giovacchini (1967)– Psychoanalytic Treatment of Characterological and Schizophrenic Disorders

http://www.amazon.com/Psychoanalytic-treatment-schizophrenic-characterological-disorders/dp/B0006BOYG4/

Harold Searles (1968) – Schizophrenia and Related Subjects –

http://www.amazon.com/Collected-Schizophrenia-Related-Subjects-Maresfield/dp/0946439303/

Elvin Semrad (1969) – Teaching Psychotherapy of Psychotic Patients; Supervision of Beginning Residents in the “Clinical Approach”.

http://www.amazon.com/Psychotherapy-Psychotic-Supervision-Beginning-Residents/dp/080890423X/

Bryce Boyer, ed. (1973) - Master Clinicians on Treating the Regressed Patient Volume 1

http://www.amazon.com/Master-Clinicians-Treating-Regressed-Patient/dp/0876688342

Silvano Arieti (1974) – Interpretation of Schizophrenia, 2nd Edition

http://www.amazon.com/Interpretation-Schizophrenia-Silvano-Arieti/dp/0465034292/

Vamik Volkan (1976) – Primitive Internalized Object Relations: A Clinical Study of Borderline, Narcissistic, and Schizophrenic Patients

http://www.amazon.com/Primitive-Internalized-Object-Relations-Schizophrenic/dp/0823649954/

Bertram Karon and Gary VandenBos (1977) – Psychotherapy of Schizophrenia: The Treatment of Choice

http://www.amazon.com/Psychotherapy-Schizophrenia-The-Treatment-Choice-ebook/dp/B00C1OKHWO/

Bryce Boyer, ed. (1977) - Master Clinicians on Treating the Regressed Patient Volume 2

http://www.amazon.com/Master-Clinicians-Treating-Regressed-Patient/dp/1568210043

Gaetano Benedetti (1977) – Psychotherapy of Schizophrenia

http://www.amazon.com/Psychotherapy-Schizophrenia-Master-Work/dp/1568217560/

Harold Searles (1979) – The Nonhuman Environment in Normal Development and in Schizophrenia

http://www.amazon.com/Nonhuman-Environment-Normal-Development-Schizophrenia/dp/B007BNLLNE/

Harold Searles (1979) – Countertransference and Related Subjects

http://www.amazon.com/Countertransference-Related-Subjects-Selected-Papers/dp/0823610853

Ping-Nie Pao (1979) – Schizophrenic Disorders: Theory and Treatment from a Psychodynamic Point of View

http://www.amazon.com/Schizophrenic-Disorders-Theory-Treatment-Psychodynamic/dp/0823659909/

Donald Rinsley (1980) – Treatment of the Severely Disturbed Adolescent

http://www.amazon.com/Treatment-Severely-Disturbed-Adolescent-Rinsley/dp/1568212224/

Bryce Boyer (1983) – The Regressed Patient

http://www.amazon.com/Regressed-Patient-Bryce-L-Boyer/dp/0876686269/

Herbert Rosenfeld (1985) – Psychotic States: A Psychoanalytical Approach

http://www.amazon.com/Psychotic-States-Psychoanalytic-Approach-Maresfield/dp/0950714682/

Herbert Rosenfeld (1987) – Impasse and Interpretation: Therapeutic and Anti-Therapeutic Factors in the Psychoanalytic Treatment of Psychotic, Borderline, and Neurotic Patients

http://www.amazon.com/Impasse-Interpretation-Anti-Therapeutic-Psychoanalytic-Psychoanalysis/dp/0415010128/

Bent Rosenbaum (1988) – The Language of Psychosis

http://www.amazon.com/Language-Psychosis-Bent-Rosenbaum/dp/0814774032

Thomas Ogden (1988) – The Primitive Edge of Experience

http://www.amazon.com/Primitive-Edge-Experience-Thomas-Ogden-ebook/dp/B001XCVU4E/

Edward Podvoll (1991) – The Seduction of Madness: Revolutionary Insights into the World of Psychosis and a Compassionate Approach to Recovery at Home

http://www.amazon.com/Seduction-Madness-Revolutionary-Psychosis-Compassionate/dp/0060921188/

David Rosenfeld (1992) – The Psychotic Aspects of the Personality

http://www.amazon.com/Psychotic-Aspects-Personality-David-Rosenfeld-ebook/dp/B005NYS2C6/

Gaetano Benedetti and Pier-Maria Furlan (1993) – Psychotherapy of Schizophrenia: Effective Clinical Approaches – Controversies, Critiques and Recommendations

http://www.amazon.com/Psychotherapy-Schizophrenia-Effective-Approaches-Controversies-Recommendations/dp/088937077X/

Michael Robbins (1993) – Experiences of Schizophrenia: An Integration of the Personal, Scientific, and Therapeutic

http://www.amazon.com/Experiences-Schizophrenia-Integration-Scientific-Therapeutic/dp/0898629977/

Thanks for asking. It is in English, would love for it to be translated and published in Turkish eventually, but right now only in English. It's published by Routledge, and can be bought from Amazon (paperback version is coming out this month, and kindle also available). https://www.amazon.com/Meaning-Madness-Political-Subjectivity-schizophrenia/dp/1138840823 or through Routledge's own site: https://www.routledge.com/Meaning-Madness-and-Political-Subjectivity-A-study-of-schizophrenia-and/Rahimi/p/book/9781138840829
My name is Sadeq Rahimi.

This is the only thing I've come across and it's got a schizophrenia spin https://www.amazon.ca/Schizophrenia-Coping-Psychosis-Self-Handbook-ebook/dp/B004Q3RN7U/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1539497033&sr=8-2&keywords=Psychosis+help

(http://www.amazon.com/Chaosophy-Foreign-Agents-Felix-Guattari/dp/1570270198)[Choasophy]? It's an analysis using schizophrenia as a lens to understand the chaos of our capitalistic culture.

Angelhead was pretty good.

With reservations, I'll also recommend Sybil and Children with Emerald Eyes. These two have a very old school, strictly Freudian interpretation of mental illness, and it's sort of lame and dated.

Un Homme New Yorkais avec la Schizophrenie: Une Autobiographie es mon histoire et saga contre un maladie horrible. Regardez le livre sur Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Homme-Yorkais-avec-Schizophrenie-Autobiographie/dp/1514359669/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8