Family Dysfunctions – Trish’s Mental Health Resources Blog

From Amazon.com: “Do you have a parent who is invalidating, critical, demanding, or hateful? In this important and much-needed guide, you’ll learn how to set boundaries; uncover the hidden motives behind your parent’s behavior; put a stop to repetitive, hurtful interactions; and foster healthier relationships.

There’s no sugarcoating it—if you grew up with a parent who made you feel invalidated or unloved as a child, your pain is very real. In some cases, you may decide that you want to remove this parent from your life, and that is a valid choice. But for many people, dealing with a problem parent becomes a necessary part of life, for whatever reason. If you’re one of these people, this book can help.

Written by a psychotherapist and expert in relationships, Coping with Critical, Demanding, and Dysfunctional Parents will help you develop unique assertiveness strategies based on the characteristics of your own family dynamics. You’ll learn powerful communication skills to help you build boundaries and put a stop to your parent’s hurtful behavior. And, most importantly, you’ll learn to advocate for your own needs.

If you’ve “had it up to here” with a parent who makes you feel as though you’re just not good enough, this invaluable guide can help you put an end to toxic interactions while maintaining peace in your family.”

Why Do We Repeat the Same Dysfunctional Relationship Patterns Over and Over?

By Sharon Martin, LCSW
~ 5 min read

At Blogs.Psychcentral.com

Children of Schizophrenic Moms at Risk

Depression and anxiety may precede the onset of disease in offspring. The children of 28 schizophrenic women showed that 89 percent of the children displayed symptoms of at least one mental health disorder.

By Jason Williams, May 1, 2003 – last reviewed June 9, 2016

At Psychologytoday.com

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/200305/children-schizophrenic-moms-risk

Skipping Stones (Ripple Effects of Mental Illness on the Family

Skipping Stones (Ripple Effects of Mental Illness on the Family) 2nd ed. Edition

By Mona Wasow, Italian Social Worker. (2002)

FromAmazon.com: “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, 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.”

Hidden Victims Hidden Healers

Hidden Victims Hidden Healers: An Eight-Stage Healing Process For Families And Friends Of The Mentally Ill, 2nd Edition

By Julie Tallard Johnson, MSW, LICSW. (2007).

From Amazon.com: “The impetus of this book began with a personal search of mine for support groups for families of those with mental illness. I had a brother with Schizophrenia. I was also finishing up my graduate degree in Social Work (back in 1982). What these groups for families of the mentally ill “supported” concerned me. What I typically found were dysfunctional groups supporting negative and even hostile mindsets. Most of them encouraged a victim mentality to the surrounding culture and to the mental illness. When I considered using other group processes such as the 12 Steps, it didn’t convert well enough to help family members struggling with a loved one’s persistent and chronic mental illness. I also recognized that mental illness happens within the context of a family – not just the individual. Too often these groups focused on the mentally ill person at the expense of the family’s over-all own mental health and the health of other family members. I discovered in my research that how the family responds to the mental illness will either be part of the antidote or continued problem. In any give difficulty we are either part of the problem or part of the solution. I intended to offer a means for family members and friends to be part of a solution. Furthermore, families and their individual members are all personally affected by the disruption and difficulties brought on through living with mental illness. Those living with mental illness secondarily through a loved one also needed an aggressive healing path to help them live with (and sometimes beyond) the mental illness. So, I developed the Eight Stage Healing Process. My combined personal and professional experiences contributed to the chosen Stages. Furthermore, I researched what works and what doesn’t work in such support groups. When securing a publisher for the book I insisted that “coping” be left out of the title. Everyone is coping – the Eight Stages takes one beyond just coping with mental illness and the surrounding family dynamics and helps individuals and families heal. Twenty years later I still find, along with thousands of other family members that the Eight Stages is an authentic healing process that benefits all family members. The Eight Stages are; Stage One: Stage Two: Stage Three: Stage Four: Stage Five: Stage Six: Stage Seven: Stage Eight: The Eight Stages can be used individually or within a group context. If in a group, I have available the Facilitator’s Manual to use as a guide: Title here. Now the Eight Stages is the most used program for families in Australia and used throughout Canada and the United States.”

The Drama of the Gifted Child

The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self, Revised Edition

by Alice Miller, PhD. (2007)

From Amazon.com: “The bestselling book on childhood trauma and the enduring effects of repressed anger and pain.Why are many of the most successful people plagued by feelings of emptiness and alienation? This wise and profound book has provided millions of readers with an answer–and has helped them to apply it to their own lives. Far too many of us had to learn as children to hide our own feelings, needs, and memories skillfully in order to meet our parents’ expectations and win their “love.” Alice Miller writes, “When I used the word ‘gifted’ in the title, I had in mind neither children who receive high grades in school nor children talented in a special way. I simply meant all of us who have survived an abusive childhood thanks to an ability to adapt even to unspeakable cruelty by becoming numb…. Without this ‘gift’ offered us by nature, we would not have survived.” But merely surviving is not enough. The Drama of the Gifted Child helps us to reclaim our life by discovering our own crucial needs and our own truth.”

My Parent’s Keeper: Adult Children of the Emotionally Ill

My Parent’s Keeper: Adult Children of the Emotionally Ill

by Eva Brown, LCSW. (1989).

From Amazon.com: “Eva Marian Brown, LCSW, is a psychotherapist practicing in Oakland, CA. In her general practice she provides individuals, couples, … “

Growing Up with a Schizophrenic Mother

Growing Up With a Schizophrenic Mother

ISBN-13: 978-0786408207

By Margaret J. Brown, Psychotherapist & Doris Parker Roberts, LCSW. (2000).

From Amazon.com: “An estimated two to three million people in the United States today were raised by a schizophrenic parent. Brown and Roberts offer a unique book based on interviews with over forty adult children of mothers diagnosed as schizophrenic. Such topics as the isolation their family felt, their chaotic home environments, their present relationships with their mothers, and the lost potential of mother and child are covered. Their stories are fascinating and provide important information to both the mental health community and the lay public. The offspring have been described as having higher rates of “increased aggressivity” and “sibling conflict,” but often their circumstances strengthened these children and contributed to artistic and creative talents, resiliency, and high achievements. The authors provide an overview of schizophrenia, behaviors of the affected parent, and the marital relationship of the patient and her non-schizophrenic spouse. As adults, the respondents now share their grievances about the psychological community–what they needed and did not get. Brown and Roberts then present suggestions for treatment of affected children aimed at psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, counselors, and health care providers.”

ISBN-3: 978-0786408207