A riveting investigation of the myriad ways that parasites control how other creatures - including humans - think, feel, and act. These tiny organisms can live only inside another animal, and, as McAuliffe reveals, they have many evolutionary motives for manipulating their host's behavior. Far more often than appreciated, these puppeteers orchestrate the interplay between predator and prey. With astonishing precision, parasites can coax rats to approach cats, spiders to transform the patterns of their webs, and fish to draw the attention of birds that then swoop down to feast on them. We humans are hardly immune to the profound influence of parasites. Organisms we pick up from our own pets are strongly suspected of changing our personality traits and contributing to recklessness, impulsivity - even suicide. Microbes in our gut affect our emotions and the very wiring of our brains. Germs that cause colds and flu may alter our behavior even before symptoms become apparent. Parasites influence our species on the cultural level, too. As McAuliffe documents, a subconscious fear of contagion impacts virtually every aspect of our lives, from our sexual attractions and social circles to our morals and political views. Drawing on a huge body of research, she argues that our dread of contamination is an evolved defense against parasites - and a double-edged sword. The horror and revulsion we feel when we come in contact with people who appear diseased or dirty helped pave the way for civilization but may also be the basis for major divisions in societies that persist to this day. In the tradition of Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel and Neil Shubin's Your Inner Fish, This Is Your Brain on Parasites is both a journey into cutting-edge science and a revelatory examination of what it means to be human. Read more

Dr. Amador's research on poor insight was inspired by his success helping his brother Henry, who had schizophrenia, accept treatment. Like tens of millions of others diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and addictions, Henry did not believe he was ill.In this latest edition, all chapters have been updated with new research on anosognosia (lack of insight) and much more detail on LEAP. Listeners will find expanded guidance on how to learn and use LEAP. New advice, relying on lessons learned from tens of thousands of LEAP seminar participants, is given to help listeners quickly and effectively use Dr. Amador's method for helping someone accept treatment.I Am Not Sick, I Don't Need Help! is not just a reference for mental health practitioners and criminal justice professionals. It is a must-listen to guide for family members whose loved ones are battling mental illness and addictions. Listen, and learn as have hundreds of thousands of others...to LEAP—listen, empathize, agree, and partner—and help your patients and loved ones accept the treatment they need.PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio. Read more

#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 WinfreyDon 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 12 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 10 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, best-selling and award-winning author Robert Kolker uncovers one family's unforgettable legacy of suffering, love, and hope. Read more

PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST •  Named a Top 10 Best Book of the Year by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Slate, and PeopleOne of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2023“Brave and nuanced . . . an act of tremendous compassion and a literary triumph.” —The New York Times“Immensely emotional and unforgettably haunting.” —The Wall Street JournalAcclaimed author Jonathan Rosen’s haunting investigation of the forces that led his closest childhood friend, Michael Laudor, from the heights of brilliant promise to the forensic psychiatric hospital where he has lived since killing the woman he loved. A story about friendship, love, and the price of self-delusion, The Best Minds explores the ways in which we understand—and fail to understand—mental illness.When the Rosens moved to New Rochelle in 1973, Jonathan Rosen and Michael Laudor became inseparable. Both children of college professors, the boys were best friends and keen competitors, and, when they both got into Yale University, seemed set to join the American meritocratic elite.   Michael blazed through college in three years, graduating summa cum laude and landing a top-flight consulting job. But all wasn’t as it seemed. One day, Jonathan received the call: Michael had suffered a serious psychotic break and was in the locked ward of a psychiatric hospital.   Diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, Michael was still battling delu­sions when he traded his halfway house for Yale Law School. Featured in The New York Times as a role model genius, he sold a memoir, with film rights to Ron Howard. But then Michael, in the grip of an unshakeable paranoid fantasy, stabbed his girlfriend Carrie to death and became a front-page story of an entirely different sort.   Tender, funny, and harrowing by turns, The Best Minds is Jonathan Rosen’s magnificent and heartbreaking account of good intentions and tragic outcomes whose significance will echo widely. Read more

A much-praised memoir of living and surviving mental illness as well as "a stereotype-shattering look at a tenacious woman whose brain is her best friend and her worst enemy" (Time). Elyn R. Saks is an esteemed professor, lawyer, and psychiatrist and is the Orrin B. Evans Professor of Law, Psychology, Psychiatry, and the Behavioral Sciences at the University of Southern California Law School, yet she has suffered from schizophrenia for most of her life, and still has ongoing major episodes of the illness. The Center Cannot Hold is the eloquent, moving story of Elyn's life, from the first time that she heard voices speaking to her as a young teenager, to attempted suicides in college, through learning to live on her own as an adult in an often terrifying world. Saks discusses frankly the paranoia, the inability to tell imaginary fears from real ones, the voices in her head telling her to kill herself (and to harm others), as well as the incredibly difficult obstacles she overcame to become a highly respected professional. This beautifully written memoir is destined to become a classic in its genre. Read more

An "introduction to the nonfascist life" (Michel Foucault, from the Preface)When it first appeared in France, Anti-Oedipus was hailed as a masterpiece by some and "a work of heretical madness" by others. In it, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari set forth the following theory: Western society's innate herd instinct has allowed the government, the media, and even the principles of economics to take advantage of each person's unwillingness to be cut off from the group. What's more, those who suffer from mental disorders may not be insane, but could be individuals in the purest sense, because they are by nature isolated from society. More than twenty-five years after its original publication, Anti-Oedipus still stands as a controversial contribution to a much-needed dialogue on the nature of free thinking. Read more

Powerful, affecting essays on mental illness, winner of the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize and a Whiting AwardAn intimate, moving book written with the immediacy and directness of one who still struggles with the effects of mental and chronic illness, The Collected Schizophrenias cuts right to the core. Schizophrenia is not a single unifying diagnosis, and Esmé Weijun Wang writes not just to her fellow members of the “collected schizophrenias” but to those who wish to understand it as well. Opening with the journey toward her diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder, Wang discusses the medical community’s own disagreement about labels and procedures for diagnosing those with mental illness, and then follows an arc that examines the manifestations of schizophrenia in her life. In essays that range from using fashion to present as high-functioning to the depths of a rare form of psychosis, and from the failures of the higher education system and the dangers of institutionalization to the complexity of compounding factors such as PTSD and Lyme disease, Wang’s analytical eye, honed as a former lab researcher at Stanford, allows her to balance research with personal narrative. An essay collection of undeniable power, The Collected Schizophrenias dispels misconceptions and provides insight into a condition long misunderstood. Read more

Updated throughout and filled with all the latest research, treatment plans, commonly asked questions and more, the bestselling resource on schizophrenia is back—now in its seventh edition.“E. Fuller Torrey is a brilliant writer. There is no one writing on psychology today whom I would rather read.”— Los Angeles TimesSince its first publication in 1983, Surviving Schizophrenia has become the standard reference book on the disease that has helped thousands of patients, their families, and mental health professionals alike.In clear language, this much-praised and important book describes the nature, causes, symptoms, treatment, and course of schizophrenia, and explores living with it from both the patient’s and the family’s point of view. This new, completely updated seventh edition includes the latest research findings on what causes the illness, as well as information about the newest drugs for treatment, and answers the questions most often asked by families, consumers, and providers.An indispensable guide for those afflicted by schizophrenia as well as those who care for them, Surviving Schizophrenia covers every aspect of the condition and sheds new light on an often-misunderstood illness. Read more

Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, a Books for a Better Life Award, and one of The New York Times Book Review’s Ten Best Books of 2012, this masterpiece by the National Book Award–winning author of The Noonday Demon features stories of parents who not only learn to deal with their exceptional children, but also find profound meaning in doing so—“a brave, beautiful book that will expand your humanity” (People).Solomon’s startling proposition in Far from the Tree is that being exceptional is at the core of the human condition—that difference is what unites us. He writes about families coping with deafness, dwarfism, Down syndrome, autism, schizophrenia, or multiple severe disabilities; with children who are prodigies, who are conceived in rape, who become criminals, who are transgender. While each of these characteristics is potentially isolating, the experience of difference within families is universal, and Solomon documents triumphs of love over prejudice in every chapter. All parenting turns on a crucial question: to what extent should parents accept their children for who they are, and to what extent they should help them become their best selves. Drawing on ten years of research and interviews with more than three hundred families, Solomon mines the eloquence of ordinary people facing extreme challenges. Elegantly reported by a spectacularly original and compassionate thinker, Far from the Tree explores how people who love each other must struggle to accept each other—a theme in every family’s life. Read more

In “a brilliant antidote to all the…false narratives about pot” (American Thinker), an award-winning author and former New York Times reporter reveals the link between teenage marijuana use and mental illness, and a hidden epidemic of violence caused by the drug—facts the media have ignored as the United States rushes to legalize cannabis.Recreational marijuana is now legal in nine states. Advocates argue cannabis can help everyone from veterans to cancer sufferers. But legalization has been built on myths—that marijuana arrests fill prisons; that most doctors want to use cannabis as medicine; that it can somehow stem the opiate epidemic; that it is beneficial for mental health. In this meticulously reported book, Alex Berenson, a former New York Times reporter, explodes those myths, explaining that almost no one is in prison for marijuana; a tiny fraction of doctors write most authorizations for medical marijuana, mostly for people who have already used; and marijuana use is linked to opiate and cocaine use. Most of all, THC—the chemical in marijuana responsible for the drug’s high—can cause psychotic episodes. “Alex Berenson has a reporter’s tenacity, a novelist’s imagination, and an outsider’s knack for asking intemperate questions” (Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker), as he ranges from the London institute that is home to the scientists who helped prove the cannabis-psychosis link to the Colorado prison where a man now serves a thirty-year sentence after eating a THC-laced candy bar and killing his wife. He sticks to the facts, and they are devastating. With the US already gripped by one drug epidemic, Tell Your Children is a “well-written treatise” (Publishers Weekly) that “takes a sledgehammer to the promised benefits of marijuana legalization, and cannabis enthusiasts are not going to like it one bit” (Mother Jones). Read more

Powerful and effective skills to help you manage psychosis, take charge of your emotions, and get back to living your life. Based in dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), this first-of-its-kind workbook offers real skills to help you balance your emotions and stay grounded in reality. You’ll find self-assessments, worksheets, and guided activities to help you understand your symptoms and manage them in day-to-day life. You’ll also gain self-awareness, learn to navigate difficult or stressful situations, and discover healthier ways of interacting with others.If you have a history of psychosis or suffer from psychotic spectrum disorder, you know how difficult it can be. You may experience paranoia, auditory hallucinations, and emotional dysregulation. In addition, you may feel alienated from your friends and family if they have trouble understanding what you’re going through. The good news is that you can move beyond the stigma of psychosis, regain hope, and rebuild your life. This compassionate workbook will help you get started.In this workbook, you’ll learn the core skills of DBT to help you feel better:MindfulnessDistress toleranceEmotion regulationInterpersonal effectiveness    You’ll also find important information on relapse prevention—including warning signs to watch out for, what to do if you have another episode, and an extensive resource list to help you manage your symptoms. And finally, you’ll find a wealth of practical tools that can be used every day for long-lasting psychosis recovery. Read more

This is the powerful, dramatic biography of math genius John Nash, who overcame serious mental illness and schizophrenia to win the Nobel Prize. This book is the inspiration for the Academy Award-winning film starring Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly and directed by Ron Howard.“How could you, a mathematician, believe that extraterrestrials were sending you messages?” the visitor from Harvard asked the West Virginian with the movie-star looks and Olympian manner. “Because the ideas I had about supernatural beings came to me the same way my mathematical ideas did,” came the answer. “So I took them seriously.” Thus begins the true story of John Nash, the mathematical genius, who was already a legend by age thirty, when he slipped into madness, and who—thanks to the selflessness of a beautiful woman and the loyalty of the mathematics community—emerged after decades of ghostlike existence to win a Nobel Prize for triggering the game theory revolution.The inspiration for an Academy Award–winning movie, Sylvia Nasar’s now-classic biography is a drama about the mystery of the human mind, triumph over adversity, and the healing power of love. Read more

Moving, harrowing, and ultimately uplifting, Lori Schiller's memoir is a classic testimony to the ravages of mental illness and the power of perseverance and courage.At seventeen Lori Schiller was the perfect child-the only daughter of an affluent, close-knit family. Six years later she made her first suicide attempt, then wandered the streets of New York City dressed in ragged clothes, tormenting voices crying out in her mind. Lori Schiller had entered the horrifying world of full-blown schizophrenia. She began an ordeal of hospitalizations, halfway houses, relapses, more suicide attempts, and constant, withering despair. But against all odds, she survived.In this personal account, she tells how she did it, taking us not only into her own shattered world, but drawing on the words of the doctors who treated her and family members who suffered with her.*Includes reading group guide* Read more

This book was written because countless readers of I am Not Sick, I Don’t Need Help! have told me that LEAP has worked for them to repair relationships, but they still stumble and don’t know how to get to the “Partner” phase. They want to know how to use LEAP to influence behavior change such as acceptance of treatment. They forget to reflectively listen, or how to delay giving contrary hurtful opinion, or how to give their opinion using the LEAP method. They are not fluent in LEAP and, as a result, have trouble getting to partnering. In the stories you will read in this book you will see how many were able to get to the partnering stage. The stories range from using LEAP with your child to using it in business relationships. You may ask: Why the wide range? The reason is because becoming fluent in LEAP, just like learning any foreign language, requires immersion. You can’t just read a single book or attend one of my seminars and expect to become fluent. By seeing how many people have used LEAP in many different situations, you will begin to internalize the language of this approach. TAKE NOTE: THIS BOOK IS AN EXPANDED VERSION OF I'M RIGHT, YOU'RE WRONG, NOW WHAT? by Xavier Amador, Ph.D. Read more

In the fall of 1994, Erich Baumeister (13), was playing in a wooded area of his family’s estate, when he stumbled across a partially buried human skeleton. He presented the disturbing finding to his mother, Julie, who inquired about the skull to her husband, Herb. He told her that the skeleton belonged to his late father, an anaesthesiologist, who used it for his research. He said he didn’t know what to do with it, so he buried it in the back garden. Julie believed him.Over the course of eighteen-months, Julie became increasingly concerned and frightened by her husband's mood swings and erratic behaviour. In June 1996, whilst Herb was on vacation, she granted police full access to her family’s eighteen-acre home. Within ten days of the search, investigators uncovered the remains of eleven bodies. Once news of the findings at Fox Hollow Farm was broadcast, Herb disappeared.Herb Baumeister would later be alleged to have killed at least nine more men along the Interstate 70 between Indiana and Ohio, and coined the “I-70 Strangler”. It is entirely possible that he was one of the most prolific serial killers in history.You Think You Know Me is a chilling account of Herb Baumeister and one of the most mysterious true crime stories in American history. Ryan Green’s riveting narrative draws the reader into the real-live horror experienced by the victims and has all the elements of a classic thriller.CAUTION: This book contains descriptive accounts of torture, abuse and violence. If you are especially sensitive to this material, it might be advisable not to read any further. Read more

Evidence-based tools for a fully customizable recovery plan—choose what works for you.  Your recovery from psychosis is a unique experience that encompasses many different emotions, including fear and frustration, confusion and hope, anger, and acceptance. Everyone experiences psychosis differently, and that’s why The Psychosis Workbook offers customizable treatment strategies you can use individually or in combination with each other to overcome the challenges associated with psychosis and move forward on your recovery journey. Combining proven-effective skills from cognitive behavioral therapy for psychosis (CBTp), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), cognitive remediation therapy (CRT), and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), this workbook provides a comprehensive set of tools to help you manage your symptoms, sustain your recovery, and achieve a better quality of life. With this accessible, step-by-step guide, you’ll learn: Why you experience certain symptoms   What’s happening in your brain when symptoms occur   How to cope with voices, paranoia, cognitive difficulties, and depression  How to overcome a lack of motivation and stigma       This validating workbook will help you treat yourself with compassion and respect, while empowering you with new knowledge and ready-to-use strategies to realize your potential and find meaning in your experiences. Read more

The schizophrenic patient presented to the public in sensational press reports and lurid films bears little resemblance to reality of the illness. This book describes what schizophrenia is really like, how the illness progresses, and the treatments that have been applied. It also summarizes the most up-to-date knowledge available about the biological bases of this disorder. Finally it attempts to give some idea of what it is like to have schizophrenia and what this disorder tells us about the relationship between mind and brain. Read more

In this innovative book, master clinician Michael Garrett shows how to weave together cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and psychodynamic therapy to support the recovery of persons suffering from psychosis. This integrated framework builds on the strengths of both methods to achieve lasting gains, even for patients with severe, chronic mental illness. The therapist is guided to use CBT to help the patient recognize the literal falsity of delusions, while employing psychodynamic strategies to explore the figurative truth and personal meaning of psychotic symptoms. Extended case presentations and numerous clinical vignettes illustrate Garrett’s compassionate, empowering approach. Winner (Second Place)--American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Award, Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing Category Read more

In "Back to Loving My 1st Wife," readers are invited to delve into the profound emotional depths of a husband's devotion. The author's poignant portrayal beautifully illustrates the extraordinary emotional toll he endured to care for his wife's mental health, a sacrifice that deeply impacted her well-being.Continuing the saga from the author's award winning autobiography, "In Love with My 5 Wives, A Broken Man's Journey on How to Love His Broken Wife," this poignant narrative underscores the transformative power of love and support within a marriage. It powerfully demonstrates how the author's unwavering commitment became both a beacon of hope and a testament to the power of selfless sacrifice, inspiring men with the potential of these elements in a marriage.The book vividly portrays the author's emotional and psychological challenges, taking readers on a rollercoaster of emotions. Through a delicate balance of heartfelt storytelling and agonizing reflections, "Back to Loving My 1st Wife" is an inspiring tribute to the strength and enduring impact of a husband's love. Read more

A Nobel Prize–winning neuroscientist’s probing investigation of what brain disorders can tell us about human natureEric R. Kandel, the winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his foundational research into memory storage in the brain, is one of the pioneers of modern brain science. His work continues to shape our understanding of how learning and memory work and to break down age-old barriers between the sciences and the arts.In his seminal new book, The Disordered Mind, Kandel draws on a lifetime of pathbreaking research and the work of many other leading neuroscientists to take us on an unusual tour of the brain. He confronts one of the most difficult questions we face: How does our mind, our individual sense of self, emerge from the physical matter of the brain? The brain’s 86 billion neurons communicate with one another through very precise connections. But sometimes those connections are disrupted. The brain processes that give rise to our mind can become disordered, resulting in diseases such as autism, depression, schizophrenia, Parkinson’s, addiction, and post-traumatic stress disorder. While these disruptions bring great suffering, they can also reveal the mysteries of how the brain produces our most fundamental experiences and capabilities―the very nature of what it means to be human. Studies of autism illuminate the neurological foundations of our social instincts; research into depression offers important insights on emotions and the integrity of the self; and paradigm-shifting work on addiction has led to a new understanding of the relationship between pleasure and willpower.By studying disruptions to typical brain functioning and exploring their potential treatments, we will deepen our understanding of thought, feeling, behavior, memory, and creativity. Only then can we grapple with the big question of how billions of neurons generate consciousness itself. Read more