Xavier Amador, Ph.D., of Columbia University, recipient of a NARSAD Young Investigator Award in 1990, has written a book based on his clinical practice and his studies of patient and family behavior. His focus on family understanding and support is the central theme of this "Practical Guide."

Constance Lieber, President of NARSAD, had this to say in the foreword of this valued book. There is probably no more difficult or more important responsibility for a family member in our society than meeting the needs of a mentally ill child, sibling or close relative. Daily life can be a struggle and the future impenetrable with uncertainty. Dr. Amador has taken up the challenge of guiding the family member in order to bring a better life to the afflicted patient and the responsible relatives. The unique combination of sensitivities he brings to this task reflect both his life experience as a sibling of an afflicted brother and his many years of broad clinical practice.

Reflecting his own profound empathy and insight, the book is a guide to the shocked, bewildered and too often hopeless close relative. It is no mere compendium of generalizations. It is a practical, step-by-step, program for achieving understanding and even expressing love in a situation where that love is difficult to convey.

His is a remarkable achievement and a great public service. Many lives of patients and their loved ones could be enhanced, often immeasurably, if copies of this book were given to the families of every patient who begins to show signs of psychosis. As people use this book, it will make the beginning of a sound remediation and even rehabilitation."

Herbert Pardes, M.D., President of NARSAD's Scientific Council, wrote the following in his preface: "I Am Not Sick, I Don't Need Help!" is essential reading material for family members battling with their mentally ill loved ones about the need for treatment. Dr. Amador provides an insightful, compassionate, and practical guide for handling the frustration and the guilt that inevitably arises when dealing with a sick individual who, by virtue of their illness, is completely unaware of the need for treatment.

What make this book especially poignant is Dr. Amador's inclusion of his own personal account of his lifelong struggle with his own brother who suffers from schizophrenia, as well as his detailed presentations of patient cases. He does an exceptional job summarizing the compelling science behind poor insight, or anosognosia, clarifying that the loved one's lack of insight is not a product of a psychological defense mechanism, but is a result of the very brain dysfunction that underlies the illness. Practical tips on how to help a loved one with poor insight accept treatment or how to proceed with civil commitment, if necessary, make this book especially useful.

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NAMI-Fairfield has a growing lending library located in the Eliot Room at First Church 148 Benson Road Fairfield, CT 06824 (please check that the Eliot Room is open before you visit).

Listed below are the books and other resources currently available:

Action Planning for Prevention & Recovery                       SAMHSA

 ADHD, Taking Charge of                                                  Russell Barkley

The Addictive Personality                                                   Craig Nakken

Alcoholism: Dev, Consequences and

Interventions                                                                       Nada Estes

Alzheimer’s Early Stages                                                    Daniel Kuhn

Anorexia & Bulimia-Anatomy of A

Social Epidemic                                                                  Richard Gordon

Asperger Syndrome & Your Child                                      Michael Powers

Autism & Pervasive Development Disorder                        Karyn Seroussi

The Beast                                                                          Tracy Thompson

Being There                                                                       Karlene Hale

The Bi Polar Child                                                              Demitri Papolos, MD

Bi Polar Disorders                                                              Mitzi Waltz

Borderline Personality Disorder (New Hope For)              Neil Bockian

The Boy Who Couldn’t Stop Washing                                Judith Rapoport, MD

Brains That Work a Little Bit Different                                  Allen Bragdon

Breaking The Pattern of Depression                                  Michael Yapko

Breakthroughs in Antipsychotic Meds                                Peter Weidem, MD

A Brilliant Madness                                                            Patty Duke

Broken Mirror, The                                                           Katherine Phillips, MD

Breakthroughs in Antipsychotic                                         Peter Weiden, MD

Medications  ( A Guide for Consumers

Families, & Clinicians)

Building Self Esteem                                                         SAMHSA

Burden of Sympathy, The                                                Karp, David

Care of Mind, Care of Spirit                                             Gerald May, MD

Coping With Mental Illness In                                            Agnes Hatfield

The Family

Criminalizing the Seriously Mentally Il                               

The Abuse of Jails as Mental Hospitals                            NAMI 

Cutting                                                                            Steven Levenkron

Dave, A Man Named                                                      Pelzer, Dave

Day The Voices Stopped, The                                        Ken Steele

Dealing With the Effects of Trauma                                    SAMHSA

Depression-Challenge the Beast Within Yourself              Cait Irwin

Depression: What Families Should Know                         Elaine Shimberg

Depression Workbook, The                                             Mary Ellen Copeland

 Development of a Recovery & Wellness Lifestyle              SAMHSA

 Diagnosis: Schizophrenia                                                Rachel Miller

Dissociative  Identity Disorder                                          Deborah Haddock 

Don’t Panic                                                                       R Reid Wilson                                                  

I Don’t Want To Talk About It

Overcoming the Secret Legacy of Male Depression        Terrence Real

Driven To Distraction                                                        Edw. Hallowell, MD

Dual Disorders                                                                  Daley, Moss & Campbell

Electroshock, Restoring the Mind                                      Max Fink

Families of the Mentally Ill:Meeting The Challenges          Agnes Hatfield

Families of the Mentally Ill:Coping & Adaptation                  Agnes Hatfield

Freeing Your Child from OCD                                          Tamor Chansky

Give Me Hope                                                                   Mader, Susan (2c)

Girl Interrupted                                                                   Susanna Kaysen

Growing up Sad                                                                Leon Cytryn, MD

(A) Guide To Mental Illness & the Criminal Justice System      NAMI

Hand Me Down Blues                                                          Michael Yapko

Help For Hair Pullers (Trichotillomania)                               Nancy Keuthen

Helping Your Anxious Child                                                 Ronald Rapee

Helping Your Depressed Teenager                                     Gerald Oster

Helping Someone With Mental Illness                                 Rosalynn Carter

Hidden Victims-Hidden Healers                                          Julie Johnson

His Bright Light                                                                    Danielle Steele

Help Me Cope                                                                      Susan Mader

How You Can Survive When They Are

Depressed    (ns)                                                                 Anne Sheffield

I Am Not Sick, I Don’t Need Help                                        Xavier Amaor, PhD

I Can See Tomorrow                                                          Patricia Owen

I’m Scared                                                                          Elizabeth Crary

I Hate You, Don’t Leave Me                                            Jerold Kreisman,. MD

Is It A Phase                                                                    Susan Swedo, MD

It, A Child Called                                                             Pelzer, Dave

It’s Nobody’s Fault                                                          Harold Koplewicz, MD

I Know This Much Is True                                               Wally Lamb

Keys To Paenting Your Anxious Child                            Katharina Manassis, MD

Legacy of Failure, A (the inability of the                          NAMI

Fed-State Vocatl Rehab Syst to serve

People with Severe MI)

Listening To Prozac                                                        Peter Kramer

Lonely, Sad & Angry                                                       Barbara Ingersoll

Lost Boy, The                                                                 Pelzer, Dave

Love First                                                                       Jeff & Debra Jay

Making & Keeping Friends                                             SAMSHA

Mental Illness and the                                                     NAMI

My Mothers Keeper                                                       Tara Holley

My Sisters Keeper                                                         Margaret Moorman

Natalie On The Street                                                     Ann Nietzke

Nature Lessons                                                              Lynette Brasfield

Criminal Justice System, A Guide To

Night Falls Fast:Understanding Suicide                         Kate Jamison

Stop Walking On Eggshells                                            Mason, Paul & Dreger, R

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder                                    Herbot Gravitz

Obsessive Compulsive Disorders                                  Fred Penzel

On the Edge of Darkness                                               Kathy Cronkite

Our Children Are Alcoholics                                           Robert Landeen, MD

Out of the Shadow                                                         E Fuller Torry, MD

Out of Sync Child, The                                                  Carol Kranowitz

Outsider, The                                                                Nathaniel Lachenmeyer

Overcoming Depression                                                Demitre Papolas

Parents Guide for Suicidal & Depressed Teens            Kate Williams

Potatoes Not Prozac                                                     Kath Desmaisons

Preventing Adolescent Suicide                                     Dave Caoyzzi

Prozac Nation                                                                Eliz Wurtzel

Quiet Room, The                                                           Lori Schiller

Rescuing Patty Hearst                                                  Virginia Holman

Return From Madness                                                   Degan, K & N

Sad Days, Glad Days                                                    DeWitt Hamilton

Schizophrenia: New Direction Clinical

Clinical Research Treatment                                         Lichenstein Media

(The) Secret Language of Eating

Disorders                                                                      Peggy Claude Pierre

Shattered Lives                                                             Laura Hall

Sometimes My Mommy Gets Angry                             Bebe Campbell

Sorrows Web                                                                Anne Sheffield

Stop Walking On Eggshells                                          Paul Mason

Stop Pretending                                                           Sonia Sones

Storm In My Brain                                                         DBSA

Straight Talk About Psychiatric Medications for Kids    Tim Wilens

Surviving A Eating Disorder                                          Michele Siegel

Surviving Mental Illness                                               Agnes Hatfield& G Lefley

Surviving Schizophrenia                                              E Fuller Torrey

Taking Charge of ADHD                                             Russell Barkley

Teenage Depression, Understanding                         Maureen Empfield

Telling Is A Risky Business                                         Otto Wahl

Tourette Syndrome, Children With                              Tracy Haerle

Transforming Madness                                                Jay Neugeboren                                                   

Understanding Depression                                          Donald Klein, MD

Undoing Depression                                                    Richard O’Connor

Understanding Teenage Depression                          Maureen Empfield, MD

(An)Unquiet Mind                                                          Kay Jamison  (2C)

Up & Down the Worry Hill                                            Aureen Wagner

Welcome To My Country                                             Lauren Slater

Welcome Silence, My Triumph Over Schizo               Carol North

When Madness Comes Home                                     Victoria Secunda

When Someone You Love Has a Mental Illness          Rebecca Woolis

When Someone You Love is Depressed                     Rosen & Amador

Why Suicide                                                                 Eric Marcus

Willow Weep For Me                                                    Meri Danquah

Years of Silence Are Past, The                                   Stephen Hinshaw

The HARVARD Mental Health Letter

along with other books, videos, magazines and resource binders...