Handbook of the dually diagnosed patient Book

What a surprisingly interesting little book. This was left on the "free cart" at my library and I was enticed by the strange cover that is sadly not available on Goodreads. Normally, I don't find myself relating much to books written by men in the seventies about their ideas on marriage, sex, and social topics. However, this book called for the pen. I found myself nodding in agreement and underlining sentences left and right. Someone should probably incorporate this into a college class or something. The part on marriage is humorous in the fact that it is so glaringly true (often), and the fact that many are so completely oblivious to this said truth. The love section is summed up succinctly. The sections of significance, justification, and classification are informative and pertinent. The section on language is particularly eye opening, because wording is everything. I don't know if this book resonated with me so much because I'm a realist, and I feel that the author is too, but I really felt much of what he had to say. It might also be because I'm fond of the cynical. I will say, however, that I do disagree with his stance on mental illness. I believe mental illnesses are real illnesses that can be contributed to chemical imbalances, genetics, trauma, ect. I believe you can inherit bipolar disorder just as easily as you can diabetes, and that you can come develop panic disorder like you can develop cancer. I get the gist that the author thinks most mental maladies are either contrived from power hungry psychiatrists who just want to put a name on something and push some anti-depressants, or are more or less the excuses some people chalk their inadequate attributes up to in order to get sympathy and such. Are there people walking around right now claiming one mental illness or another that are not really mentally ill? Yes. Are we in a time (more so now then then) were mental illnesses are somewhat romanticized? Kind of. But if making mental illnesses household topics helps brings someone who is hiding theirs to terms with it...then I consider it worth it. You can't go around invalidating people's feelings and issues. And yes, some people do need to be committed. And yes, sometimes that means involuntarily. Other than those few points, I agree with almost everything this man has to say about everything.

It really brings to light the lies we tell ourselves, the lies other people tells us, and the cardinal sentiments we've been per-programmed to believe through the centuries.