Get Me Out of Here: My Recovery from Borderline Personality Disorder Book

I thought about not putting this on my reviews, because my penchant for mental health recovery memoirs is getting embarrassing, but -- this one was really good. Not falling into the fallacy of the "moment I was saved" nor falling into the "but I was a victim of my bad brain chemistry/ abusive childhood," Reiland narrates rather unemotionally what it takes to get from crazy to sane. In her case what it took was a loving, patient partner, a committed, ethical therapist who didn't buy into the health insurance industry's "20 sessions and then you're sane" rule, a community of people around her (sympathetic priests, a church choir, and a softball team all make contributions to Reiland's recovery). And most importantly, as Reiland stresses again and again, it takes commitment from the crazy person herself. She's very clear-eyed in distinguishing between the moments when she wanted to wallow in her sickness, and the decision she had to make every day that she was going to get better. Not one time, but the same decision every single day for four or five years.

This is perhaps the best memoir of this genre I have read for demonstrating that discipline is needed for full recovery from mental illness -- but also for carefully pointing out that what most people think of as "discipline" -- pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, "behaving," punishing yourself for misdeeds -- is actually a part of mental illness. In this book, real and healthy discipline always emerges as a part of one's membership in a community that really loves and values you.