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Ben Behind His Voices: One Family’s Journey From the Chaos of Schizophrenia to Hope

Ben Behind His Voices: One Family’s Journey From the Chaos of Schizophrenia to Hope By Randye Kaye This book was published in 2011, but unfortunately it is what the literary world calls an “evergreen.” This means the information in it is always timely and is not outdated. The unfortunate part includes the fact that so many families, like Randye Kaye and her son, continue to suffer the pervasive emotional trauma and societal stigma for having serious mental illness. Worse yet, there is still [...]

By Kartar Diamond|2020-12-19T19:36:10+00:00December 19, 2020|Book Reviews, Family, Mental Illness|0 Comments

When Your Mentally Ill Loved One Lives At Home by Kartar Diamond

In my parents’ era, kids were often out of the house and working at age eighteen or away in college. As the decades have rolled forward, more and more young adults live at home, usually for financial reasons. There is also a phrase, “failure to launch” which is mostly ascribed to young men who have a difficult time gaining independence. With economic downturns, such as in 2008, multi-generational households have become quite common. With the COVID-19/ Economic Lock Down, for sure we will [...]

By Kartar Diamond|2020-12-18T03:30:42+00:00December 18, 2020|Advocacy, Family, Mental Illness|0 Comments

Can People With Schizophrenia Lead Normal Lives? by Kartar Diamond

The functional recovery, aptitudes or limitations of people with schizophrenia is complicated. Different parts of the brain are affected under the same diagnosis and some people can maintain superior intellectual and creative capabilities, even when other areas of functionality are lacking. There are many variables which come into play and I learned a lot from reading Dr. E. Fuller Torrey’s book, Surviving Schizophrenia. The operative words in this article are “functional recovery” because there is no cure for the disease, but it can [...]

By Kartar Diamond|2020-11-13T17:29:53+00:00November 13, 2020|Advocacy, Family, Mental Illness|0 Comments

He Came In With It-A Book Review by Kartar Diamond

He Came In With It: A Portrait of Motherhood and Madness by Miriam Feldman A Book Review Before sitting down to review of this memoir, I read over some of the praises by others. The author’s writing style is so engrossing that she deserves a very unique review from me and I’ll strive not to be redundant. I approached He Came In With It from the perspective of also being a mother with a son who has schizophrenia, and also as an author [...]

By Kartar Diamond|2020-10-13T20:45:37+00:00October 13, 2020|Book Reviews, Family|0 Comments

We Understand What You Are Going Through by Kartar Diamond

Many caretakers and family members come to a support group feeling isolated, frustrated and embarrassed about their situations with their mentally ill loved one. What you are going through is unique, but we also share some nearly universal circumstances: Most of us took a while to fully comprehend that our MIL (Mentally ill Loved One) has a serious mental illness which transcends ordinary emotions, personality or behavioral dysfunctions. Most of us have endured the fear of not knowing what to do and a [...]

By Kartar Diamond|2020-09-29T23:51:31+00:00September 29, 2020|Advocacy, Family, Mental Illness|0 Comments

Schizophrenia and Cigarettes by Kartar Diamond

Did you know that we all have nicotine receptors in our brain? When activated, the receptors release dopamine. 92% of all men with schizophrenia smoke cigarettes. This is one reason why Dr. E. Fuller Torrey devoted a whole chapter to nicotine and caffeine in his book, Surviving Schizophrenia. Parents have very different experiences with their son or daughter who has schizophrenia, depending on whether they smoke or not. Those who smoke appear to be living just for the next opportunity to light up. [...]

By Kartar Diamond|2021-04-18T20:36:00+00:00September 20, 2020|Family, Mental Illness|0 Comments

Recognizing Emerging Mental Illness

Recognizing mental illness when it first emerges can be extremely difficult, even for family members who are so familiar with the personality and character of their suffering loved one. This can be an agonizing and fear-inducing predicament for obvious reasons. What makes the recognition of mental illness so challenging can be blamed on several factors. Firstly, the average person is not expected to be educated about mental illness, unless they already have someone in their life with a well-established mental illness. Some cultures [...]

By Kartar Diamond|2020-08-31T22:16:08+00:00August 31, 2020|Articles by Others, Family, Mental Illness|0 Comments