(Reviewed by Jeyran Main)
Surviving Schizophrenia is a memoir written by Richard Carlson, who was twenty one when he was diagnosed with this mental illness. The book revolves around his illness and recovery. It took ten years for the professionals to identify that Richard had a problem and that he needed to recover from it. Depression, OCD (Obsessive compulsive disorder), and other forms of mental issues are also discussed in this book.
Unfortunately for Richard, he never was diagnosed correctly and subsequently, lost a lot of his precious life going through turmoil. He kept hearing voices; he suffered from depression, anxiety, lack of motivation, and the inability to identify what was real and what was unreal.
Although this topic and the nature of the work is sensitive, many have now recognized it as a serious issue. Discussing schizophrenia is no longer a taboo and thankfully, books like this one, keep the subject matter alive.
I believe the author’s intention is to create awareness and to prevent his experience from happening to someone else.
The writing and literature standard is easy to understand and to follow. There is a nice flow between the chapters and paragraphs. I believe when these topics are being talked about, an easy to comprehend approach is always more successful, and that is that case with this book.
I recommend this book for people who enjoy psychology and are especially interested in the study of Schizophrenia.
