For Families

Online:

A.  15 ways to support a loved with a serious mental illness.

B.  Out of the FOG: Information and Support for those with a family member or a loved one who suffers from a personality disorder.

C. Personality disorder in the family.

D. NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Family to Family Course for families, spouses, and friends of someone with a mental illness.

This is a free 12 session course is taught in various locations in every state. Research shows that the program significantly improves the coping and problem-solving abilities of the people closest to an individual living with a mental condition.

E. NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Family Support Group located in many counties throughout every state in America.

Books

Amador, Xavier. I Am Not Sick I Don’t Need Help! 

Finally! Now family members, clergy and counselors have a practical guidebook on how to work more productively with mentally ill persons who deny their illness and refuse medication.

Carter, Rosalynn. Helping Someone With Mental Illness, A Compassionate Guide for Family, Friends, and Caregivers.

Hatfield Ph.D., Agnes B., Harriet P. Lefley, Ph.D., (Editors), Families of the Mentally Ill, Coping and Adaptation.

Johnson, Julie Tallard. Hidden Victims/Hidden Healers: An Eight-Stage Healing Process for Families and Friends of the Mentally Ill. 

This book describes very well the eight stages that family and friends move through in dealing with someone’s mental illness.

Marsha, Diane T. and Rex Dickens. How to Cope with Mental Illness in Your Family: A Self-Care Guide for Siblings, Offspring, and Parents. New York: Tarcher/Putnam, 1997.

Waterhouse, Steven. Strength for His People: A Ministry for Families of the Mentally Ill. 

This book has a great section for separating a diagnosis of a mental illness from other things like demons.

Woolis, Rebecca. When Someone You Love Has A Mental Illness. 

This book is loaded with good practical suggestions.

               Borderline Personality Disorder

Online

A. Out of the FOG: Information and Support for those with a family member or a loved one who suffers for a personality disorder

B. BPD Central Online Community for Family Members with a Borderline Loved One

C. Borderline Personality Disorder Symptoms.

D. Borderline Personality Disorder Resources.

E. Borderline Personality Disorder Introduction.

F. Borderline Personality Disorder: Overview, Treatment, Support, Discuss.

Books

​ 
Forward, Susan. Emotional Blackmail: When the People in Your Life Use Fear, Obligation, and Guilt to Manipulate You. 

Kreger, Randi. The Essential Family Guide to Borderline Personality Disorder: New Tools and Techniques to Stop Walking on Eggshells.

It contains a discussion of 3 clusters of persons with BPD. First, the classic mental health picture as seen in the book I Hate You, Don’t Leave Me. Second, is the high functioning person whose BPD illness is hidden to all but their family. It is very likely that a majority of people with BPD are in this cluster. Third is a mixture of one and two. These are not closed clusters because there is some overlap.

Kreger, Randi, with James Paul Shirely. The Stop Walking on Eggshells Workbook 

This is an awesome book!

Lawson, Christine. Understanding the Borderline Mother: Helping Her Children Transcend the Intense, Unpredictable, and Volatile Relationship​​

Learner, Harriet.  The Dance of Anger.  

One thing she wrote about nobody else is addressing is countermoves, when the person you set limits with gets worse once you because they’re testing you to see if you’re really serious.

Some people think this means limits don’t work. Harriet says that’s totally the wrong way to look at it.

Countermoves are to be expected, she says, and we shouldn’t try to stop them or tell the other person they shouldn’t feel that way.

Mason, Paul, and  Randi Kreger. Stop Walking on Eggshells: Taking Your Life Back When Someone You Care About Has Borderline Personality Disorder  (Great book!)

                              Narcissism

Online

A. Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

B. Narcissism from BPD Central.

C. The Family Dynamics of Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

D. Narcissistic Personality Disorder Symptoms.

E. Narcissistic Personality Disorder Resources.

F. Selfishness and Narcissism in Family Relationships.

G. Narcissistic Personality Disorder from Out of the Fog.

H. List of Books from BPD Central.

Other Books

Behary,  Wendy.   Disarming the Narcissist: Surviving and Thriving with the Self-Absorbed

Brown, Nina Children of the Self-Absorbed: A Grown-Up's Guide to Getting Over Narcissistic Parents

Donaldson-Pressman, Stephanie, Robert M. Pressman. The Narcissistic Family: Diagnosis and Treatment. San Francisco: Josey-Bass Publishers, 1997.

Rosenburg, Ross. The Human Magnet Syndrome: Why We Love People Who Hurt Us​

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                                 Bipolar

Online

A. Bipolar Disorder: Overview, Treatment, Support, Discuss.

Books

Mondimore, F.M.M. (2006). Bipolar disorder: A guide for patients and families. 2nd ed. 

Torrey, E. Fuller, M.D. and Michael Bl. Knable, D.O. Surviving Manic Depression: A Manual on Bipolar Disorder for Patients, Families, and Providers. 

                          Schizophrenia

Online

A. Schizoid Personality Disorder.

B. Schizoid Personality Disorder Symptoms.

C. Schizophrenia: Overview, Treatment, Support, Discuss.

D. Helpful Hints about Schizophrenia for Family Members and Others.

Books

Fuller, E. Surviving Schizophrenia: A Manual for Families, Consumers, and Providers (Fourth Edition) Torrey, 

Mueser, K.T., & Gingerich, S. (2006). The complete family guide to schizophrenia: Helping your loved one get the most out of life.

Waterhouse, Steven. Strength for His People: A Ministry for Families of the Mentally Ill.

Speaking from the experience of having a brother with schizophrenia, Pastor Steven Waterhouse shares the painful impact of mental illness on a Christian family.

Rev. Waterhouse carefully brings to the forefront several concerns seldom addressed in other materials—particularly the valid and invalid theories of schizophrenia’s causes and the relationship of psychiatry to religion. One difficult issue is covered with a frank discussion on differentiating schizophrenia from demon influence, this work is extremely thought provoking.

                                    For Parents of

Children with Borderline Personality Disorder

Aguire, Blaise. Borderline Personality Disorder in Adolescents, 2nd Edition: What To Do When Your Teen Has BPD: A Complete Guide for Families.

Lobel, Daniel. When Your Daughter Has BPD: Essential Skills to Help Families Manage Borderline Personality Disorder 

Winkler, Kathy. Randi Kreger. Hope for Parents: Helping Your Borderline Son or Daughter Without Sacrificing Your Family or Yourself.

Children with Bipolar Disorder

Papolos, Demitri, M.D. and Janice Papolos. The Bipolar Child: The Definitive and Reassuring Guide to Childhood's Most Misunderstood Disorder--3rd edition. 

Miklowitz, David, PhD. and Elizabeth George, PhD. The Bipolar Teen: What You Can Do to Help Your Child and Your Family. 

Pavuluri, Mani. What Works for Bipolar Kids: Help and Hope for Parents

For Spouses

Bipolar Disorder

​

Online

​Being Married to a Person with Depression or Bipolar: 6 Survival Steps.

Books

Bolch, John P., PHD, Bernard Golden, PHD, and Nancy Rosenfeld. The Bipolar Relationship: How to understand, help, and love your partner. 

Last, Cynthia G., PhD. When Someone You Love Is Bipolar: Help and Support for You and Your Partner.  

Borderline Personality Disorder

Forward, Susan. Emotional Blackmail: When the People in Your Life Use Fear, Obligation, and Guilt to Manipulate You. NY: Harper-Collins Publishers, 1997.

Melville, Lynn. Breaking Free From Boomerang Love: Getting Unhooked From Borderline Personality Disorder Relationships

Porr, Valerie. Marsha M Linehan (forward), When Someone You Love Has Borderline Personality Disorder: How to Repair the Relationship

Manning Shari Y., and Marsha M. Linehan. Loving Someone with Borderline Personality Disorder: How to Keep Out-of-Control Emotions from Destroying Your Relationship

Tinman, Ozzie. One Way Ticket to Kansas: Caring about Someone with Borderline Personality Disorder and Finding a Healthy You

Walker, Anthony. The Siren's Dance : My Marriage to a Borderline: A Case Study. Rodale Books (September 20, 2003)

Randi Kreger: “For six years, I have maintained several support groups on the web for people who have a borderline partner. Mr. Walker's book tells a very familiar story--ignoring red flags in particular. Since most non-BP partners need immense validation, this book will validate your experiences so you will not feel so uncertain and alone if you have a BP partner.”

                                      For Siblings

Neugeboren, Jay. Imagining Robert: My Brother, Madness and Survival.

Life of a mentally ill Robert from a brother's perspective, this book details the trials of dealing with mental illness in the family from a personal point of view. The author was actually left to deal with his brother pretty much on his own when the parents up and moved to Florida, leaving Robert in the State mental health system in New York while his brother, Jay, became a professor of English at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Robert has been variously diagnosed as schizophrenic, bipolar, and bipolar with schizo-affective, but the diagnosis doesn't really make much difference in this story; it's a moving, personal account of mental illness.