You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
This book is about an immigrant woman and her youngest son. Christina, from Calabria, Italy, came to America in an arranged marriage, experiencing the immigrant life in a strange land, and coping with the shame and degradation of mental illness. Through her strong will and determination, she rose from the despair of poverty to become a woman who owned and rented many properties. Christina's son, Tony, struggled to understand her inconsistent love and paranoid delusions. Influenced by her strengths and weaknesses, he developed from a frightened boy to a juvenile delinquent, to a serious student, and to a well-known scholar in social work research. Yet, to this day, he has yet to reach maturity in his interpersonal relationships.
Reflecting on the confusion, shame and grief brought on by her mother's schizophrenia, Amy Simpson provides a bracing look at the social and physical realities of mental illness. Reminding us that people with mental illness are our neighbors and our brothers and sisters in Christ, she explores new possibilities for the church to minister to this stigmatized group.
June was 9 years old when she came home from school and her schizophrenic mother met her at the door, angrily demanding to know, Who the hell are you? What are you doing in my house? Tess's mother would wait outside church, then scream at family friends as they emerged, accusing them of spying and plotting to kill her. Five-year-old Tess and her 7-year-old brother would cry and beg their mother to take them home as onlookers stared. These are just two of the stories among dozens gathered for this book. The children, now adults, grew up with mentally ill mothers at a time when mental illness was even more stigmatizing than it is today. They are what Nathiel calls the daughters of madness, and...
None
None
None
None