Rating: 
Summary: Buy several and send some to your elected officials
Review: A person I know who has schizophrenia told me that this book was the best description of the disease he had ever seen. Certainly I found it to be the most lucid and comprehensible to someone who has not experienced the disease. In addition, Dr. Torrey's caustic description of our hodgepodge of policies toward the severely mentally ill should be required reading for policy-makers everywhere, since -- as Dr. Torrey shows -- schizophrenia ends up affecting everyone, not just those who suffer directly from it. (We could probably wipe out the national debt if we could recover just the lost value of economic activity by family members, police, jail and prison employees, courts, and others diverted from their other tasks to deal, inadequately in many cases, with the disease's effects.) In this new edition, he has enlarged and updated the coverage of the disease's symptoms, its treatments, and their adverse effects; he has also expanded considerably the section on advocacy and added a few more of his incisive and entertaining reviews of other books on the subject. Buy several copies and send the extras to your elected officials: we can all benefit from substituting good science, good sense and compassion for what is all too typically done now.
Rating:
Summary: "Surviving Schizophrenia" a Brilliant and Informative book!
Review: As a schizophrenia sufferer, I have been healthy from delusions for the past eleven years, but have been unable to hold down a "real job", as it were, for just as long, having only been able to cope with limited voluntary work and supported work instead, due to the illness. I'm well, but my problem is that I don't have much capacity, and the pressure and stress of a real job is too much for me because of my affliction.
So, even though I do a few hours voluntary work, I still get abuse occasionally from one or two people when I socialise in the pub at the weekends.
They don't understand, and with the stigma surrounding mental illness, it's very difficult to explain, even though, with these people, they'd probably give me more abuse if they knew the truth.
I would love to give them a copy of "Surviving Schizophrenia" by E Fuller Torrey, which is a brilliant and informative book that has helped me enormously and made me understand my illness much better, as well as easing a lot of my worries and fears.
Dr Fuller Torrey is doing a great job on his crusade against the ignorance and missunderstanding that surrounds the mentally ill, and should be applauded from the rooftops.
I also hope, soon, to help in this regard, albeit anonomously.
But I just can't praise "Surviving Schizophrenia", or the author, enough.
If you, or someone you know, has this terrible illness, please read this book.
It has been a great help to me.
Rating: 
Summary: the good the bad and the fricken holy mad
Review: As the adult daughter and only survivor of a mother/brother team of schizophrenics, let me say this: While the info is welcome, Torrey's plea to families to be understanding and compassionate made me want to get up and start shrieking in the subway. If you happen to be upper-middleclass and everyone involved is smart and educated this is a great book. I feel that thanks to this book and other stories like "Beautiful Mind" and "Proof" everyone can now safely assume that schizophrenia is a disease of brilliant white men. You can not sacrifice one group to save another. What I mean is that by cleaning up this disease and getting the good PR and all that, there is another group that is being disenfranchised - the children of schizophrenics. Yeah, it's a delicate issue, I'll admit, but what I don't need in this lifetime is another doctor telling me I should be compassionate. You tell that to some other little girl who's mother believes in Demons, ok Doc? And look in her eyes while you say that.
Rating:
Summary: A must-read for anyone with an interest in schizophrenia.
Review: Dr. E. Fuller Torrey is a writer like no other. His style is comprehensive, his ideas well developed, and his arguments clear. I've continued to read Dr. Torrey's studies, and each has been presented in the same way.The nature v. nurture debate will forever rage on, and some people are set Freudians (as those before me) and won't try to understand a different argument. This book isn't for those people, people who've studied it and work with it in theory. This book is for the common consumer, family, or sufferer of schizophrenia. The common man who doesn't want a lot of psychobabble to understand what's going on in his mind or around him. Dr. Torrey has devoted his life to the study of schizophrenia, and the public has devoted its trust to Dr. Torrey.
Rating: 
Summary: the more pain you have felt, the more pleasure you can know
Review: EFT seems to assume that people with schizophrenia must modify their expectations about how far they will go in the area of life they choose to live in, explore, master, love. But with the new medicines, and psychosocial therapies like Cognitive Enhancement Therapy, developed at Pittsburgh's Western Psych, I believe that cERtain victims of this illness can go as far, if not further, than normal people, for they have a perspective, the perspective of madness/sickness, which is impossible for a normal to know, no matter how much description, no matter how true, he has access to, because there is a filter between inside your mind and your external expression, which subjective experiences can never pass through. This is a subtle point, because first EFT says that after having the illness, people's ability to test for intelligence is hurt, while their iNNATe, aCTUAl intelligence remains as potent as ever. Then he goes on and speaks as if all of us with the illness have to be treated like babies so we won't relapse. Have i misread him? Please email me if so.
Rating:
Summary: Where the rubber meets the road!
Review: For nearly twenty-five years I have provided care to patients afflicted with major mental illness such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Unfortunately, in an ever expanding sea of marketing hype into the health care landscape the consumer of major mental illness service provision is left without a compass. Dr. Torrey's work is that veritable compass, however. This work is a must read for patients and their family members -- and a definite mandatory read for psychiatrists in training who today learn more about economic survival than the effective clinical management of severe psychopathology. Simple, clearly written and extremely informative, this book should serve as a template for all inspiring medical writers/practitioners who's primary mission is the maximum well being of patients. Bravo Dr. Torrey! Jeffrey J. Drury, RN,MSN
Rating:
Summary: A "Must Have" book from an expect on the subject.
Review: I am a mother of a schizophrenic. Reading this book helped our family understand what was going on. We learned what was 'normal' behavior, what we could expect in the future, and how to lessen the stress this illiness created in our lives. I wish it was updated to include the wonderful results that some of the newest medicines can achieve. I need a new copy; I loaned out the other one to a nurse and never got it back!
Rating:
Summary: A Must for the Loved Ones of the Mentally Ill
Review: I come from a large family, a house with a lot of love. So when not just one--but two--of my siblings developed major mental illness, I struggled for years to understand them. Then several years ago I read this book and cried tears of recognition. At last, I finally understood things from the point of view of my brothers. Soon I had everyone in my family reading this book and truly it opened many eyes. "Surviving Schizophrenia" explodes many common myths about mental illness but more importantly it shows families and loved ones how to cope. I now understand that it is only natural to have "me too" fears about mental illness but most of these fears are groundless. Likewise many parents needlessly blame themselves, wondering what they did wrong. "Surviving Schizophrenia" was a Godsend, helping me to realize that mental illness often strikes the most gifted, talented individuals. And far from "poor parenting," families of the mentally ill often develop extraordinary coping skills, such that they are more "together" than families untouched by mental illness. What's more, this book gave me greater confidence to talk about this subject without feeling the least bit of stigma. And confidence to live my life fully, without fear of being thought an "oddball," either because of my brothers or my chosen profession. Plus the resources are excellent. I highly recommend it to anyone who is even remotely interested in this topic.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Have Tool
Review: I have found this book to be essential in my work with persons diagnosed with schizophrenia. Written in a highly readable manner, this book shouts for the reform of a mental health system that more often than not ignores the individuals stricken with this disorder, while at the same time educating the reader about the illness, the biological bases for etiology, current treatments, and the services essential for not just the survival but the flourishing of persons with schizophrenia. Every practitioner who works with this population should have a copy of this book on their shelf.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best!
Review: I have to say that, when it comes to describing schizophrenia and it's repercussions, this is one of the best! I've only run into one other book that shows the disease in a thorough and accurate light. This book covers everything from description to diagnosis to treatment to suicide and other behaviors. Easy to read and fascinating, this book would be a welcome addition to anyone's psychology library. HIGHLY recommended! :o)
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