Rating: 
Summary: It's about time!
Review: As a sister of a violent manic-depressive, I know the alienation, fear, violence, prejudice, guilt, and neglect that the normal siblings often encounter. There has always been plenty of literature available for the mentally ill and their parents, but a lack of material for the siblings. This book has actual accounts from siblings, and their stories are in particular very interesting. A complaint I have is that although the book cover and title suggest it's targetted at siblings of all mentally ill persons, it actually concentrates on schizophrenia which has some unique issues. The book may have lived up to its title and book cover better if there had been more representation from siblings of persons with other mental disorders. Another complaint I have is that the author suggests that the trend of returning the mentally ill from institutions to their family homes is a positive thing. Most siblings would disagree. Other than those complaints, I recommend this book.
Rating: 
Summary: a vey helpful tool in understanding sibling issues
Review: As the parent of 3 children , one having a mental illness, I found this book to be very informative about sibling issues and the effects of an ill sibling on their family. I have a much better understanding of my other children's behavior and reactions as well as my own. While we all know how much any mental illnes affects a family, this chronicles a woman's life from young childhood to the present, in the midst of schizophrenic siblings. While both of Ms. Simon's siblings have the same diagnoses, their personailities and behaviors remain quite different to further complicate this young woman's life. I don't think many of us have any idea the profound life-long effect this can have on someone, until chronicled by Ms. Simon. I found this book to be honest, caring, and show that while growth can ultimately come out of situation as Ms. Simon's it will always have a underlying shadow on her life.
Rating:
Summary: MAELESTROM OF MENTAL ILLNESS
Review: Clea is the luckiest of her siblings. Her older brother, a brilliant boy, showed signs of psychosis in early adulthood. He somehow managed to attend Harvard and upon leaving the renowned university, succumbs to his illness. He marries a woman from his halfway house and they have a daughter. The brother commits suicide and the baby remains unheard from. Clea was in college at the time of her brother's death and her parents curiously give her a false account of how her brother killed himself. That is never explained.Clea's sister Katherine appears to be the most unstable. She, too, started showing signs of the illness in late adolescence and was barely able to fight her psychosis and finish high school. She lived from hospital to halfway house, never really finding her niche. Her erratic behavior precluded her from staying at halfway houses and in one memorable account in the book, a landlady requested that her parents come and collect her after she defecated on a mattress. Katherine remained a "living" casualty of mental illness; at the close of the book, Clea did not even know where she was. Clea is a strong voice, a strong advocate for the families of the mentally ill. Her poignant book is yet another reminder that mental illness is often a family illness because of the tragic impact it has on non-mentally ill members.
Rating:
Summary: MAELESTROM OF MENTAL ILLNESS
Review: Clea is the luckiest of her siblings. Her older brother, a brilliant boy, showed signs of psychosis in early adulthood. He somehow managed to attend Harvard and upon leaving the renowned university, succumbs to his illness. He marries a woman from his halfway house and they have a daughter. The brother commits suicide and the baby remains unheard from. Clea was in college at the time of her brother's death and her parents curiously give her a false account of how her brother killed himself. That is never explained. Clea's sister Katherine appears to be the most unstable. She, too, started showing signs of the illness in late adolescence and was barely able to fight her psychosis and finish high school. She lived from hospital to halfway house, never really finding her niche. Her erratic behavior precluded her from staying at halfway houses and in one memorable account in the book, a landlady requested that her parents come and collect her after she defecated on a mattress. Katherine remained a "living" casualty of mental illness; at the close of the book, Clea did not even know where she was. Clea is a strong voice, a strong advocate for the families of the mentally ill. Her poignant book is yet another reminder that mental illness is often a family illness because of the tragic impact it has on non-mentally ill members.
Rating:
Summary: Perceptive memoir & low-key self-help tool
Review: Having "acquired" through marriage two family members with bipolar disorder, I have sought to educate myself about mental illness and its effect on the family. I found "Mad House" to be a perceptive and instructive look at the secondary victims of mental illness: siblings of the patient. The author's personal experiences as the sister of two schizophrenics is interwoven with explanations of current scientific research about serious mental illness as well as psychotherapeutic insights about how the experience of growing up with a mentally ill sibling can affect others in the household. The memoir-ish portions of the book bring comfort in the form of knowing one is not the only person to have so suffered (and mental illness is one of the last great bastions of shame, secrecy and guilt left in our culture). The summaries of recent research are great educational tools. And if you are struggling with personal issues arising out of your experience as a sibling of a mentally ill person, then the matter-of-fact explanations of common behavioral and emotional patterns will give you insight -- self-help without the twelve steps or touchy-feely-wallowing-in-my-angst element that can be off-putting. Be advised that the book focuses on the special issues that siblings of the mentally ill face (as opposed to parents, or children, or spouses, for example) and the discussion does center on schizophrenia and related disorders, with only a passing nod to bipolar disorder, depression and other illnesses. But this skillfully written book contains plenty of empathy and perception for anyone interested in the mental health field.
Rating:
Summary: From the author
Review: Hi Folks,
I just wanted to say thank you to all the readers who've read Mad House and either posted here or contacted me. So many of you are also siblings, and I am gratified that many of you have found your experiences reflected in my book. I've tried to show, through my experiences and the dozens of you interviewed, that while our story may be one of the quieter ones in our family, it is still valid and deserving of space. Strength and health to you all!
I've used the same combination of memoir and interviews (more than 70) in my new book, "Fatherless Women: How We Change After We Lose Our Dads" (Wiley). If any of you read that, please let me know what you think.
peace,
Clea
Rating: 
Summary: You are not alone, and, yes, you can live through this.
Review: Hi, I'm Clea Simon, the author of "Mad House" and I wrote the above synopsis because I grew up with those two fears, I found my life and joy hindered by them, and I hope my book will help break through them. It's so odd to grow up with brothers or sisters who have schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or any of the major mental illnesses or brain diseases. You love them, but through no fault of their own, they bring chaos into your life. Your parents, whom you expect to be strong and competent, are often overwhelmed. And you, well, you are expected to just be you, frozen into whichever "you" served the family dynamic best -- usually good, competent, overachieving, calm (or just the opposite, but that's getting ahead of myself and into the book). I wrote Mad House because, at first, I wanted to write my own story. However, once I started talking to people and doing background research, I realized that I shared my intense feeling of isolation with other siblings. I realized that I was not alone. And that's when I realized that by adding their stories (as well as some useful facts and figures to dispell many of our fears and all, I hope, of our prejudices) I could show how much of a community we are. For we are. We share so much. We all, for example, felt that crushing isolation. We all have gone through the fear, the shame, the anger, and the guilt. Will we, too, become ill? Will our kids? How could our parents ignore our sibs -- or us? How could my sister yell that at me? How could my brother let me down? We have all wondered about our own futures, and tried to hide, disguise, our forget our own pasts. We raised ourselves as virtual orphans -- or we overinvolved ourselves and sacrificed our happiness to the family good. We worked harder, we hid harder. We hit back at ourselves harder. We never chose to be, but we are a community. Yes, there are other excellent books for families (and yes, I hope some parents will read my book as well, to understand what their "other" kids are going through). But what too many of these books -- what too many well-intentioned family groups -- don't acknowledge is that the sibling experience is fundamentally different from the experience of parents of the mentally ill. Unlike our parents, we never got to finish going through our own development before we had to cope. Unlike our parents, we saw our peers -- the brothers and sisters who were so like us -- become ill. How could our experience not be different? This is why I wrote "Mad House": to acknowledge our issues and our similarities and to speak out about the unique condition of the sibling experience. I hope I have achieved some of that. Stay happy, be as good to yourselves as you can. You, too, deserve that.
Rating:
Summary: Helpful to anyone with ill siblings...
Review: I did not grow up with schizophrenic siblings, although there is a history of the disease in my adopted family. What I did experience was two sisters with very disturbing behavior, and I found Mad House to be a great help in describing a lot what went on in my particular house and family. Clea Simon does a terrific job portraying the stress and chaos mentally ill siblings can cause and the far-reaching effects this can have on well family members. In her case, she had a brother and sister with schizophrenia, and her sympathetic yet realistic depiction of life under such circumstances is fascinating, informative and clearly thoroughly researched. Her knowledge of the topic enables her to speak intelligently and cogently about very disturbing emotions, such as the overwhelming fear that she, too, would contract this dreaded disease. Part of what is best about this book is that Simon speaks to a wide range of people who have also grown up or dealt with schizophrenic siblings, and the candid, personal and touching perspectives they provide complements Simon's own experience. It is truly fascinating how many of the 'healthy' siblings have found their way into the mental health profession, enabling them to 'help' their sick brothers and sisters in a variety of ways, however indirectly. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in family dynamics, mental illness or for anyone who grew up with someone who exhibited anti-social, destructive behavior. The wide array of response to such situations are well-documented and described, and it is quite a relief to find one's own experiences echoed in those of others. But there's a great deal here worthwhile for those simply interested in the topic, and in the heart-wrenching effects mental illness can have on those who care about and for those stricken with the disease.
Rating:
Summary: Helpful to anyone with ill siblings...
Review: I did not grow up with schizophrenic siblings, although there is a history of the disease in my adopted family. What I did experience was two sisters with very disturbing behavior, and I found Mad House to be a great help in describing a lot what went on in my particular house and family. Clea Simon does a terrific job portraying the stress and chaos mentally ill siblings can cause and the far-reaching effects this can have on well family members. In her case, she had a brother and sister with schizophrenia, and her sympathetic yet realistic depiction of life under such circumstances is fascinating, informative and clearly thoroughly researched. Her knowledge of the topic enables her to speak intelligently and cogently about very disturbing emotions, such as the overwhelming fear that she, too, would contract this dreaded disease. Part of what is best about this book is that Simon speaks to a wide range of people who have also grown up or dealt with schizophrenic siblings, and the candid, personal and touching perspectives they provide complements Simon's own experience. It is truly fascinating how many of the 'healthy' siblings have found their way into the mental health profession, enabling them to 'help' their sick brothers and sisters in a variety of ways, however indirectly. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in family dynamics, mental illness or for anyone who grew up with someone who exhibited anti-social, destructive behavior. The wide array of response to such situations are well-documented and described, and it is quite a relief to find one's own experiences echoed in those of others. But there's a great deal here worthwhile for those simply interested in the topic, and in the heart-wrenching effects mental illness can have on those who care about and for those stricken with the disease.
Rating:
Summary: Finally, a book for all of us!
Review: My brother is schizophrenic and for many years while the family focus has been on his illness, I have felt at varying times sorrow, anger, grief, but above all loneliness. It is gratifying to find an author who gives words to these feelings. Clea Simon in _Mad House_ has done a masterful job of holding the mirror to the families who deal with the tragedy of mental illness. Her book tells the story of the brothers and sisters who sit in the quiet corners of home and watch unpredictable, uncontrollable and terrifying events unfold. I highly recommend this book to any brother, sister, or parent of a person who has been diagnosed as mentally ill. We can learn and grow from her experiences and by helping ourselves, we can help those in our care.
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