Illuminating Schizophrenia: Insights Into the Uncommon Mind

Dr. Ann Olson, a doctor of Psychology, has written a book consisting of biography, art and analysis of the various types of schizophrenia. The author is also a poet, essayist, artist and sufferer who has endured years of misdiagnosed psychiatric disorders to finally arrive at her present diagnosis of Undifferentiated Schizophrenia. The book is a compilation of her personal experiences with the disorder, her life with her schizophrenic ex-husband, her own mental illness, her mental health counseling work and commentary of her renown neuropsychologist father. Through Olson's writing and first-hand experience with the illness, the reader is given deep insight into this illness from both the inside experience and the outside theories regarding it. There are discussions of the diagnosis and history of schizophrenia and the many subtypes. There are also analyses of patients suffering with it and with whom Dr. Olson has worked. Olson's poetry is a perspective into the thoughts and feelings of schizophrenics. A significant theme in this book is the stigma of mental illness and how to deal and overcome the negativity associated with those laboring under this illness. Dr. Olson provides insights from the perspective of not just a schizophrenic but of a university academic and lecturer in Psychology. This should be a help to the individual and the families that suffer through the effects of this devastating illness and for those who treat schizophrenic in professional settings. This book contains research, poetry, self-help suggestions, a glossary of psychology terms and extensive bibliography.