Nothing to hide

One in five Americans has a mental illness. Only a small percentage of the mentally ill live with caretakers or in treatment centers; they can be found in every community of America, and represent the full range of our economic, racial, and ethnic diversity. This book, a tribute to the millions of families for whom mental illness is a part of everyday life, juxtaposes first-person accounts with photographs of 44 families who defy the stigma of mental illness to speak for themselves about their lives, their illnesses, and their struggles to get well. The families, different in many ways, have in common an ongoing struggle with illnesses ranging from schizophrenia and bipolar illness to obsessive compulsive disorder and major depression. These candid stories show us that the mentally ill and their families have much in common with the rest of us.--From publisher description.