Unhinged: A Memoir of Enduring, Surviving, and Overcoming Family Mental Illness

by Anna Berry

Despite all her best efforts to break the cycle of catastrophic, destructive patterns of mental illness, Anna Berry found herself at the end of her rope—unemployed, penniless, homeless, and in the throes of a psychotic episode that threatened to destroy her life. Alone and unwell, she manages to find her grip on life, seeks the help she needs, and embarks on a life and career that illustrate that mental illness does not have to be ruinous. A Memoir of Enduring, Surviving, and Overcoming Family Mental Illness is a powerful memoir that chronicles Berry’s life as both a casualty and survivor of family mental illness. From her point of rock-bottom to her own recovery, as well as her efforts to help her still-afflicted mother and brother find hope and healing, we see how she struggles to recognize her own illness while coping with the fallout from her family’s other victims.

In telling her story, Berry uncovers the difficulties inherent in not only growing up with mental illness among family members, but also the frustrations of not being able to recognize or handle the trajectory of her own illness. Yet, after successfully finding methods of treating her symptoms, Berry goes on to become a successful journalist and author, who now helps educate the public about mental health through her writing, while also serving as her mother’s court-appointed legal guardian. This story shows the devastating impact of mental illness on whole families, but offers readers a message of hope and healing. Berry’s story is sure to resonate with the many people who deal with the mental illness of family members, and their own struggles to cope with their own diagnoses.

Genres: Nonfiction, Mental Health, Memoir, Mental Illness

252 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Tammy Wooding]

Despite all her best efforts to break the cycle of catastrophic, destructive patterns of mental illness, Anna Berry found herself at the end of her rope——unemployed, penniless, homeless, and in the throes of a psychotic episode that threatened to destroy her life. Alone and unwell, she manages to find her grip on life, seeks the help she needs, and embarks on a life and career that illustrate that mental illness does not have to be ruinous. Unhinged: A Memoir of Enduring, Surviving, and Overcoming Family Mental Illness is a powerful memoir that chronicles Berry's life as both a casualty and survivor of family mental illness. From her point of rock-bottom to her own recovery, as well as her efforts to help her still-afflicted mother and brother find hope and healing, we see how she struggles to recognize her own illness while coping with the fallout from her family's other victims.
In telling her story, Berry uncovers the difficulties inherent in not only growing...

[Joanne Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This well written book offers a candid look at the author's mental illness. After many years of struggling, Berry did a remarkable job of identifying her destructive thought patterns and behaviors and finding ways to keep her illness under control. I just wish she had a bit more compassion for her mother and brother, who suffer from different mental illnesses. For example, Berry talks intelligently about her brothers avolition, which is a symptom of his paranoid schizophrenia, but doesn't seem to let go of her negative judgments about his "laziness."

[Marisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading a memoir is part, what’s it like to be that person and part, can I relate? I read Unhinged  because my mother (and by association my family) suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. I thought I might see some of my own experiences in Berry’s story, and I do. It’s rare to find someone with a childhood like hers. I’ve probably rubbed elbows with a few but this topic isn’t your typical watercooler conversation, so who would know? The stigma attached to mental illness keeps us from speaking openly on this. Yet, research shows that lives are transformed when people have an opportunity to engage with others with similar experiences. For me, reading Berry’s memoir is like one of those conversations. 
 
Berry grew up with a mother who compulsively searched for dead bodies, people she thought she’d hit with her car. My mother thought people on TV talked directly to her, barking commands. Berry often came home from school to a confused, crying, and anxious mother who couldn’t do the basics because she’d lost touch with reality. Me too. Berry’s father divorced her mother and took up with various women in a freakish form of sex therapy; e.g. Let’s do it a lot and everywhere, in the wide open! Kids? Do I have kids? I exaggerate (a little), but my dad and his new wife were like this too. The similarities are uncanny. 
 
Mental illness runs in Berry’s family. Her brother has a wide range of symptoms, and Berry has also struggled with mental illness. But it doesn’t run her life. She tells us how she worked on getting better, without meds (meditation and mindfulness). I don’t blame her for wanting to avoid pills. She has seen what poor prescriber practice has done to her family. 
 
As for the story-telling, I found the audio version, which she narrates, engaging. Berry has theater experience, and it shows in the way she assumes the voices of people featured in her memoir. Ultimately, I find the story as told uplifting. Having this degree of illness touch you directly and/or indirectly, especially in childhood, can put one on a lifelong mission for clarity. It will never come, of course, but knowing that others have made it to the other side, though bruised and a little broken, may help to shed the stigma. Her story offers a much-needed hope for recovery in what is too often a downward spiral into substance abuse, poverty, and homelessness. I highly recommend  Unhinged .

[Maura Muller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even though I would have liked to learn more about the author's efforts at recovery, I still thought this was a great read.

[Franciekat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great memoir of what it's like growing up in a crazy family. Kudos to Anna for sharing her straight up, authentic story.

[Kali Giaritta · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read this one for school. It was educational, and would be a great read for anyone interested in learning more about borderline personality disorder through a narrative structure.

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

what a book! I've never read a memoir about mental illness let alone a book about mental illness that has plagued an ENTIRE family for several generations. berry does an amazing job of recalling both her experiences and the experiences of the different members of her family. she talks about the hereditary aspects of mental health but also the environmental aspects as well. most importantly she stresses how prescription drugs are often wrongly or over prescribed to patients with severe mental health problems, a message I appreciated so much considering the culture we live in today where we are trained to treat the symptoms and not the underlying problem that causes the symptoms. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone.

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first I loved this book. I was on this roller coaster ride with the author until the end of chapter 4. Chapter 4 is her “recovery” chapter. This is when she learns to manage her mental issues. One sole chapter for 9 years of her life and very little useful information. I feel cheated. Is that it? Then she moves on to the story of her mother and brother. Although these chapters are interesting, I was more interested in the author's recovery; her day to day battle living with mental illness. Wonderfully written, but I don’t feel it flowed, it felt pieced together.

[David Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

see my review at: http://davidmallenmd.blogspot.com/201...