Collateral Damage: The impacts of my mother's mental illness on me

by Cate Grace, Jean Boles

Poignant, absorbing and thought-provoking... The powerful true story of a child who grew up with a demanding and destructive intruder in her her mother's mental illness. Stunning and mesmerizing, this book is an important MUST-READ for anyone wishing to understand the often devastating effects of parental mental illness on children. Cate uses evocative imagery to transport us to her childhood, allowing us to understand the impacts of her mother’s severe mental illness on her. Collateral Damage...a story that needs to be told and re-told in the context of how we support children with a parent with severe mental illness including grown up children.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir

236 pages, Paperback

Published February 23, 2016

Reviews

[Cherie Kephart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cate Grace shines as a beacon of courage, strength, and wisdom for those who are children of parents with mental illness. Grace’s childhood was riddled with frightening episodes, not just once, or a few times a year, but every day of her first eighteen years of life. She grew up in a home with four siblings, a father, a mother, and an intruder who invaded her mother’s mind and caused irreparable physical, mental, and emotional damage to everyone in the house.

Collateral Damage opens the door to exposing a world that most of us are fortunate enough to have never experienced. The author initiates an important conversation about the devastating effects of mental illness, not only to the person affected by it, but also the family, particularly the innocent children who feel lost, afraid, and definitely alone. This is a sincerely heartbreaking and important read for all and is a topic that should never be swept under the rug again. Brava to Cate Grace for stepping up and delivering such a tough yet worthy topic to our attention.

[Emily Brumbaugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cate Grace does a wonderful job of relating her personal story of pain into a story of forgiveness and healing. The use of poetry is a beautiful touch throughout the book that emphasized the message. Stories like Cate's are the reason that we need more awareness and understanding of mental illness and the effect on children. An overall great read!

[Paul Schmidt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Especially because of the absence of literature published on mental illness from a personal perspective, the book is well worth the read.