Born Into Crazy

by Diana Heldenbrand

This story is based on real events. This is written from the perspective of a child living with a parent, diagnosed with a severe mental illness. It is a coming of age story about addiction, mental illness, abuse, healing, family, and forgiveness. It shows the viewpoint of a child getting caught in the chaos, pain, and confusion of mental illness.
Writing this was cathartic and painful. It forced me to confront feelings, accept harsh truths, and grieve the reality of the losses experienced. It also helped me to appreciate the gifts that the past provided and helped me to gain deeper compassion for my mother and her illness. I got to know myself and my family very well in reflecting on my life.
In the 23 years since I left home, I have confronted my feelings about my mother's schizoaffective diagnosis and accepted the experiences of my unusual childhood.
The complexity, shame, loss, anger, and difficulty of living with mental illness is not easy, especially for children. It has taken time and reflection for me to get to a place of freedom. Showing my scars no longer feels frightening. I no longer need to hide my truth. This crazy, painful, tragic, and beautiful life - is a painting with a thousand strokes and varied colors that don't always match perfectly alongside each other. The painting that is my life is both beautiful and ugly, and this is my story.

252 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2020

About the author

Growing up in Iowa in the 1980s, with a mentally ill mother helped shape Diana’s perspective and experience around what it was like living with the chaos, pain, and confusion of mental illness. Being in love with books and writing her entire life, Diana went on to write about the agony and triumph of her experience in order to inspire others. She attended business school and is an avid outdoorsman who currently resides in Nevada. She loves to hike in the mountains and go camping with her husband, and daughter.

Reviews

[Michelle Lancaster]

Very good.

Shocking and tragic but so real. I can’t imagine how you get over being treated that way. All the positive affirmations in the world couldn’t stop those feelings of rejection from popping up.

[Angela Verry]

Only a brave person could have written this story. To think it is all true is crazy. It was hard to read, however knowing this story had a happy end helped me get through it.

The author has a beautiful intelligent child... so she must have learned something along the way and done a couple things right even though she had such a rocky beginning

[Diana Heldenbrand]

https://www.wattpad.com/story/2107342...