Mad House: Growing Up in the Shadow of Mentally Ill Siblings

by Clea Simon

Book Overview

A compelling and compasionate memoir about coming to terms with the unique pain of living with a sibling's mental illness In classic books such as Girl, Interrupted and When Rabbit Howls, the mentally... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140274340
• Release Date: May 1998
• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.46 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.1" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

I cried when I read it....

My brothers aren't schizophrenic, like Ms. Simon's siblings. They are autistic, however, and the impact of their condition on our family dynamic was much the same. I am the only normal one of three children, and during my life I've felt rage, grief, loneliness, and the dreaded "I-wish-they-would-die-and-free-us-from-this-illness". Because of my brothers I have problems with intimacy and my single greatest fear is that I will bear a child with autism. The guilt that accompanies my feelings is overwhelming. Ms. Simon's book showed me that I'm not alone, that my feelings aren't illegimate, and that a sort of emotional peace can be had when there's no cure (or even effective treatment) in sight. Thank you for writing this book--I needed it more than any other book I've ever read (and that includes my cherished Bible).

From the author

Hi Folks,I just wanted to say thank you to all the readers who've read Mad House and either posted here or contacted me. So many of you are also siblings, and I am gratified that many of you have found your experiences reflected in my book. I've tried to show, through my experiences and the dozens of you interviewed, that while our story may be one of the quieter ones in our family, it is still valid and deserving of space. Strength and health to you all! I've used the same combination of memoir and interviews (more than 70) in my new book, "Fatherless Women: How We Change After We Lose Our Dads" (Wiley). If any of you read that, please let me know what you think.peace,Clea

Maelstrom of Mental Illness

Clea is the luckiest of her siblings. Her older brother Daniel, a brilliant boy, showed signs of psychosis in early adulthood. He somehow managed to attend Harvard and upon leaving the renowned university, succumbs to his illness. He marries a woman from his halfway house and they have a daughter. The brother commits suicide and the baby remains unheard from. Clea was in college at the time of her brother's death and her parents curiously give her a false account of how her brother killed himself. That is never explained. Clea's sister Katherine/Althea appears to be the most unstable. She, too, started showing signs of the illness in late adolescence and was barely able to fight her psychosis and finish high school. She lived from hospital to halfway house, never really finding her niche. Her erratic behavior precluded her from staying at halfway houses and in one memorable account in the book, a landlady requested that her parents come and collect her after she defecated on a mattress. She remained a "living" casualty of mental illness; at the close of the book, Clea did not even know where she was. Clea is a strong voice, a strong advocate for the families of the mentally ill. Her poignant book is yet another reminder that mental illness is often a family illness because of the tragic impact it has on non-mentally ill members.

Helpful to anyone with ill siblings...

I did not grow up with schizophrenic siblings, although there is a history of the disease in my adopted family. What I did experience was two sisters with very disturbing behavior, and I found Mad House to be a great help in describing a lot what went on in my particular house and family. Clea Simon does a terrific job portraying the stress and chaos mentally ill siblings can cause and the far-reaching effects this can have on well family members. In her case, she had a brother and sister with schizophrenia, and her sympathetic yet realistic depiction of life under such circumstances is fascinating, informative and clearly thoroughly researched. Her knowledge of the topic enables her to speak intelligently and cogently about very disturbing emotions, such as the overwhelming fear that she, too, would contract this dreaded disease.Part of what is best about this book is that Simon speaks to a wide range of people who have also grown up or dealt with schizophrenic siblings, and the candid, personal and touching perspectives they provide complements Simon's own experience. It is truly fascinating how many of the 'healthy' siblings have found their way into the mental health profession, enabling them to 'help' their sick brothers and sisters in a variety of ways, however indirectly.I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in family dynamics, mental illness or for anyone who grew up with someone who exhibited anti-social, destructive behavior. The wide array of response to such situations are well-documented and described, and it is quite a relief to find one's own experiences echoed in those of others. But there's a great deal here worthwhile for those simply interested in the topic, and in the heart-wrenching effects mental illness can have on those who care about and for those stricken with the disease.

Perceptive memoir & low-key self-help tool

Having "acquired" through marriage two family members with bipolar disorder, I have sought to educate myself about mental illness and its effect on the family. I found "Mad House" to be a perceptive and instructive look at the secondary victims of mental illness: siblings of the patient. The author's personal experiences as the sister of two schizophrenics is interwoven with explanations of current scientific research about serious mental illness as well as psychotherapeutic insights about how the experience of growing up with a mentally ill sibling can affect others in the household. The memoir-ish portions of the book bring comfort in the form of knowing one is not the only person to have so suffered (and mental illness is one of the last great bastions of shame, secrecy and guilt left in our culture). The summaries of recent research are great educational tools. And if you are struggling with personal issues arising out of your experience as a sibling of a mentally ill person, then the matter-of-fact explanations of common behavioral and emotional patterns will give you insight -- self-help without the twelve steps or touchy-feely-wallowing-in-my-angst element that can be off-putting. Be advised that the book focuses on the special issues that siblings of the mentally ill face (as opposed to parents, or children, or spouses, for example) and the discussion does center on schizophrenia and related disorders, with only a passing nod to bipolar disorder, depression and other illnesses. But this skillfully written book contains plenty of empathy and perception for anyone interested in the mental health field.