Book List for Churches
Carlson, Dwight L. Why
Christians Shoot Their Wounded?: Helping (Not Hurting) Those with emotional Difficulties. Inter-Varsity,
1994.
This book is worthy of its many good reviews. Carlson, a physician and
psychiatrist, cites scientific evidence to restore peace and dignity to those who have been told by well-meaning individuals
that their mental illness is due to sin, spiritual weakness, or lack of faith. Pointing to substantial research findings,
Carlson takes issue with prominent Christian writers and speakers who over-simplify emotional distress
Carlson is one of the few current Christian writers who points out the healing dynamic in the word translated
“equip” in Ephesians 4:7-13. The healing aspect of this word implies that churches need good health in order to
offer healthy ministries to hurting people. Also, he points out that the business model approach of church involves number
crunching leads to neglecting or crushing the wounded in our congregations.
Clinebell,
Jr., Howard. The Mental Health Ministry of the Local
Church. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1965.
Crabb, Larry. Connecting: Healing
for Ourselves and Our Relationships A Radical New Vision. Nashville:
Word, 1997.
Psychologist Larry Crabb boldly claims that churches
can accomplish much of the healing that people now depend on mental health professionals to provide.
Gregg-Schroeder, Susan. In
the Shadow of God's Wings: Grace in the Midst of Depression. Upper
Room Books, 1997.
Johnson, Julie Tallard. Hidden
Victims/Hidden Healers: An Eight-Stage Healing Process for Families and Friends of the Mentally Ill. PEMA Publications,
1988.
This book describes very well the eight
stages that family and friends move through in dealing
with someone’s mental illness.
Murren, Doug. Churches
That Heal: Becoming a Church That Mends Broken Hearts and Restores Shattered Lives. West
Monroe, LA: Howard Publishing, 1999.
This book is written from the perspective of an experience pastor who has bi-polar disorder.
With it properly medicated and under good control, Doug built and was pastor of the fastest growing and largest church in
his denomination. The congregation was begun in his living room with ten people and grew to an aggregate adherence of approximately
8000 with a Sunday attendance of 4800 people. Like Martin Luther who suffered from depression, Rev. Murren did not keep his
mental illness a secret but used it as an opportunity for ministry.
Pastor
Doug Murren writes as one wounded healer (bi-polar) to another by sharing scripture and true stories of how to create a church
that brings healing to the broken emotional lives and relationships in their community.
Oates,
Wayne E. Behind the Masks: Personality Disorders in Religious Behavior. Louisville: Westminster, 1987. Review.
Pate, C. Marvin, and Sheryl L. Pate. Behind
the Masks: Personality Disorders in the Church. Nashville:
Broadman & Holman,2000.Review.
Strobel, Shriley.
Creating a Circle of Caring: The Church and the Mentally Ill. Raleigh,
NC: NAMI-NC, 1997.
Waterhouse,
Steven. Strength for His People: A Ministry
for Families of the Mentally Ill (Book) Westcliff Bible Press,
1994.
Speaking from the experience of having a brother with schizophrenia, Pastor
Steven Waterhouse shares the painful impact of mental illness on a Christian family. Rev. Waterhouse carefully brings to the
forefront several concerns seldom addressed in other materials—particularly the valid and invalid theories of schizophrenia’s
causes and the relationship of psychiatry to religion. One difficult issue is covered with a frank discussion on differentiating schizophrenia from demon influence, this work is extremely thought provoking.
Families
Amador, Xavier. I Am Not Sick I Don’t
Need Help! Peconic, NY:
Vida Press, 2000.
Finally! Now family members, clergy and counselors
have a practical guidebook on how to work more productively with mentally ill persons who deny their illness and refuse medication.
Carter, Rosalynn Helping Someone With Mental Illness, A
Compassionate Guide for Family, Friends, and Caregivers,
by, ©1998 Times Books, Random House
Hatfield
Ph.D., Agnes B., Harriet P. Lefley, Ph.D., (Editors), Families
of the Mentally Ill, Coping and Adaptation 1999 Guilford Press
Johnson, Julie
Tallard. Hidden Victims/Hidden Healers: An Eight-Stage Healing
Process for Families and Friends of the Mentally Ill. Edina, MN:
PEMA Publications, 1988.
This book describes very well the
eight stages that family and friends move through in dealing with someone’s mental illness.
Marsha, Diane T. and Rex Dickens. How
to Cope with Mental Illness in Your Family: A Self-Care Guide for Siblings, Offspring, and Parents New
York: Tarcher/Putnam, 1997.
Winkler, Kathy. Randi Kreger. Hope for Parents:
Helping Your Borderline Son or Daughter Without Sacrificing Your Family or Yourself.
Available
from BPD Central @ bpdcentral.com/bks/hope.php
Woolis, Rebecca. When
Someone You Love Has A Mental Illness New York: Tarcher/Putnam,
1992.
This book is loaded with
good practical suggestions.
Borderline Personality Disorder
Online
BPD Central Online Community for Family Members with a Borderline Loved One
NEW VIDEO ABOUT BPD ON NET
Recognizing Borderline Personality Disorder in Children," from the Keeping Kids Healthy series that Montefiore Center.
It is a must-see for parents with borderline teens because it is
informative and because it validates a parents' perspective.
STUDY SHOWS "SCHEMA THERAPY" HELPS THOSE WITH BPD
Schema Therapy is showing a deeper personality change that enables patients to feel better.
Schema Therapy incorporates a variety of approaches, including Cognitive Behavior Therapy and emotion-focused techniques.
Jeffrey Young, Ph.D., of the Cognitive Therapy Center of New York, says that the greater effectiveness of Schema Therapy arises
in part from its use of "limited re-parenting."
Books
Forward, Susan. Emotional Blackmail: When the People in Your Life Use Fear, Obligation,
and Guilt to Manipulate You. NY: Harper-Collins Publishers, 1997.
Gunderson, John G. Borderline Personality Disorder 1984
Gunderson,
John G. and Perry D., Ph.D. Hoffman. Understanding and Treating Borderline Personality Disorder: A Guide for Professionals and Families
Gunderson, John G. Borderline
Personality Disorder: A Clinical Guide
Kreger, Randi, with James Paul Shirely. The
Stop Walking on Eggshells Workbook
Review.
Kreger, Randi, and Kim A. Willams-Justensen. Love and Loathing: Protecting Your Mental Health and Legal Rights When Your Partner Has Borderline Personality Disorder.
Kreger, Randi The
Essential Family Guide to Borderline Personality Disorder: New Tools and Techniques to Stop Walking on Eggshells. It contains a discussion of 3 clusters of persons with BPD. First, the classic
mental health picture as seen in I Hate You, Don’t Leave Me. Second, is the high functioning person whose BPD illness is hidden to all but their
family. It is very likely that a majority of people with BPD are in this cluster. Third is a mixture of one and two. These
are not closed clusters because there is some overlap.
Kreisman, Jerold. I
Hate You, Don't Leave Me: Understanding the Borderline Personality
This classic
focuses on the low functioning borderline personality disorder. It also does a good job of picking apart the emotional and
psychological development from infancy on up, which has helps one understand where a lot of this stuff comes from. The book
also introduces the reader to the SET theory (sympathy - empathy - truth) as a way to cope.
The discussion of BP's and organized
religion helps one to understand how the rigid splitting common to all of them causes them to often gravitate toward legalistic
churches, albeit only to take up legalism as another club in the arsenal of BP weapons. Yes, people with BPD can be and often
are saved. However, they often use the Bible as a weapon of judgment, condemnation and criticism, not of grace, reconciliation,
and love.
Lawson, Christine Ann, Ph.D. and Jason Aronson. Understanding the Borderline Mother:
Helping Her Children Transcend the Intense, Unpredictable, and Volatile Relationship
Dealing with this mental illness within a family calls for wise and firm
boundaries. This book offers practical insights and instruction where Stop Walking
on Eggshells only
touches on lightly. The two books together make an awesome pair. This book is quoted at length in the workbook for SWOE. It is not only descriptive of the four types of these
mothers but also prescriptive in how to relate with each type within healthy boundaries.
Lineham, Marsha M. Cognative-Behavioral Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder.
New York: Guilford Press, 1993
Lineham, Marsha M. Skills Training Manual for
Treating Borderline Personality Disorder (Paperback)
Mason, Paul T., Randi
Kreger, and Larry J. Siever. Stop Walking on Eggshells; Coping
When Someone You Care about HasBorderline Personality Disorder New Harbinger Pubns (July
1998)
While this book is written specifically for dealing with one mental illness, I find its
principles solid and transferable to help anyone to stop walking on eggshells around them and reclaim their own life.
Melville, Lynn. Breaking Free From Boomerang Love: Getting Unhooked From Borderline
Personality DisorderRelationships
Miller, Alice. The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self.
This book could also have been named The Trauma of the Gifted Child. This sort of home environment often produces people with Borderline Personality Disorder.
Moskovitz, Richard. Lost in the Mirror: An Inside
Look at the Borderline Personality Disorder.
Dallas, Texas: Taylor Publishing Company, 2001. Like I Hate You Don’t Leave Me, it emphasizes low-functioning borderlines.
Oates,
Wayne E. Behind the Masks: Personality Disorders in Religious Behavior. Louisville: Westminster, 1987. Review.
Pate, C. Marvin, and Sheryl L. Pate. Behind the Masks: Personality Disorders in the Church. Nashville: Broadman & Holman,2000.Review.
Porr,
Valerie. Marsha M Linehan (forward), When Someone
You Love Has Borderline Personality Disorder: How to Repair
the Relationship
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is
among the most difficult to treat and debilitating of psychological problems. Even though BPD is far rarer than major anxiety
and mood disorders, it accounts for more than 10 percent of all psychiatric outpatient visits and more than 25 percent of
all psychiatric cases that require hospitalization. And, individuals with BPD have a greater than 70 percent chance of attempting
or committing suicide.
With statistics like these, it's
easy to imagine how difficult it is to be a family member, friend, or partner of someone with BPD. Maintaining a safe and
positive relationship despite BPD requires specialized information and skills, the information that readers will find in this
much-needed book. "Loving Someone with Borderline Personality Disorder" offers readers
new ways of communicating, developing trust and repairing damaged relationships with a person with BPD. These methods are
adapted from Dialectic Behavior Therapy (DBT), a revolutionary new psychotherapy that research suggests is the most effective
means of treating this disorder. The techniques presented in the book all start from a position of compassion, with the acceptance
and validation of individuals with BPD. These attitudes work to foster an atmosphere for the BPD sufferer that will motivate
him or her to seek treatment, to work at the treatment they've already undertaken, and to truly believe that they can
get better.
It tells the story of how a young boy learns to understand and cope with his mother’s
BPD illness.
Roth, Kimberlee and Freda B. Friedman. Surviving
a Borderline Parent: How to Heal Your Childhood Wounds & Build Trust
Spradlin, Scott. Don't Let Your Emotions Run
Your Life: How Dialectical Behavior Therapy Can Put You in Control (New Harbinger Self-Help
Reviews claim this book make Lineham’s Cognative-Behavioral techniques both understandable and useful
to people who do not have a PhD. in Psychology. It is recommended for both consumers with BPD and those with bipolar.
Tinman, Ozzie. One Way Ticket to Kansas:
Caring about Someone with Borderline Personality Disorder and Finding aHealthy You
Walker, Anthony. The
Siren's Dance : My Marriage to a Borderline: A Case Study Rodale
Books (September 20, 2003)
Randi Kreger: “For six years, I have maintained several
support groups on the web for people who have a borderline partner. Mr. Walker's book tells a very familiar story--ignoring
red flags in particular. Since most non-BP partners need immense validation, this book will validate your experiences so you
will not feel so uncertain and alone if you have a BP partner.”
Weiser, Conrad. Healers: Harmed & Harmful. Minneapolis:
Fortress Press, 1994.
A psychologist and Administrator Systems Therapy and Consultation Services in Allentown, PA, Dr. Conrad has written
a very helpful book from his twenty years of experience with clergy and churches. What he has to say about clergy who
are narcissistic, compulsive, depressed, dependent, or borderline and helping them is very valuable.
Winkler, Kathy. Randi Kreger. Hope for Parents: Helping Your Borderline Son or Daughter Without Sacrificing Your Familyor Yourself.
Zakiya, Njemile. A Peek Inside
The Goo: Depression & The Borderline Personality
"This book is for friends
and family.”
Narcissism
Brown, Nina W. Children
of the Self-Absorbed: A Grownup's Guide to Getting Over Narcissistic
Parents. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publishers, Inc., 2001.
Donaldson-Pressman, Stephanie, Robert M. Pressman. The
Narcissistic Family: Diagnosis and Treatment. San
Francisco: Josey-Bass Publishers, 1997.
Miller, Alice. The
Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self.
This book could also have
been named The Trauma of the Gifted Child. This sort of home environment often produces people with Borderline Personality
Disorder.
Bipolar
Duke, Patty
and Gloria Hochman. A Brilliant Madness: Living with Manic Depressive Illness Bantam,
1997, 368 pages.
This is the actor's in-depth exposition of her mental illness and the
way she has dealt with it. Interestingly, she seems to be one of the exceptions to the rule that people with mental illness
generally deny, at least at first, that anything could be wrong. Ms. Duke's reaction to being told of a diagnosis of manic
depression was that it "finally had a name!" and could be dealt with. She was, however, in her late 30's (if
I remember correctly... could be wrong) when the diagnosis came and had been through many tumultuous years prior. She is,
however, one of the persons with bipolar disorder who religiously takes her medication, and can't imagine her life without
lithium
Duke, Patty and Kenneth Turan. Call Me Anna: The
Autobiography of Patty Duke Bantam, 1988, 320 pages.
Autobiography of Oscar and Emmy award winning actor Patty Duke, this one details her whole life, including
her diagnosis with bipolar disorder.
Jamison, Kay Redfield. An
Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness Vintage, 1997, 240
pages.
This is the autobiography to read of bipolar disorder. Kay Jamison is also
a co-author of the definitive medical text: Manic Depressive Illness. A victim of manic depressive illness herself, An Unquiet
Mind is her "outing" from the closet of mental illness. Though not a psychiatrist (medical doctor), she is a teaching
professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
McReynolds, James D.Min., Psy.D. DANCING
WITH BIPOLAR BEARS: LIVING IN JOY DESPITE ILLNESS
Chronic joy from someone who's
been there, "Dancing With Bipolar Bears" is the remarkable story of success despite a diagnosis of bipolar disorder.
James "Jimmy" McReynolds was a rising star young minister when bipolar illness was diagnosed in his senior year
of college. In Dancing With Bipolar Bears Dr. McReynolds shares his remarkable story and offers unsolicited advice from someone
who's been there and is still there. If you have an illness, this book is your tool for shaping the life you have continued
to envision but never thought possible
McReynolds, James, D.Min., Psy.D. PASSIONATE JOY: BUILDING A WEALTH OF JOY IN A WORLD STARVED
FOR LOVE
Passionate Joy connects
the psychological and spiritual understanding of our least discussed human emotion. This book reflects the dawn of a revolutionary
approach to living. Norman Vincent Peale anointed Jim McReynolds as minister of joy to the world. The most important characteristic
of a minister of joy is humility. This book teaches people the purpose of our lives is to create an atmosphere for joy and
miracles to happen. Life is difficult. Building a wealth of joy enables us to know happiness. Readers will enter the joy of
the Lord as they reflect upon their own joy.
Papolos, Demitri M.D. and Janice Papolos. The Bipolar Child: The Definitive
and Reassuring Guide to
Childhood's Most Misunderstood Disorder. New York: Broadway Books, 2002, 415 pages.
Pauley, Jane. Skywriting: A
Life Out of the Blue Random House, 2004, 288 pages.
Notable simply because Jane Pauley, former co-host of America's
"Today" show and former correspondent on "Dateline," would ordinarily be one of the last people one would suspect of having bipolar disorder. Jane is generally not perceived
to be the usual tenacious, hard-hitting reporter which
one ordinarily identifies with having that type of job, or holding those types of positions. Rather, she seems much more like
"the girl next door." It was, therefore, a headlining news story that she had been diagnosed
and spent time hospitalized, for bipolar disorder.
Jane's type of bipolar, (medication induced
Bipolar III), was diagnosed after she was prescribed steroids for a bout of hives. Jane's discussion of bipolar disorder
is, like Jane herself, rather understated. There seems little of the drama and chaos that ordinarily accompanies and surrounds
this condition in her life.
Well written and good "biography" reading, and good
for getting a more well-rounded picture of who may have the disorder, but lacking in imparting substantive understanding of
the disorder itself.
Spradlin, Scott. Don't
Let Your Emotions Run Your Life: How Dialectical Behavior Therapy Can
Put You in Control (New Harbinger Self-Help Workbook) (Paperback)
Reviews claim this book make Lineham’s Cognative-Behavioral techniques both understandable and useful
to people who do not have a PhD. In Psychology. It is recommended for both consumers with BPD and those with bipolar.
Torrey, E. Fuller, M.D. and Michael Bl. Knable, D.O. Surviving Manic Depression: A Manual on Bipolar Disorder
for Patients, Families, and Providers. New York: Basic Books, 2002, 306 pages.
Schizophrenia
Fuller, E. Surviving
Schizophrenia: A Manual for Families, Consumers, and Providers (Fourth Edition) Torrey, New
York: Harper Collins, 2001
Kotulski, Tina. Saving
Millie: A Daughter's Story of Surviving Her Mother's Schizophrenia
Waterhouse, Steven. Strength
for His People: A Ministry for Families of the Mentally Ill (Book) Westcliff Bible Press, 1994.
Speaking from the experience of having a brother with schizophrenia, Pastor Steven Waterhouse shares the painful
impact of mental illness on a Christian family.
Rev. Waterhouse
carefully brings to the forefront several concerns seldom addressed in other materials—particularly the valid and invalid
theories of schizophrenia’s causes and the relationship of psychiatry to religion. One difficult issue is covered with
a frank discussion ondifferentiating schizophrenia from demon influence, this work is extremely thought provoking.
Siblings
Imagining Robert: My Brother, Madness and Survival by Jay Neugeboren Rutgers University Press,
2003.
Life of a mentally ill Robert from a brother's perspective, this book
details the trials of dealing with mental illness in the family from a personal point of view. The author was actually left
to deal with his brother pretty much on his own when the parents up and moved to Florida,
leaving Robert in the State mental health system in New York while
his brother, Jay, became a professor of English at the University ofMassachusetts, Amherst.
Robert has been variously
diagnosed as schizophrenic, bipolar, and bipolar with schizo-affective, but the diagnosis doesn't really make much difference
in this story; it's a moving, personal account of mental illness.
Spouses
Depression
Imperfect Harmony: How to Stay Married for the Sake of Your Children and Still Be Happy. by Joshua Coleman. New York: St. Martin's
Press, 2003.
His chapter on marriage to a spouse
with depression addresses the dynamics very well.
Coping with a loved one's depression
Borderline Personality Disorder
See Previous References.
More resources
Resources for Daughters and Sons Who Have a Parent with a Mental Illness
