Public Relations Workgroup OP ED
Add Mental Health Topics to Your Summer Reading List
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June 2010
As the school year winds down and summer is around the corner, it’s time to put together your summer reading list. Reading is a great pastime and stimulation for the brain. The famous 17th century Irish writer Sir Richard Steele once said that “reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.”
Although fiction, science fiction and romance novels are great to get lost in, consider reading an informational book about mental health and developmental disabilities this summer to educate yourself. Mental health issues are more widespread than most people think. In fact, one in every four Americans deal with a mental illness at some point in their lives. Mental health impacts everyone- family, friends, neighbors, teachers, and co-workers. Also lost in the commonality of mental health issues is the stigma often associated with it. Reading one or more of these books will give greater insight into the world of mental health and development disabilities, and you’ll be enriched with the new understanding.
Whether mental health and developmental disabilities impact you and your family now or not, check out one of our suggested books. Gaining more knowledge can only be a positive thing.
Adult reading:
Mental Health History: The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic by Darby Penney, Peter Statzny
Autism: A Practical Guide to Autism: What Every Parent, Family Member and Teacher Needs To Know by Fred R. Volkmar
Autism, Aspergers: A Thorn In My Pocket: Temple Grandin’s Mother tells the Family Story by Eustacia Cutler
Bi-polar: Nothing Was the Same by Kay Redfield Jameson
Childhood Bi-polar: Intense Minds: Through the Eyes of Young People with Bipolar Disorder by Tracy Anglada
Developmental Disability: Riding the bus with my sister: A True Life Journey by Rachel Simon; A Different Kind of Perfect: Writings by Parents on Raising a Child with Special Needs by Heather Fawcett, Amy Baskin
Down Syndrome: Road Map to Holland: How I Found My Way Through my Son’s First Two Years With Down Syndrome by Jennifer Graf Groneberg
Recovery: Poets on Prozac: Mental Illness, Treatment, and the Creative Process by Richard Berlin
Stigma: The Disability Studies Reader, Second Edition by Lennard David
Schizophrenia: Our Voices: First Person Accounts of Schizophrenia by Michael Dunn
Youth Reading:
Anti-Stigma, Physical Disability: Susan Laughs by Jeanne Willis; Friends at School by Rochelle Bunnett; Imagine…Amazing Me! By Libbi Chilia
Autism, Aspergers: Rescued by a Crow and a Squeeze: Temple Grandin by Mary Carpenter
Bi-polar: The Bipolar Bear Family: When a parent has Bipolar Disorder by Angela Holloway
Down Syndrome: Fasten Your Seatbelt: A Crash Course on Down Syndrome for Brothers and Sisters by Brian Skotko
By including these books on your summer reading list, you’ll be gaining important knowledge that will help reduce the stigma associated with mental illness and developmental disabilities. For a complete mental health summer reading list, click here. Happy reading!