Beyond Schizophrenia

Starred review from April 1, 2016
In this fascinating and personal look at mental illness, a labor economist at Arizona State, Baldwin, whose youngest son was diagnosed with schizophrenia at age 21, raises unsettling questions. Why do people with mental illness face as much discrimination as convicts? Why do they often end up unemployed and in jail? Twenty-seven years ago, Baldwin listened to her son, David, then a college junior, talk nonstop and behave erratically and thought he was experimenting with drugs. In fact, he was showing symptoms of schizophrenia, which usually starts in the late teens or early twenties. He spent three weeks in the hospital, where he told his mom he thought the TV commercials were sending messages to him. Schizophrenia is relatively rareless than 1 percent of the population suffers from itbut Baldwin also addresses the broader issue of mental illness and employment. One of the great tragedies of the disease is the loss of self-reliance and self-esteem associated with being denied a productive work life, she writes. Her son's story ends on a positive note: he is married and runs a construction business. The personal is political in this rallying cry to help those with mental illness get stable employment, not just medical treatment.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)