When Someone You Love Has a Mental Illness: A Handbook for Family, Friends and Caregivers

"This is not one of the many books on "understanding" [a] serious mental illness. This book is a step-by-step guide to more successful interpersonal relationships between family and patients. No doctor or therapist will ever give you these essential tools, because therapists needn't live a life with your loved one - and may not even know what that life entails in a real and daily way. My daughter is a bipolar patient, diagnosed in 1981. Using this book, I have for the first time negotiated a crisis while knowing what to do and maintaining communication with her throughout the crisis. It is the book I always knew I needed. There is much more to serious mental illness than symptoms and medicine. This is the only book I have found that addresses the "more.""
~ Written on 1999-05-03

"An insightful book about how to interact with a loved-one having mental problems or disorders. Woolis, in a caring way, pulls no punches when describing the pain that family members and the person will experience. But she shows how to go beyond the pain and be helpfull to our loved-one and to others in the circle of family and friends."
~ Written on 1998-12-14

"Written from a mothers point of view, coping with a child being swallowed by her disease, Ms. Woolis has come through with a compelling portayal of the family and the disease.

The other part of the book is a reference that noone dealing with mental illness should miss. It tackles every issue the professionals miss - like dividing up the care responsibilities and coping with the real life routine of day to day illness."
~ Written on 1997-04-05