I Am Not Sick I Don’t Need Help!: How to Help Someone with Mental Illness Accept Treatment
By Xavier Amador, Ph.D.
10th Anniversary Edition
2010 Vida Press, NY
I was one of the lucky ones in that I was blatantly aware that bipolar was wrecking my life and sought treatment. Many others, in the distorted reality of their condition, think they are fine when obviously otherwise and thus refuse offers of treatment!
Dr Amador has written several books about dealing with mental illness, in yourself or in your family.
This one deals with Anosognosia, the failure to recognize a mental illness when you are in the midst of it. This book is an effective resource for family members and mental health workers alike. There are quite a few additional chapters in this edition compared to the prior one, ten years before.
There is much more knowledge and understanding now about denial. The average person will usually mistake it for stubbornness and will normally react in exactly the wrong way. It’s very important to have insight about how to get someone to receive help.
It’s not productive to be in denial about your loved one not being who they were before, because pro-active vigilance leads to an earlier response and a better long-term outcome.
Anosognosia is common with schizophrenia as well as with bipolar; and can also occur with other conditions such as strokes or head injuries.
This book explains the LEAP method as a means of dealing with Anosognosia. The acronym LEAP stands for Listen-Empathize-Agree-Partner and Xavier Amador is the Director of the LEAP Institute. Results of the research on the method are covered here.
Initial inspiration came from Amador’s brother Henry who developed mental illness, and his struggle with how to do the right thing to help.
Review submitted by Philip Wright, Artist and Pathways Member
November 2024
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