Living with Schizophrenia: A Family Guide to Making a Difference

Rado and Janicak (both, Northwestern Univ. Feinberg Sch. of Medicine) state that their goal with this guide is "to present information in plain English" to both schizophrenic patients and their family members. This leads to two obvious criteria: Is the information useful and accurate? Is it in plain English? For the latter, while the book has useful chapter summaries and bullet points, the reading comprehension level needed is considerably higher than that needed to read a local newspaper. While medical terms are (mostly) defined when used initially, they are thereafter strewn about liberally. Overall, the text seems too dense for general readers. As for the first question, while the work includes useful information on available medications and their side effects and on the physical illnesses to which the schizophrenic population is prone, the social and legal implications are ignored. In the real world, where many schizophrenics are completely untreated, talk of "your treatment team" is just laughable.