This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.
Reviewed by Gisela Dixon for Readers' Favorite
My Schizophrenia: One Man’s Struggle With Mental Illness by John U. Gunter is an autobiography about John’s own journey in dealing and coping with Schizoaffective disorder. Schizoaffective disorder is essentially schizophrenia with manic or depressive bouts and affects less than 1% of the population. Like all mental illnesses, there is a genetic component as well as environmental factors involved. John candidly recounts his life story of growing up with this disorder, dealing with delusions, paranoia, and auditory as well as visual hallucinations among other things. He also discusses his frequent bouts of hospitalizations, drugs, crime, violence, family life, as well as the toll a mental illness takes not only on the patient, but on the family members and caregivers as well.
I think we need more books like My Schizophrenia: One Man’s Struggle With Mental Illness by John U. Gunter that truly document mental illness from the patient’s perspective and, not only that, also provide a rare glimpse into a patient’s mind and thought process. In this book, some of the hallucinations, both auditory and visual, that John describes really made me truly understand what it must feel like living with this on a daily basis. The writing is extremely candid and comes across as simple and sincere, which I appreciated. I actually learnt a lot from this book and found it to be not only engrossing, but very educational as well. Hopefully books like this will go a long way towards removing the stigma associated with mental illnesses in society and I would highly recommend this book to everyone.
