cover image When Your Adult Child Breaks Your Heart: Coping with Mental Illness, Substance Abuse, and the Problems That Tear Families Apart

When Your Adult Child Breaks Your Heart: Coping with Mental Illness, Substance Abuse, and the Problems That Tear Families Apart

Joel L. Young, M.D., and Christine Adamec. Globe Pequot/Lyons, $19.95 trade paper (264p) ISBN 978-0-7627-9297-9

“My son is now twenty-eight years old.... On many occasions he has been very physically abusive to me.... Doctors have diagnosed my son with depression and borderline personality disorder; and he also has a problem with drugs.” With this anecdote, psychiatrist Young, the medical director of the Rochester Center for Behavioral Medicine and a specialist in working with the mentally ill and their families, begins a moving and vitally important book on mental illness and parenting. Intended for parents of troubled children, the book also serves as an excellent introduction to mental illness for anyone who has known a troubled family. Cowritten with self-help author Adamec, the well-organized book includes sections discussing the difficult situations that parents face if the adult child is living at home, and incisive guides to dealing with manipulative behaviors. Later chapters address the disorders that cause difficult behaviors, as well as the symptoms of those disorders, from child neglect and abuse to suicide. The final section encourages parents to take care of themselves first: managing sleep and health; dealing with unhelpful comments from friends; and knowing when it’s time to walk away. The book offers practical advice, stories, and resources—and, perhaps most importantly, comfort for any parent facing one of the biggest parenting challenges. Agent: Roger Williams, New England Publishing Associates. (Dec.)