Diagnosis: Schizophrenia

New York: Columbia University Press, 2002. As New. A crisp clean softcover, no markings throughout: Shrouded in myth and mystery, distorted by sensationalist films like The Th ree Faces of Eve and mistakenly confused with multiple personality disorder , schizophrenia, the authors argue, is one of the least understood mental d isorders in the world. It affects 1% of the U.S. population, and this book, primarily targeted at those with the disease, marks an important entry in the mental health genre, particularly since it is coauthored by a group of 35 patients (from a New York treatment program) and has first-person accoun ts of diagnosis, delusional states and recovery. Miller and Mason, social w orkers who specialize in the issue, note that while it's still not clear if there is a cure for schizophrenia, many people can successfully manage the condition through a combination of structured routines, medication and the rapy. Readers with short attention spans will be able to handle the short c hapters, which offer straightforward, nonjudgmental advice on handling a va riety of symptoms. Of particular interest are the sections addressing how m uch information to give co-workers and employers. The authors assume no pri or knowledge or background on the subject, and their book is far easier to understand than the classic title for schizophrenics and their families, E. Fuller Torrey's Surviving Schizophrenia. Illus. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal In the United States, one out of every 100 people suffers from schizophrenia, the mental illness that afflicts Nobel prize winner John Nash, the subject of Sylvia Nasar's A Beautiful Mind and the Ron Howar.