About this item
Highlights
- "I read Jessie and Calen's book with my heart in my throat, at times, my eyes burning with tears.
- About the Author: Jessie Close, the younger sister of actress Glenn Close, is an internationally recognized speaker, author, poet, and advocate for mental health reform, whose own battle with bipolar disorder illustrates the critical need for early diagnosis and treatment.
- 340 Pages
- Family + Relationships, Dysfunctional Families
Description
About the Book
"One family's struggles to overcome the challenges of living with a son who has schizophrenia"--Book Synopsis
"I read Jessie and Calen's book with my heart in my throat, at times, my eyes burning with tears. It is a gripping, heartbreaking, and ultimately, life affirming, step-by-step account of how mental illness can shatter a family, but also how that family, through love and resilience, can not only survive, but triumph."--Glenn Close
"Writing the book was like putting it back together, my fall into psychosis and how I began to recover."--Calen T. Pick, featured in People
For eighteen years, everyone looked up to Oliver. He was smart, funny, good-looking, and a talented artist. Everyone wanted to be his friend. But after his eighteenth birthday, he became morose and moody. He watched familiar faces melt into unknown strangers. Oliver fights to silence the sinister voice that tells him scary things as he tries to exist in a world that no longer makes sense to him. Oliver's parents and siblings grapple with how to help him find treatment while his delusions, anxiety, and hallucinations intensify. However, finding treatment proves to be even more difficult since Oliver's mother is bipolar and his father holds onto the denial he has regarding Oliver's increasingly dangerous behaviors.
Based on the authors' own experiences, Silence You follows a family coping with crisis. Oliver, the eldest son, is suffering from schizophrenia. As he goes through treatment, his parents and siblings deal with the repercussions. In particular, Oliver's mother, Elizabeth, must come to terms with her own mental illness and the role it may have played in Oliver's illness.
Review Quotes
"I read Jessie and Calen's book with my heart in my throat, at times, my eyes burning with tears. It is a gripping, heartbreaking, and ultimately, life affirming, step-by-step account of how mental illness can shatter a family, but also how that family, through love and resilience, can not only survive, but triumph. I have deep love, respect, and awe for this book and my two heroes who wrote it."--Glenn Close, award-winning actress and mental health advocate"Jessie and Calen have laid bare and vulnerable the often lonely and misunderstood path of mental illness. Their book serves as a sensitive companion and a window into the world of severe psychosis. Silence You is not a journey for the faint of heart; but those brave enough to come along will find themselves with a deeper well of compassion for those who suffer, survive, and triumph through these infirmities."--Robert Munjal, MD, Associate Director of Inpatient Psychiatry, St. Patrick Hospital, Missoula, Montana
"Silence You takes readers on a family journey of mental illness and substance use disorder, rife with guilt, confusion, frustration, love, and healing. The multiple character viewpoints are felt by so many trying to navigate the struggles of mental illness. This realistic story increases knowledge and compassion, both of which are indispensable as we strive to improve our medical system."--Colette Kirchhoff MD, FAAFP, Board Certified Family Physician, Hospice and Palliative Physician, Associate Clinical Professor, Department of Family Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine
"With immersive and often-terrifying authenticity, mother-son team Jessie Close and Calen Pick transport readers inside the brain of a young man experiencing hallucinogenic schizoaffective disorder. Protagonist Oliver Moore's paranoid thoughts and audiovisual hallucinations are sprinkled throughout this auto-fiction in startling and alarming ways as he and his family, including his alcoholic mother with bipolar disorder, attempt to navigate this debilitating and difficult mental illness. A must-read for all who care about someone with mental illness."--Jodi Hausen, award-winning freelance journalist focused on disability issues"Silence You is a riveting accounting of the struggles and suffering experienced by one family impacted by mental illnesses. In intimate detail, Jessie Close and Calen T. Pick share the vivid mind-altering experiences of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Through the genuine compassion of these gifted authors, this book nurtures understanding and empathy for others."--Beth Sirr, RN, FNP (Working with patients in hospitals and diverse community settings for over forty-four years.)
About the Author
Jessie Close, the younger sister of actress Glenn Close, is an internationally recognized speaker, author, poet, and advocate for mental health reform, whose own battle with bipolar disorder illustrates the critical need for early diagnosis and treatment. She authored The Warping of Al, and she writes a blog for Bring Change 2 Mind. Jessie has received awards from the National Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health America, as well as the Jed Foundation Award and The McLean Award. She speaks with great passion and humor on a subject with which she is intimately familiar.Calen T. Pick is a self-taught artist living in Bozeman, Montana. He was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder at age nineteen. His interest in art is largely based on the therapeutic benefit of being creative. He is the son of Jessie Close.