Losing Dad, Paranoid Schizophrenia: A Family's Search for Hope
10th Anniversary Edition
by Amanda LaPera
This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app
1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date Jan 24 2024 | Archive Date Jan 15 2024
Talking about this book? Use #LosingDadBook #NetGalley. More hashtag tips!
Description
No drugs. No alcohol. So, how does a fifty-three-year-old develop schizophrenia? That’s the question puzzling Joseph’s family when his mind descends into madness, filled with grandiose delusions and paranoia. He roams the world as a self-proclaimed prophet-of-God—purportedly arrested in Israel, advised the Mafioso in Italy, and hailed as a prophet in Africa. When he returns to the United States, he faces down drug dealers and prostitutes while homeless, then disappears.
His wife and three kids race to find answers before he slips away forever. Their biggest fear—he will die a faceless stranger on the streets. Alone.
A Benjamin Franklin Silver award-winner in psychology, Losing Dad, Paranoid Schizophrenia: A Family's Search for Hope is a compelling true story told through multiple perspectives—the children, spouse, and patient; it offers a glimpse into a world that will either feel hauntingly familiar or shocking.
The foreword by Dr. Xavier Amador, Founder, LEAP Institute, Author of I am Not Sick, I Don't Need Help! explains the neurological condition of anosognosia.
This 10th Anniversary Edition has rearranged formatted for improved readability and additional supplemental materials, which include updated discussion of laws, family interviews, photographs, and expanded reading guide questions ideal for book clubs or classroom discussion. Through the study of lived experience, gain a deeper understanding of the societal and psychological impacts of mental illness on the entire family.
Advance Praise
“Written with compassion, emotion, and insight, ... with a hard-won emphasis on healing and hope, ... it offers a visceral, often heart-rending portrait chronicle, with welcome attention paid to the rippling effects of mental illness.”
-- BookLife Reviews (Editor’s Pick)
“hard-hitting, powerful … highly recommended.”
— D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
“The astounding patience, compassion, love, commitment to family, and willpower LaPera has shown while coping with such an issue is remarkable. I recommend Losing Dad, Paranoid Schizophrenia to anyone who faces mental illness or knows someone who does. This book will inspire and encourage loved ones not to give up hope even when getting help seems all but impossible.”
-- Amy Raines for Readers’ Favorite (Five-Star Review)
“LaPera is a talented writer, able to convincingly characterize her father's mental illness and provoke frustration, compassion, and feelings of impotence in readers … offers a uniquely powerful. deeply personal chronicle that will resonate with readers. Characterization is top-notch and intimate.”
-- BookLife Prize
Marketing Plan
To be released worldwide on January 24, 2024 in the following formats: Jacketed hardcover, paperback, and ebook.
Author is available for in-person or virtual events:
- Book Signings
- Podcasts
- Guest Speaker
- Interviews
- Book Clubs
- Classroom Discussion
Bulk discounts available for educational, business, or promotional purposes. Contact the publisher, Adamo Press, for more information.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9780986247132 |
| PRICE | $19.99 (USD) |
| PAGES | 340 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Carla H, Reviewer
Oof. So many feelings for this poor family and what they’ve been through. Amanda does an amazing job in pulling you into the story, writing a narrative that flows and takes you on the harrowing roller coaster ride that was her family’s life with her dad. It’s a captivating read, and an in depth look into how untreated mental illness affects everyone, not just the afflicted. I really appreciated the afterword and resources, and applaud Amanda for helping to educate others and hopefully preventing others from experiencing the same pain her family has felt through all of this. Looking forward to reading the second book!
Jenny O, Reviewer
Mental Illness touches us at unexpected times, in surprising and often unrelenting ways. Losing Dad is a touching memoir that dispels the myth that we are alone in dealing with it, and when we do, we must struggle quietly. Amanda, the author, allows you to be intimately brought inside her father’s ordeal with late onset Paranoid Schizophenia. A well thought out book with a unique voice, full of resources to help the reader through similar situations, you very much feel you are there, inside this family’s particular situation, without ever feeling like it’s being sensationalized just for entertainment. I recommend this read highly, you will feel supported in your own mental health journey and truly know you are never alone, there is help to be had, and to never give up on yourself or your family.
Educator 1287245
Losing Dad is a fascinating and harrowing look into one family’s excruciating story of mental illness. Amanda La Pera’s gripping first-person narrative is deeply personal yet completely relatable as she describes her father’s struggle with paranoid schizophrenia and the impossible decisions it forces upon the people who love him most. La Pera brings these issues to life with a unique voice and crisp, buoyant writing, filled with the pain of trauma, yet often humorous and always accessible. Losing Dad accomplishes what great books do: It gives readers a sense that they are not alone.
