Mental Health Association of Greater St. Louis	1905 S. Grand Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63104 314-773-1399 Info@mhagstl.org	The Mental Health Association is a United Way Agency.  Click on the picture to go to the United Way website.

Book Review

72 Hour Hold by Bebe Moore Campbell Subject Matter: Coping with the Mental Illness of a Child and Navigating the Mental Health System Reviewed by:  Molly B. McGrath, MSW, LCSW Early Emotional Development Program (EEDP) at Washington University School of Medicine

Her story focuses on Keri, a successful African American business woman, and her 18 year old daughter, Trina.  Once an honor student with boundless promise for the future, Trina begins suffering from episodes of mood swings and periods of violent and erratic behavior.  After Trina is diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, Keri attempts to help her daughter navigate the mental health system.  When Trina reaches her 18^th birthday, suddenly the mental health system will no longer communicate with Keri about her daughter and will not share information about her condition or treatment.  Keri becomes frustrated as she realizes she is unable to help her daughter.     

Perhaps because this is a work of fiction, Moore Campbell inserts what any parent would wish for:  the hope of a radical treatment option.  In the novel, Keri eventually turns to this alternative treatment run by a group of white radicals.  They liken this treatment to the “Underground Railroad” with an offer to spirit people away to get intensive treatment that includes isolation from their community, strict adherence to medication regimens, and a focus on physical health.  Moore Campbell draws a connection between the shackles of slavery and the suffering of living with mental illness.  Slavery forces a loss of control over one’s life and a loss of identity.  Mental illness mirrors that in people’s loss of control over the functioning of their brains and the loss of their identities prior to the onset of the illness.  Slavery also stripped a parent of the ability to fully protect their children.  Mental illness leaves parents feeling this same sense of helplessness.  As in the days of slavery, people utilizing the underground railroad are offered freedom.  In this case, it’s freedom from road blocks and limitations to treatment, and for Keri, freedom to take action as a mother to force her daughter to get the help she so desperately needs.   

Moore Campbell’s novel runs head on into the emotional and personal upheaval that occurs when a family member is suffering from a severe mental illness.  She realistically portrays the frustrations, concerns, hopelessness and fear that family members feel.  She exposes the current mental health care system as doing little more than putting out the fires of the immediate crisis.   Moore Campbell offers an informed view of what mental illness looks like and educates the reader on its biological causes.  Coming to this type of understanding can help to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness.  Importantly, it offers evidence that there are other African Americans dealing with this as well.  Providing a work of fiction that discusses mental illness in the African American community will hopefully help to make the issue less of a taboo and will offer a show of support for all who are struggling with this issue in their families.

This book may be purchased from Amazon.com.  Click on the link below.

Molly McGrath works as a research assistant in the Early Emotional Development Program (EEDP) at Washington University School of Medicine.  The EEDP focuses on the study and treatment of affective disorders, particularly depression, in preschool aged children, and bipolar disorder in young children.  Related web sites can be found at:    

  http://www.psychiatry.wustl.edu/TEAM/index.html
   http://research.medicine.wustl.edu/ocfr/Research.nsf/s/D68C113BAF9182E98625677D005931C7

Speaking of Divorce  by Roberta Beyer, J.D. and Kent Winchester, J.D. Subject Matter:  How to talk to children about divorce and post divorce issues Reviewed by:  Baker Symes, MA, LPC Clinical Director, Kids in the Middle and Jeanine Lamb, MEd, LPC Practicum/Program Director, Kids in the Middle

When parents divorce, all family members must go through a process of grieving, while also adapting and coping with the new physical, emotional and legal family changes.  Children are significantly affected by the major loss when parents stop living together.  They often become fearful, angry, anxious, and sometimes depressed and withdrawn.  Parents experience their own grief process, while having to make emotional and legal decisions that officially divide one household into two.  The process of divorce can become so emotionally overwhelming that parents continue to be angry and behave oppositionally towards each other, while engaging in ongoing “winning-losing” battles that place kids in the middle.  Parents know that their divorce is not the child’s fault, and yet parents need help in making sure that they are doing everything possible to help their children adjust to the new and difficult family changes. 

According to authors Roberta Beyer and Kent Winchester, “Parents who continue in high conflict do harm to their children and to themselves.”  Beyer is a family law attorney and mediator who has helped hundreds of families through divorce.  Winchester is a trial lawyer and divorced father of two children.  Together, they have created a no-nonsense self-help book that gives divorcing parents specific advice on how to speak appropriately to children without putting them in the middle.  Speaking of Divorce is a very helpful book for parents who often struggle to find the right words to reassure their children during this stressful family transition.  

Beyer and Winchester remind parents that “children still need two loving parents.”  Both parents will be raising the children (no matter how parents feel towards each other).  Both parents remain the most important role models in the child’s life.  Working towards a positive relationship with each other is “one of the most loving things parents can do for their children.” 

Children hate when parents fight, and would much prefer that parents find a way to get along. Children need to be reassured that the divorce is not their fault, that divorce is a grown up problem, and that they are loved by both parents. 

Beyond these important basics, Speaking of Divorce is a book that gives specific guidelines for parents on how to tell their kids about the divorce, without blaming or giving too much information.  The authors prepare parents for questions their children might ask, including “where will I live” or “who’ll take care of me?”  Appropriate answers are suggested to reassure children that they will be taken care of by both parents.  Parents are taught to encourage children to express feelings and concerns. 

The authors also include guidelines for making “back and forth living” easier.  They acknowledge that many times rules will be different between the two households.  Parents also learn how to respond when their kids are mad about the divorce and the resulting changes. 

Speaking of Divorce is a practical guide that can be useful for all parents going through a separation and/or divorce.  The style is simple, straightforward and user friendly. Beyer and Winchester also suggest other resources for children and parents, including books, organizations and websites.  This book is highly recommended by Kids In the Middle.

This book may be purchased from Amazon.com.  Click on the link below.

Kids In the Middle provides therapy, education and support to children and families coping with family transitions such as separation and divorce.  Specializing in group and individual therapy for children "in the middle," we also involve parents through parent sessions, parent support groups and short-term, solution-focused individual therapy.  Faced with a multitude of changes, parents discover ways to ease the transition for themselves and their children.   Support and guidance is also provided for step-families as they blend and develop into unified family groups. 

Kids In the Middle embraces the community beyond our Kirkwood office by providing our services to children in area schools, parents and children in court-based programs, as well as training and consultation to school counselors, social workers and teachers.  Kids In the Middle also helps train the next generation of therapists through graduate internship programs for area colleges and universities.  For more information, log onto our website at www.kidsinthemiddle.org. 

Kids In the Middle is the only agency in the St. Louis area that is committed to helping kids and their families through the trauma of difficult family transitions through ongoing group, individual and family therapy.

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