I consider schizophrenia, which is the topic of my novel, Playing the Genetic Lottery, to be a family disease. There is a genetic component to the mental illness, meaning it runs in families, a fact that shapes the life of my protagonist in this fictional memoir. I also consider it to be very much of a family disease because it affects the families of the person living with schizophrenia immensely. Having a parent, child, sibling, even a close friend diagnosed with schizophrenia is life changing. Along with sadness, fear, confusion and challenges come questions. How do I help my loved one? What is this disease all about? Did I do something to cause my child to get sick? What will my friends think? How can I cope with my child's/parent's/sibling's bizarre behavior? I didn't realize how much families were impacted until I began researching the subject before writing about it. So it's been very gratifying to me to hear from readers who have a family member with a schizophrenia diagnosis how helpful my novel has been to them. That's the biggest reward a writer can have; knowing something you've written has helped someone who is struggling with what initially appears to be an intractable situation. That's even more gratifying than hearing from readers complaining Playing the Genetic Lottery kept them up all night because they just had to find out what happened next.
Although Playing the Genetic Lottery is a novel, I worked hard to weave accurate information about the disease into the book. I wanted to raise compassion, but not at the expense of individuals living with schizophrenia. So I was both relieved and honored when Ashley Smith, the founder of Embracing My Mind wrote the following review about my book:
http://overcomingschizophrenia.blogspot.com/2013/01/terri-morgans-book-review-of-playing.html