 Photo by Christa Rittberg In the book, It’s Kind Of A Funny Story by Ned Vizzini, the protagonist Craig went through a bout of depression. While in the hospital, he discovers that he has tentacles and anchors. His tentacles are the things that bring him down, and the anchors are a solid force in his life. Some of the tentacles are his friends and his high school, and his anchors are his family and his art. Craig worked hard to get into a high school, but after he got in, he realized the work load was too much. After the hospital, Craig decided to attend another high school. In the discussion, we discussed the stress that Craig put himself under while attending the pre-executive high school. One of our book club attendees talked about how high school is a place where people tend to not leave unless something bad happens. Craig had a friend named Nia, who was dating his best friend. The book club discussed that she had positive and negative qualities. She was on medication and helped Craig not feel alone, but she also tried to use Craig. In the book, Craig got numbers from people in the hospital, and the group talked about how he was put into an adult ward because the adolescent unit was being renovated. The book club talked about how the adults in the unit were positive influences, and Craig may have struggled in a teen unit. The club thought that the catalyst for his change was making art. In the story, Craig created art for other patients, and he found a purpose for his life. A member of our discussion group thought the book was a good description of depression, and people who hadn’t had the struggle would understand it better.
 Photo by Christa Rittberg This month, the Book Club read Dr. Birds Advice for Sad Poets by Evan Roskos. In this book, James Whitman finds himself overcome with suicidal ideation, anxiety, depression, mania, and family issues such as abuse and his sister’s self-injurious behavior. The book is written for older teens, and it poses questions such as if you feel yourself struggling, would you feel comfortable reaching out? In the book club discussion, there was talk about how the teens were seen as more resourceful than the adults, as James was able to find therapy on his own to deal with the issues he was experiencing. James also found himself in an investigation about his sister Jorie’s expulsion from school. You could see James’s getting stronger and more vocal as the story went on. James finds inspiration from Walt Whitman, and sometimes uses the famous author's writing to sum up his own thoughts, such as, Dazzling and tremendous how quick the sun-rise Would kill me If I could not now and always send sun-rise out of Me Please join us for the next NAMI Ramsey Book Club! Find more information at https://www.namiramseycounty.org/bookclub.html
 Photo by Christa Rittberg This month’s book club featured a wonderful Zoom discussion about a book called Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman. The book is about a teenage boy who begins to exhibit odd behaviors. The story walks the reader through the initial onset of his symptoms, with an emphasis on his thoughts and reactions and the responses of his friends and family. The author jumps between the boy’s real life experience and a story about a pirate and his crew. As the book continues, the reader picks up on the connection between these two narratives and realizes the author’s purpose for writing in this way. In our group discussion, we all agreed that the book was initially difficult to read because of the jump between the two stories and not knowing how they fit together. However, as we got deeper into the book, it became clear that the author wanted us to also experience the distress and confusion of the main character’s behaviors and thinking. It helped us understand a small piece of what individuals with this type of mental illness (I won’t share more details and risk spoiling part of the book) experience, especially when symptoms are first starting. Many of us discussed our own experiences with mental illness and how we relate to the feelings sparked by the author and the book. Overall, this was a very uniquely written book that illuminated aspects of mental illness in new ways. It sparked a great discussion about severe mental illness and allowed the reader to grab onto different aspects of the main character’s experience. Please join us for our next Ramsey County Book Club! Find more information at: https://www.namiramseycounty.org/bookclub.html
 Photo by Christa Rittberg In January, six of us gathered together over zoom to discuss the book Checking In by Michelle Williams. In the book, Michelle Williams, Grammy Award winner and most famous for her membership in Destiny’s Child, describes her decade long battle with depression and anxiety. The book description begins with “I need help.” She very vulnerably describes her lowest point, when she found herself planning her own funeral, and her process seeking professional help. Throughout this journey, she often describes the importance of “checking in” with herself, God, and others. During our group’s discussion, we talked about how Ms. Williams very openly discusses her journey recognizing depression, struggling with low points, recovery, and now working to maintain her own health. A few helpful quotes from the book we discussed include:
Ms. William’s process of checking in was insightful and built on her experiences over the last decade. When she was depressed and her fiancé would offer to help her with tasks at home, she interpreted it as an insult. Reflecting, she said “depression [was] changing everything to lies.” (p. 123). However, “When we’re checking in with ourselves, we can root out the beliefs behind our thoughts and the thoughts behind our emotions.” (p. 34) On page 77, she describes her check in process: “Just choose one situation with one person” and ask:
Ms. Williams also makes an interesting distinction between transparency and vulnerability. With transparency, “there’s still a little bit of control…I don’t risk anything when I respond that way.” However, with vulnerability, we are “offering the truth freely…you don’t have that kind of control, sometimes it’s not pretty.” (p. 172-173). However, her overall point is that vulnerability allows more for freedom to exist and acknowledge our own struggles. It means being truly open about what is going on in our lives and minds which can ultimately promote better understanding of ourselves, and hopefully, greater healing. Finally, a large part of Ms. Williams life and overall healing process was rooted in her Christian faith. She focuses a lot on the downfalls of holding grudges and not forgiving ourselves or others. She states:
Please join us for our next Ramsey County Book Club! Find more information at: https://www.namiramseycounty.org/bookclub.html
 "Roseville Library" by Christa Rittberg This month we returned to reading children’s books on mental health and our group really enjoyed the two books that were read to us and the stimulating discussion following the readings. The authors read and discussed two books with us relating to children’s mental health. The first book that was read to us was about childhood anxiety, called B is for Breathe, the ABCs of Coping with Fussy and Frustrating Feelings by Dr. Melissa Munro Boyd, PsyD, ABPP. The second book was about a child who is coping with his mother’s often confusing bipolar disorder called Good Day, Bad Day, Same Day – A Day with My Mommy, Who Has Bipolar Disorder by Sharon Henry. Dr. Melissa Munro Boyd is a mother, a psychologist, and a published book author who has written several books relating to children’s mental health. Dr. Boyd shared an on-screen view of the pages of her book. In her book, every letter of the alphabet tells about a different coping strategy that can be used to help cope with “fussy and frustrating feelings.” The author shared with the group that she often has children practice these coping techniques when she reads to groups of children. For example, Dr. Boyd has the children do some deep breathing exercises when she gets to the letter “B is for Breathe.” Some of the other coping strategies she discussed were: A is for Art, D is for Dancing, Q is for Quiet Time, R is for Read, S is for Positive Self-Statements, and T is for Talking About Feelings (talk about your feelings with a trusted family member). Dr. Boyd asked group members about their favorite coping skills. The group discussed the different coping skills that several of us use. One attendee said that she likes to go on nature walks and Zumba. Another attendee likes crocheting. Dr. Boyd was motivated to write her book to provide a resource for children to use when they are having trouble coping with school or with life in general. She said that this book has helped her own children, and she often reads this book to groups of children in libraries so that these children can learn coping skills. Currently, she is writing a book called, Better Together, the ABCs of Social Skills. It will be an alphabet book with suggestions like, “A is for Apologize.” The group thanked Dr. Boyd for sharing her book with us. We especially appreciated the diversity of the children in the illustrations. We then turned to our second author for another reading. Sharon Henry read her book, Good Day, Bad Day, Same Day – A Day with My Mommy Who Has Bipolar Disorder, to us and showed us her own illustrations via Zoom. Sharon has an art degree in illustrating, so she decided to write and illustrate her own book. She has an adult child who lives with Bipolar Disorder. She self-published the book to help families who are coping with a family member who lives with a mental illness. This book is written from a child’s perspective whose mom lives with Bipolar Disorder. The little boy in the book is disappointed when his mother is too tired to play, and doesn’t understand when his mother does different kinds of things related to the manic behaviors associated with Bipolar Disorder. At the end of the book, the little boy realizes that his mother really, really loves him even though his father has to take care of him. Sharon said that both writing and illustrating this book was therapeutic for herself. Join us on Thursday, October 21 from 7-8 pm for our next Book Club Meeting when we look at the issues of childhood trauma and self-injury in the book Scars by Cheryl Rainfield. https://www.namiramseycounty.org/bookclub.html Author: Ann ResemiusAnn Resemius is an advisor on the NAMI Ramsey County board and has earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Minnesota. |
