Reviews

Safe, Wanted, and Loved: A Family Memoir of Mental Illness, Heartbreak, and Hope by Patrick Dylan, Patrick Dylan

christajls's review

4.0

This was a really emotional listen. What this family went through is really heatbreaking and scary. But also their resilence and their love for one another is really beautiful.

moviebuffkt's review against another edition

4.0

This book takes no prisoners. It is a raw look at the devastation that lies behind mental illness. This is the story of an average American family where a psychosis is lurking and how it is dealt with - a wife spiraling and scared and the husband who is fighting for answers.

dee97's review against another edition

4.0

The audiobook was fantastic.

lpazienza26's review

3.0

I received this book as part of a Goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review- I give it 3.5 stars. While I found the narrative of the book compelling, I felt a lot of conflict about the author's perspective. It's dripping in privilege, and while the author seems to be contending with this, he hasn't yet fully progressed into actually de-stigmatizing mental illness. I'm glad he's finally in therapy-everyone should be. Perhaps it's generational, but I've found I know more people with mental illnesses (including myself), than without. I found myself shouting to myself "get a second opinion" and "go to a big hospital" as they were searching for a diagnosis that would lead to his wife's stabilization. The characterization of some of the pharmaceuticals involved bothered me as well- as someone who has been on some of these meds, as well as from the perspective of a chemist, I think the author should have maybe left his speculations on the effects of each medication out (also, please just get the generic version of a Rx!) Anyone reading this book from the perspective of someone struggling with mental illness would NOT feel encouraged to medicate from the earlier portions of the story.

It also bothers me a bit that this is written under a pseudonym- I wish there was a final chapter written by his wife, validating that she was okay with this story being told as well as giving a bit of her perspective on the time. I hope she's okay. Of course stigma around illnesses with psychosis still exists, but by being open with your identity surrounding this, I think this book would have more impact.

shearing's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad fast-paced

5.0

probablynotren's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.5

pickashelf's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Chronic illness

lauviv's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative medium-paced

5.0

This is a real story, and it's very honest. It is well written (Raúl Esparza makes a wonderful job as narrator, but what else is new), and it shows without shame how hard it is to deal with mental illness for any family. I've never been through something like this, but I think this book was helpful not only with the medical part, but with how we should react about these kinds of things, because they are more common than we think. Empathy and patience is key, always.