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A review by slc54hiwi
January First: A Child's Descent into Madness and Her Father's Struggle to Save Her by Michael Schofield
1.0
An interesting read but very disturbing, and not for reasons that the author-father might imagine. First, I totally agree that mental health services, particularly for minors with major problems, are woefully inadequate and greatly underinsured, and the support available is greatly handicapped by a poor understanding of serious conditions (e.g., schizophrenia) in young children. Nonetheless, it seemed to me that the author & his wife made a lot of bizarre choices and did not wisely use what services were available to them.
I especially did NOT understand why they chose to have a second child apparently in part because their first child (the subject of this book) expressed a desire for a sibling, and this AFTER it was already clear to them that she was very disturbed herself. Also, given that their own family histories apparently had unambiguous patterns of inherited mental illness in very serious forms I did not get why they would compound the difficulties facing their family by having another child. At that point, my sympathy for the parents' plight decreased greatly but I felt even more sorry for their daughter and now son who were/are at the mercy of two adults who apparently can't make rational decisions. I also agree with others here who have noted the inherent creepiness of the PR efforts the author has undertaken to both publicize his book & blog and to make money off them.
I especially did NOT understand why they chose to have a second child apparently in part because their first child (the subject of this book) expressed a desire for a sibling, and this AFTER it was already clear to them that she was very disturbed herself. Also, given that their own family histories apparently had unambiguous patterns of inherited mental illness in very serious forms I did not get why they would compound the difficulties facing their family by having another child. At that point, my sympathy for the parents' plight decreased greatly but I felt even more sorry for their daughter and now son who were/are at the mercy of two adults who apparently can't make rational decisions. I also agree with others here who have noted the inherent creepiness of the PR efforts the author has undertaken to both publicize his book & blog and to make money off them.