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A review by ashleylchen
While You Were Out: An Intimate Family Portrait of Mental Illness in an Era of Silence by Meg Kissinger
5.0
ok i know i don’t rate memoirs but 10000/10 so well written and researched please please read it but note it has a lot of trigger warnings as the memoir is about the authors family & their experience dealing with mental illness (alc abuse, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, suicide (a heavily discussed topic) self harm, substance abuse, and more sadly).
i really appreciated the language used when discussing mental illness and recognizing how painfully it can affect loved ones. the extreme, unseen, silent battles that are faced for those with mental illnesses is often so easily ignored. i’m so grateful that in this generation, mental illness continues to be destigmatized as we continue talking about it and being vulnerable with one another. the author’s research and experience as a journalist in uncovering harsh truths of the mental health space is so needed and the entire memoir was so thoughtfully laid out. i grieve for their family but am also so proud of how far they’ve come as siblings and the way they’ve learned to cope individually and together.
i really appreciated the language used when discussing mental illness and recognizing how painfully it can affect loved ones. the extreme, unseen, silent battles that are faced for those with mental illnesses is often so easily ignored. i’m so grateful that in this generation, mental illness continues to be destigmatized as we continue talking about it and being vulnerable with one another. the author’s research and experience as a journalist in uncovering harsh truths of the mental health space is so needed and the entire memoir was so thoughtfully laid out. i grieve for their family but am also so proud of how far they’ve come as siblings and the way they’ve learned to cope individually and together.