Book Launch Mental Health Awareness Month: Staying Sane When Mental Illness is Rooted in Your Family

CHICAGO, April 27, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — The new book COMMITTED: A MEMOIR OF MADNESS IN THE FAMILY (She Writes Press — May 4, 2021 – $16.95) shares one woman’s struggle to not lose herself to the darkness while becoming a reluctant caregiver to mentally ill family members. In what’s been called “a modern-day ‘Girl, Interrupted'” and “the best book on mental illness” by reviewers, author Paolina Milana’s epistolary memoir is a raw and compelling account told through the use of handwritten letters about caregiving for a mother and sister, both diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, and the toll it took on her mental health. Launching May 4 for Mental Health Awareness Month, Milana’s  story of surviving then thriving as caretaker of a schizophrenic mother AND little sister, recently featured on Doctor Radio (SiriusXM), is one of resiliency and inspiration. 

“Too many people suffer in silence when it comes to serving as caregivers for family members with a mental illness or when taking care of their own mental health,” said Milana. “Keeping secrets about the mental illness in our family and pretending to be okay to the outside world when clearly I wasn’t may sound unique, but, unfortunately, it’s not. Too many of us think we’re strong enough to handle it on our own or we’re just embarrassed because we think we should be able to handle it on our own. Silence is what suffocates. Mental Health Awareness Month is meant to shine a light on the importance of mental- and emotional well-being and to help end the stigma associated with mental illness. I hope my stories of being raised by a mother with a mental illness and then becoming primary caregiver to not only her but to my sister, also diagnosed with the same schizophrenic disorder, helps let others know that they are not alone and to reach out for help is a sign of strength and a path to empowerment.”