Publisher's Synopsis
Autism is not a mental illness. It is a developmental disability. This book is an in depth memoir of a person living with Autism and Mental Illness. It is important to note that Autism was not the immediate cause of the mental illness in the individual in this book. Mental Illness is a secondary condition that this person lives with every day and is coping with. In this book the author will explain to you what it's like to live with both. He will also share about his mental illness. It was a nightmare trying to receive help. Now, the thinking is that the author has Schizophrenia and Autism. Though, the doctor does not want to officially diagnose the author of this book with schizophrenia yet because he feels like he needs to wait longer to see how the symptoms continue. The author's official medical diagnosis is Autism with Psychosis. The doctor says the author presents a lot of Schizophrenic symptoms but he is unsure if they are symptoms of having Schizophrenia or symptoms of Psychosis from having Autism. What is known is that there is a severe mental illness associated along with the author having Autism. There is so much misunderstanding in the world about the relationship between Autism and Mental Illnesses that the author wanted to write an in depth memoir or first hand account about the topic. Travis shares things he wishes that everyone understand about the relationship between both Autism and Mental Illness and shares his wishes on hoping the Autism Community is able to embrace the idea of the dual diagnosis that exists so that we are more prepared to help children and young adults. If you are a parent to a child with Autism or a mental illness or both this book will probably do many things for you. You may shed tears, you might be sad, you might be frightened, and you might be scared or anxious about the journey ahead for your child. But most importantly it will prepare you for what is ahead and help you be able to help your child. The most important thing you can do to help your child is to ensure that they are receiving accurate treatment from the doctors and mental health professionals and autism professionals. In my experience it has seemed that the medical community is very good at trying to treat symptoms of autism or mental illness but very resistant upon actually working on a treatment plan to address the core issue or root of the problem. Essentially by avoiding the core issue what we see is the same symptoms continue throughout the lifespan due to the fact that there was no treatment plan for the core issue of the problem. This book is an up and down roller coaster of emotions as you are receiving the author's emotions regarding having autism and mental illness along with his emotions regarding the system or the way that the autism and mental illness is treated. Sometimes, the treatment system has brought on more mental illness by avoiding the real core issue of the problem. This is a topic that I hope to shed light on. If you have autism or a mental illness this book will help you understand you are definitely not alone. This book gives you something to grasp onto and hold on to as you are on your journey of autism and mental illness. If you are a parent or teacher this book will help you be inside your child and student's mind to understand what they are feeling which will in return help you understand more about helping them be happy and successful. Do you know what it feels like to be mentally ill or have autism? Take a look and find out for yourself by reading this great book.
