Unconditional
Learning to Navigate and Reframe Mental Illness Together
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- €10.99
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- €10.99
Publisher Description
Unconditional helps those experiencing the challenges of intense emotional issues to let them know they are not alone.
Unconditional takes readers through Allison Garner’s own journey with her daughter as they face her daughter’s emotional, mental, and behavioral struggles. With bracingly honest reflection, Allison shares her own struggles learning how to parent a child with major emotional and mental struggles, from multiple suicide attempts to cutting school. She openly admits to the thoughts most mothers never have the courage to say out loud and tackles her own growth head-on to show parents that it’s okay not to have all the answers—and they don’t have to be a “normal” parent or “good” mother. Including excerpts from her daughter’s journal, Unconditional, while not shying away from reality, paints a beautiful picture of hope and growth on an imperfect journey and reassures parents that there is nothing wrong with them or their children.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Allison (Think Possible) and her daughter, Piper, deliver an insightful dual memoir of their experiences with teenage mental illness. In Allison's sections, she writes candidly about raising a daughter who suffers from suicidal thoughts, depression, anxiety, self-harm, and eating disorders. Even when discussing emotional topics, Allison is rational and admits she has to rein in her enabling behaviors, such as easing restrictions when her daughter complains, and her tendency to rescue her daughter. Instead of getting bogged down by blame or shame, Allison focuses on her desire for self-improvement: "I have to ignore what someone else's version of a good mother' might look like.... I think I am exactly the mother my daughter needs right now." Piper's contributions take the form of poems, journal entries, or letters. Honest and raw, Piper's sections are often difficult to read ("A plan developed in my mind/ If it doesn't get better should I be here?/ I shouldn't"), and her perspective on her own mental illness is profound. Each chapter ends with "steps for moving forward," such as exercises for overcoming anxiety, fear, and self-criticism. This will benefit any parent whose child suffers from mental illness.
