Overview

This is a deeply personal and meticulously researched exploration of the science behind the family ties of mental illness. Every family has its secrets, but some secrets can be lethal. In Victoria Costello's family mental illness was given many different names across at least four generations until the inherited conspiracy of silence finally endangered her children. In this riveting story, part memoir, part detective story, and part scientific investigation, Costello recounts how the diagnosis of her 17-year old son with paranoid schizophrenia, her own fight with clinical depression, and her youngest son's struggle with anxiety disorder compelled her to look into her family history for clues to their conditions. Along the way, she discovers startling new neuroscience and genetic findings that explain how clusters of mental illness navigate family generations. ""A Lethal Inheritance"" also explores cutting edge research in Britain and Europe to identify the earliest signs of mental illness.

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9781616144661

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Reviews

This honest, lucid book examines the urgent problems of family history and early diagnosis in mental illness. . . . It will be invaluable to families trying to understand their own history, and to those who have been blind to such history. -Andrew Solomon, National Book Award recipient for The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression Victoria Costello's sad but gripping account of her family's struggles to reach recovery demonstrates the value of resilience and persistence. -Paul Raeburn, Former AP chief science correspondent and author of Acquainted with the Night: A Parent's Quest to Understand Depression and Bipolar Disorder in His Children A Lethal Inheritance . . . should be required reading for any parent with a family history of mental illness, for pediatricians, and for educators. . . . As a mother, I am grateful to [Costello] for giving me the tools to understand the risks my family history presents to my children. But more importantly, I am grateful to [her] for her insights on how both to avert and to survive a child's mental health crisis. -Ayelet Waldman, Author of Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace Costello skillfully weaves all the latest medical research with an evocative and moving account of her two sons' descents into the depths of schizophrenia and depression and then moves upward into hope and recovery. . . . A Lethal Inheritance is a graceful balance between science and memoir. -Linda Gray Sexton, Author of Half in Love: Surviving the Legacy of Suicide As a society, we're still on that long journey to understand mental illness, both in an individual and in the spreading circles of its effects on families and on communities. Victoria Costello's compassionate and compelling personal journey through the subject allows us to explore those circles as she does so herself. Read it because the lessons are so valuable--and read it because it's a sto

This honest, lucid book examines the urgent problems of family history and early diagnosis in mental illness. . . . It will be invaluable to families trying to understand their own history, and to those who have been blind to such history. <br>-Andrew Solomon, National Book Award recipient for The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression <br> Victoria Costello's sad but gripping account of her family's struggles to reach recovery demonstrates the value of resilience and persistence. <br>-Paul Raeburn, Former AP chief science correspondent and author of Acquainted with the Night: A Parent's Quest to Understand Depression and Bipolar Disorder in His Children <br> A Lethal Inheritance . . . should be required reading for any parent with a family history of mental illness, for pediatricians, and for educators. . . . As a mother, I am grateful to [Costello] for giving me the tools to understand the risks my family history presents to my children. But more importantly, I am grateful to [her] for her insights on how both to avert and to survive a child's mental health crisis. <br>-Ayelet Waldman, Author of Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace <br> Costello skillfully weaves all the latest medical research with an evocative and moving account of her two sons' descents into the depths of schizophrenia and depression and then moves upward into hope and recovery. . . . A Lethal Inheritance is a graceful balance between science and memoir. <br>-Linda Gray Sexton, Author of Half in Love: Surviving the Legacy of Suicide <br> As a society, we're still on that long journey to understand mental illness, both in an individual and in the spreading circles of its effects on families and on communities. Victoria Costello's compassionate and compelling personal journey through the subject allows us to explore those circles as she does so herself. Read it because the lessons are so valuable--and read it because it's a sto

Author Information

Victoria Costello is a blogger for PsychologyToday.com, and Emmy-award winning science journalist, and the co-author of a number of child psychology books.

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