Every year, one in four American adults suffers from a diagnosable mental health disorder. In these true stories, writers and their loved ones struggle as their worlds are upended. What do you do when your father kills himself, or your mother is committed to a psych ward, or your daughter starts hearing voices telling her to harm herselfor when you yourself hear such voices? Addressing bipolar disorder, OCD, trichillomania, self-harm, PTSD, and other diagnoses, these stories depict the difficulties and sorrows--and sometimes, too, the unexpected and surprising rewards--of living with mental illness.

"20 fascinating journeys through madness"--Page 4 of cover.

Take care /Ella Wilson -- Chairs / Yvette Frock Gottshall -- A little crazy / Susie Meserve -- Goodbye, suicide / Optimism One -- Show me all your scars : why people hurt themselves and what they can teach us / Jane Campbell -- Flying high / Andrea Rizzo -- How I became an angel / Jennifer Metsker -- True Americans / Andy Smart -- 'Scuse me while I fuck the sky / Ryan Bloom -- One of those / Annita Sawyer -- Make it a daisy / Joyce O'Connor -- A day in the life with bipolar illness, and nine years later / Madeline Strong Diehl -- A blessing / Leslie Smith Townsend -- The pain that tore in you an ocean / Chloë Mattingly -- There's a name for that? : living with trichotillomania / Alison Townsend -- Playing catch / Terri Sherrill -- Another trail of breadcrumbs / Peg Quinn -- Like a scratch on vinyl / Beazie Griffin -- Sequelae : the inner war / Beth Wiles -- Thief of souls / Jessamine Price.