Customer Reviews

Broken Glass: A Family's Journey Through Mental Illness

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Robert Hine has written the seminal book on parenting a mentally ill child."Broken Glass" chronicles Hine and his wife Shirley's heart-breaking and often harrowing experiences as they watch their daughter Elene veer into the world of mental illness. Never has the debate of "Nurture vs. Nature" been answered more clearly,for despite a loving home,two educated,cultured,concerned parents and the benefits of a middle-class upbringing(music,dance lessons,travel) Elene becomes increasingly more disorganized and disturbed. Hine's descriptions are unsparing,tender, and without attendant sentimentality.What makes this book rise to the top of its kind, is that Hine takes the reader beyond differing diagnoses,treatment modalities and eventual hope for a cure. He places us in the hearts and minds of aging parents who wrestle with their own aging issues, as they alternately assist Elene and attempt to employ "tough love" methods. Elene, now grown with children of her own, continues to have episodic bouts with mental illness."Broken Glass" delivers a mandate to a mental health delivery system and legal system that often fall short of understanding and meeting the needs of a mentally ill citizen.This book should be a required text for nursing,medical,social work and law schools.

This helpful book is aimed at parents who struggle everyday with their mentally ill children. The author, Robert Hine, not only helps the reader understand mental illness in children, but also provides the tools and resources to help assist parents deal with such a challenge. Parents play an important role in the first line offense of mental illness in children. In being able to identify the early warning symptoms, it is the author's hope that we can reduce the stigma and improve the quality of life for such children.

This book should definitely be a required text for those majoring in Health and Human Studies. It is also a great resource for practicing mental health services providers such as, social workers, psychologists, nurses, etc. Needless to say, law enforcement officers and law practitioners are not immune to the type of problems parents and mental health providers encounter because they also assist individuals with severe mental and emotional problems.

The focus of the book is on communication and patience and its approach is humanitarian, emphasizing empathy in dealing with the child welfare system and the juvenile justice system, as well as practical in suggesting guideliness for dealing with specific situations. Elene is among the few fortunate children whose parents never give up on them and support them in all aspects trying to figure out what's in their children's best interest. Broken Glass is the type of book you will want to read to the end. It is a remarkable story about Mr. and Mrs. Hine's strength and determination to travel in any direction on any road at any given time, just so that they could provide their daughter with the tools to achieve self sufficiency.

Dr. Hine, thank you so much for sharing your beautiful story of heartache and triumph. Your unbreakable spirit shines throughout this book.

I read this book in one sitting--just couldn't put it down. The story is riveting and heart-wrenching. I learned a great deal about mental illness, and I feel that anyone who has a family member or friend dealing with it will benefit from reading this true account.

I have read "Broken Glass" and found it extremely good.
I notice one of your reviewers calls it a novel. I can understand that
because it reads like a novel, a real page-turner. But it really is
not fiction but what the author says, a heartfelt account of a
father's relations with his daughter. Being a parent to a beautiful daughter, this book makes me realize that I should always support my daughter as Dr Hine always did.
I assume Dr Hine is right in saying everything is told as it was.
I have friends who can be called mentally ill, and reading
this book has helped me enormously in my feelings toward them.
Dr Hine is thoughtful, kind, and generous, and he understands and
explains all the paraphernalia of the mental health world. I completely agree with the W. Los Angeles reviewer, this book should be a must for people majoring in Health and Human Studies. A high recommend.

Dr Hine thanks for the beautiful, very descriptive and magic way of your writing, I also enjoyed your "Second Sight" book very much (a must) !!
I guess I'm an avid fun !!

BROKEN GLASS: A FAMILY'S JOURNEY THROUGH MENTAL ILLNESS tells of an unhappy child who grows up to have a serious personality disorder. Elene reached her teens in the middle of the counterculture years: her professor father here shares his story of the family's struggles with Elene's ongoing mental health issues, charting hospital and doctor snafus and interactions, family adjustments, and ups and downs which eventually led to helping her raise her own children. An eye-opening story evolves with plenty of lessons for other families struggling with mental illness.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

What a fascinating read. I thought I knew a lot about mental illness but this family went the extra mile in their efforts to help a gravely disabled daughter. What dedication and love this family provided. A real page turner and so insightful.

Broken Glass is a compelling novel that examines a family's interaction with mental illness. Hine, both author and father, asks in his final chapter, "don't we only know ourselves in relation to others we know or love?" and it is this relationship that he examines throughout the book.

Hine's quest to understand his daughter's mind and motivations - in the face of what would seem to be overwhelming adversity - reflects both his love for his daughter and his need to make rational sense of her mind.

Written with an awareness of the societal pressures and beliefs that were in play during the early years of Elena's development, the novel demonstrates how their family is defined by the times within which they live; playing again the theme that we are all defined by that with which we intersect.

I believe that this book would be very helpful for families dealing with mental illness. Very well written and expressive. It shows just how frustrating it can be when dealing with an adult offspring who has a serious and chronic mental illness.

For loved ones with any sort of mental abnormalities within the family this is a wonderful story of dedication, love, and tireless patience. I was amazed at these two parents and how they stretched themselves in every direction to help their suffering daughter.