My Schizophrenia: One Man's Struggles With Mental Illness

John U. Gunter is an entrepreneur and author who lives in Callahan County, a few miles east of Abilene in West Texas. John owns and operates a furniture repair business, and writes novels and short stories - but he also suffers from a condition that, left untreated, becomes debilitating and often dangerous; a mental disease known as schizoaffective disorder. My Schizophrenia is John's telling of his life as one who has suffered from schizoaffective disorder from early childhood through an adolescent life of crime leading to a criminal career, personal loss, a life on the streets, a carousel of hospitalizations and multiple incarcerations culminating in a tale of redemption that continues to unfold. In these pages, John draws a distinction between schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder as he chronicles the onset and progression of his illness through the years. He shares intimate details of his experiences and thought processes as a mentally ill person. He explains the effects of his illness on relationships with family and society and exposes many of the hellish hallucinations and strange thought processes that led him into darkness and isolation for years at a time. John also reveals how medication, therapy and love brought him to redemption, and how he uses coping skills along with medication and counseling to help him overcome the downward pull of mental illness as he strives to maintain a successful life and career. John's message is one of order arising from chaos, hope from the depths of despair and happiness in place of hopelessness.