Uninvited Guests

"Uninvited Guests" is a memoir of one family's journey with schizophrenia from onset and disbelief through fear and anger to acceptance.

"Uninvited Guests" is a book about one family's journey with schizophrenia from onset and disbelief through fear and anger to acceptance. The author, Sarah Clarke, shares her stories, which began in a community-center writing class. The freedom to write without judgment or censorship helped her to make sense of her own feelings of frustration, and to accept her son's illness, along with the reality of their changed lives. "Uninvited Guests" takes the reader from the perplexing beginning of "the voices" through the crisis of a psychotic breakdown and hospitalization to a gradual understanding of the disease. This book shares their personal stories, successes and failures and includes helpful strategies for coping with this very debilitating illness.

Sarah Clarke grew up in a musical family in Montclair, N.J. She had a 35-year career as a professional violist, traveling the world and recording with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Now retired from the New York free-lance music scene, she lives in Bergen County, N.J. with her husband, Eric, and their son, Cory. She is an active member of her town's Stigma-Free initiative, which aims to reduce the shame associated with mental illness, raise awareness about mental illness and create a culture in which affected residents are supported by their community and feel free to seek treatment without fear. In addition to her part-time job as helicopter-mom/nurse-manager for her son, she is a prize-winning quilter. Sarah enjoys making art collages, gardening, baking triple-layer cakes and continues to write and share stories with her friends, family and writing group.