International BestsellerA heart-wrenching, yet hopeful, memoir of a young marriage that is redefined by mental illness and affirms the power of love.Mark and Giulia’s life together began as a storybook romance. They fell in love at eighteen, married at twenty-four, and were living their dream life in San Francisco. When Giulia was twenty-seven, she suffered a terrifying and unexpected psychotic … terrifying and unexpected psychotic break that landed her in the psych ward for nearly a month. One day she was vibrant and well-adjusted; the next she was delusional and suicidal, convinced that her loved ones were not safe.
Eventually, Giulia fully recovered, and the couple had a son. But, soon after Jonas was born, Giulia had another breakdown, and then a third a few years after that. Pushed to the edge of the abyss, everything the couple had once taken for granted was upended.
A story of the fragility of the mind, and the tenacity of the human spirit, My Lovely Wife in the Psych Ward is, above all, a love story that raises profound questions: How do we care for the people we love? What and who do we live for? Breathtaking in its candor, radiant with compassion, and written with dazzling lyricism, Lukach’s is an intensely personal odyssey through the harrowing years of his wife’s mental illness, anchored by an abiding devotion to family that will affirm readers’ faith in the power of love.
more
Very good story it sad but true it shows what loves is really about in sickness in health death do us apart never giving up and having both families working to help with the situation not playing the blame game having the money from both sides to fly from Japan and from one state to were they lived to help every chance they could that saving a marriage I was wondering how they are doing as a couple in 2018
An autobiography of one loving and committed couple dealing with mental illness post having given birth to their first baby.
It shows just how strong the human spirit is. Loved the book.
Being a person who’s into everything I can learn about the brain, I loved this book. For one thing, it’s very relevant to today’s culture where the mentally ill are mainstreamed often to their detriment as I would guess a huge percentage of our prison population actually should be in psych wards. But more importantly, this book describes two things – what it’s like to have mental illness and the challenges of living with a loved one with mental illness. Maybe I liked this book so much because I know exactly what it’s like to live with someone who is bipolar and how very difficult it is to not abandon them when they can make your life so horrible.
Wonderfully written, very sensitive to mental illness & the people it affects. A true love story.
Not an easy book to read, especially for someone like me who struggles not to become frustrated with colleagues who suffer from mental illness. Read in an attempt to understand better, and in the process become more forgiving.
Painfully honest and full of hope and love.
I am a retired mental health professional—-this book touched me for its honest and courage. What a lovely special couple! Painful but ultimately a wonderful story of survival.
The characters are extremely devoted
to their marriage. Both the husband and wife had very hard roles to play in their life together. That they managed
to do as well as they did was extraordinary!
Well written and the contents are easy to understand without making the story “morbid”! What this woman and man went through was pretty tough stuff and I think it was very informative-quite honest. I felt, when it was finished, that I wished I knew what happened/s down the road with this family!
Makes me incredibly grateful for the sanity in our family!
My Lovely Wife in the Psych Ward is a courageous, candid, and heart-rending account of a young vibrant couple eagerly embarking upon life’s journey together as one. Mark and Giulia are two young professionals, gleefully striding into a promising future, hand in hand, husband and wife. They are deeply in love and appear to be living a “charmed life.” When, suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, and with little warning, Mark’s lovely bride was stricken with an insidious malady, resulting in disturbing hallucinations and erratic behavior.
Giulia’s unpredictable behavior necessitated Mark and Giulia’s father to physically restrain Giulia, forcing her against her will, to be immediately driven to a hospital emergency room to be evaluated. Sadly, this was the onset of Giulia’s and Mark’s life-long struggle with mental illness and was just the precursor of what lay ahead for Mark’s and Giulia’s life’s journey together as one.
Giulia was diagnosed with Bipolar I Disorder, and Mark’s and Giulia’s charmed life was abruptly derailed for a period of time. Fortunately for Giulia, this is where the measure of Mark’s love for his lovely wife Giulia truly shines forth in the darkness we know and name mental illness.
This is a triumphant story of faithfulness, compassion, patience, endurance, kindness, and love in all its splendor. Yes, love is the crux of this fine memoir. Mark poignantly writes, “In fact, maybe love, in the purest sense, is about being kind to someone with no expectation of how they’re going to respond. They can ignore your kindness, reject it, or return it tenfold, but you just continue to be kind, and that is love.”
Yes, Mark is indeed right, “Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails…”
Very realistic telling of the experiences of life with the mentally ill…
Well written and a heart-breaker. So many people have mental illness and we just do not have enough people, knowledge nor assistance for families who face this illness. How many decades before we finally address and truly help families who are dealing with mental illness?
This is a true story of such love, in all its forms, for someone dealing with mental illness in the best way they could. A beautiful and tragic story.
It was basically someones journal of living through mental illness of a spouse. It was very realistic in its description. If you have been in or suffering through it now it is a good book to read. Let’s you know you aren’t alone.
It was like they were telling our story.
This book had insight into mental illness like nothing I have ever read. I loved Brain on Fire, another book about a mental illness but that book was written from the person who had the diseases perspective. This book is written from the husband’s point of view and it was so honest and inspirational I couldn’t put it down. I definitely felt like it was an education in mental illness and compassion.
Honest portrayal of the effects of mental illness. A much needed book.
a trip into the dark world of psychosis.
Showed what real love is all about