Jerome and Irene Levine are professors of psychiatry at the New York University School of Medicine. The Levines believe that despite major breakthroughs that have taken place in research, practice, and public policy over the past two decades, the lives of individuals and families directly affected by serious mental illnesses have improved only marginally because of limited mental health literacy — until the disease hits home. Using the time-tested Dummies format, the book is simple enough to be read and understood, not only by the one in 10 Americans who grapple with serious mental illnesses in their own families, but also by members of the general public who one day may come face-to-face with schizophrenia in a friend, neighbor, or colleague.