Individuals suffering from psychiatric or substance use disorders can display any one of a number of frightening behaviors: verbal outbursts, physical threats, and even violence. In this comprehensive guidebook, Ellis Amdur walks families through a multitude of strategies they can use to keep themselves and their family members safe. Amdur’s focus is behavior rather than diagnosis.

The first sections of the audiobook discuss specific behaviors ranging from such relatively minor irritants as reluctance to complete tasks and obsessive concerns, to more troubling, pervasive syndromes such as psychosis, mania, and disorganization. In one very important section, he discusses interactions with manipulative individuals, people who present danger to the psychological and physical well-being of everyone in your family.

In the second major section of the audiobook, he focuses on us what we can do to achieve a state of integrity and powerful calm. Rather than abstract pronouncements, he offers specific strategies, including a method of breathing that is for the purpose of maintaining one’s center in crisis situations. He then moves on to direct face-to-face encounters, covering situations that can occur anywhere: in the community, at your residence, on the street, or even your car. Instruction includes how to handle tense situations before they deteriorate into chaos, and how to manage a crisis once it has started, whether it concerns an adult or a young person. He instructs you on how to instantly recognize what mode of aggression the person is in, and then, well-trained and practiced, how to almost instantaneously shift into the correct de-escalation tactic that fits the aggression one is facing.

Amdur’s work is imbued with a powerful compassion for all members of the family. When we act with integrity and hold people to their best possibilities, everyone involved can transcend the limitations both family members and the person suffering with a mental illness believe they are trapped.