Kirstin's Story: No Place to Stand

Rating:
Summary: Good book, Well written.
Review: If your looking for a book about being a parent to a teenage Panic/Anxiety sufferer, than would be good. Ms. Miller has a very strong voice. She discusses having to be an advocate for her daughter and the frustrations that went with that. At times her words are so concise that it feels like she had little empathy for her daughter. But this isn't her daughters story, but a parents story. I wish the book had gone past the ultimate ending of her daughters suicide. It is very well written.

Rating:
Summary: A Mother's Love
Review: Kristen's Story is a mother's tale of panic disorder and social phobia that eventually, after much frustration and dysfunction, lead to her dauther's death by suicide at 19 years of age.
A true story written from the heart, Kristen's Story is straightforward in its telling of how a young family coped with mis-diagnosis and, finally, diagnosis, of the disorder that resulted in Kristen being unable to handle life's basic tasks and experiences.
Young Kristen was an artist, a good friend, and a strong leader who sometimes couldn't manage her fear of new places and people - couldn't handle to the point that she would run away, or curl up in a ball and refuse to move until the fear left her. She became, during the course of her short life, increasingly afraid of school which finally resulted in her not being able to attend at all. Although Kristen was kind and intelligent, and sometimes able to take on big adventures and responsibilities, the panic would creep back unexpectedly and would overwhelm her reason and emotions - and even repeated visits to counselors, psychologists and residential programs couldn't save her from ending her own life.
Kristen's Story is poignant and full of passion, full of the love of a mother for her child, a love that could not cure the daughter's illness but that certainly helped to give her daughter as full and fair a life as possible.
An important book to read because of its definitive information about panic disorders and social phobias, information that is not always easy to find, Kristen's Story engages the reader's mind quickly and is easy to follow. A valuable read for those interested in how to manage anxiety and depression, Kristen's Story is a good reference that will touch your heart.
The book is available from from the publisher's website at http://www.designandcopy.ca/jardinemiller as well as online at amazon.ca and booksurge.ca