Mental Health Strong

Book excerpt: Do you feel hopeless, tired, and worn out? Do you feel as though you're losing your own mind? Are you ready to give up on your marriage because of your spouse's mental health or addiction challenge? Twenty percent of the US adult population is diagnosed with a mental health condition each year. Fifty percent of the US adult population is married. Twenty to 80 percent of marriages where a mental health condition exists are more likely to end in divorce depending upon the diagnosis. In Mental Health Strong, Erin Ramachandran and her husband, Keith, believe their purpose is to help marriages affected by this 20/50/80 statistic not merely survive but thrive. They encourage marriages impacted by mental health or addiction challenges to work toward being Mental Health Strong. Written from the perspective of a spouse whose partner battles multiple mental health conditions, this guide offers real-life, faith-based, practical examples and resources. Mental Health Strong leverages more than fifty resources that have worked for Erin as she lives with the realities of her husband's mental illness day in and day out. Erin shares steps, which include prayers and Bible verses, that spouses can adopt to walking resiliently alongside their partners against the backdrop of a mental health condition.