Andee Jones

Hello and welcome to my project. I'm Andee Jones. My goal is to self publish the once-in-a-lifetime book Barking Mad: Too much therapy is never enough.

 

'Humane, good-humoured and immensely helpful. To turn this book’s pages is far, far better than popping pills'—PHILLIP ADAMS

 

Have you been touched by the emotional pain of another person and wondered how to help?

 

By supporting the release of Barking Mad you’ll be contributing to community understanding and compassion about mental-health issues. You'll also be helping to boost sales of the book and thereby profits -- all of which will be donated to suicide-prevention work.

 

Barking Mad is a memoir about trying to get a grip, losing it, trying, losing ... and so on throughout forty years of therapy. Barking Mad combines my personal story with my commentary as a psychologist, including giving Freud a run for his money.

 

Barking Mad charts how I came to terms with my troubled self, my troubled son, our family legacy of anxiety and depression and traumatic loss.

 

'Most of us at some time have been touched by the pain of someone we love struggling with despair and fear. In gratitude to Andee Jones for her courage and clarity in sharing the lessons of her own personal and professional journeys, finding hope and understanding even in the face of tragedy and loss'—TIM COSTELLO

 

Your support for Barking Mad will raise community awareness of mental health issues, particularly:

• what it means to suffer from anxiety and depression

• why some people self-medicate with alcohol and drugs

• the needs of those in emotional pain or touched by others’ pain
• the needs of those bereaved by the suicide of a loved one
• how social structures contribute to causing community ill-health

 

'Andee Jones has written the book that all therapists and would-be therapists should read. Those seeking therapy should use the book as a guide in their search for that great rarity, a pearl beyond price, a good therapist'—DOROTHY ROWE

 

The funding amount of $2,500 will cover the cost of the initial print run. Any extra funds raised will help pay other costs associated with publishing (copy editing, copyright costs, ISBN etc).

 

Barking Mad synopsis

Ever wanted to be a fly on the wall of a therapist’s consulting room?

Barking Mad is a memoir about trying to get a grip, losing it, trying, losing... and so on throughout forty years of therapy, a dozen therapists and a ton of trouble.

In 1969 the author was a troubled teenage mother looking for help to sort herself out. More to the point, she was looking for the ‘Good-Father’ Therapist. She found a ‘Father’ Therapist, though not a good one. During her twenty-year stint in the psychiatrist’s cult-like group she got an education of sorts though not much therapy.

The group experience paralleled her shame-riddled childhood and adolescence. What kept her there? Why was she afraid to leave? For one thing the devil she knew. The leader was her father writ large—controlling and domineering. At the time she was unaware of the resemblance but in her guts she felt at home. She had survived childhood by repeating whatever worked and she carried those screwy patterns unconsciously into adulthood.

For another thing, the longer she stayed in the group, the more ‘groupthink’ prevailed, the more she wanted to leave but the more intense became the fear of being hospitalised for ‘misbehaving’.

The memoir draws on the author’s experiences as both a psychologist and long-term client of therapy. It tells the story of her relationship with her son and of how she learnt to come to terms with a family legacy of anxiety and depression and to survive tragic loss.

Chapters one, two and three describe how the author’s screws came loose in the first place. Chapter four describes how she found her way into therapy. The following chapters track her experiences in the group and subsequent encounters with eleven more therapists over another twenty years.

Barking Mad is a poignant and illuminating story of seeking savvy, solidarity and hope.

 

Many thanks for checking out my project. For more about Barking Mad, including an extract, please visit www.publishinink.com.au

On release, Barking Mad will be in bookstores and online from Australian Book Group.