book – Delight in Disorder

Hope for Troubled Minds Paperback and Tour Launch

"It is impossible to read this collection without a moist eye, an overwhelming anger at the cruelty of brain diseases, exasperation at society's failure to help, and a deep admiration for the undaunted spirit of those who speak out and advocate for their fellow travelers on such a difficult path."- Pete Earley, author of CRAZY: A Father's Search Through America's Mental Health Madness, finalist for the 2007 Pulitzer PrizeHope for Troubled Minds is now available in paperback and can be ordered through Ingram Sparks from any bookstore. It is also available at Amazon. The list price is $19.99. Net proceeds support National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Treatment Advocacy Center (TAC), and Delight in Disorder Ministries (DiDMin). Hope for Troubled Minds is a trove of tributes, collected to celebrate the lives, legacy, and strength of those who lead brave lives in the face of brain disorders and mental illness. These [...]

Hope for Troubled Minds Paperback and Tour Launchtonyroberts2024-03-28T16:06:42-04:00

The Harvest is Plentiful; the Laborers are Few (but growing daily)

36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9:36-38) Delight in Disorder Ministries is much more than just a hobby of Tony Roberts. We are an international ministry, with the mission of informing and inspiring those impacted by brain illnesses and other mental health conditions. We have a five-person board of ministry shepherds who volunteer their time, talent, and prayerful oversight to see that we stick to mission and carry out God's calling in an ever expansive field. If you would like to learn more about our ministry efforts, follow this link -- https://delightindisorder.org/supporting-didmin/. The first and best you can do is pray for us. When Jesus saw that his [...]

The Harvest is Plentiful; the Laborers are Few (but growing daily)tonyroberts2023-09-04T11:02:15-04:00

Hope for Troubled Minds: Ripples, Waves, and Heroic Measures

Diane has been a pioneer in sharing her story publicly to a wide variety of audiences including health professionals, students, city councils, church members peers and law enforcement since 2013. "In Sickness and in Mental Health" was one of a handful of biographies on bipolar disorder and is now on the top 100 Bipolar Books on BookAuthority.com. This is her letter to her husband and life partner Greg. Lover, our life together has been like no other and we went through fires before we even met. We have had many challenges, yet so many victories and blessings along the way. I thought that I finally had a grasp on our mental health conditions back in 2013 since it took me seven years of observing our recovery road to write our story In Sickness and in Mental Health: Living with and Loving Someone with Mental Illness. Since then, there [...]

Hope for Troubled Minds: Ripples, Waves, and Heroic Measurestonyroberts2022-06-01T18:05:35-04:00

Brain Balm Vol. 1, Issue 2: Psychotropics – A Healing Prescription

I was first diagnosed with a mental health condition in 1990, the heyday of what were becoming known as "second generation antidepressants." Alternatives to lifetimes of misery in locked wards of psych hospitals gave psychiatrics a whole new tool to treat those desperately depressed. Even "family doctors" were getting into the act as drug representatives passed out samples like happy pill candy of the dubbed "Prozac generation." But my depression in 1990 was not garden variety and these pills I took sent me into a medication-induced psychosis, keeping me up in a manic frenzy for six days and six nights concocting mission schemes and conducting ministry initiatives (as documented in my memoir When Despair Meets Delight). Ultimately, I would break with conscious reality and become a danger to myself and others. Were the drugs the cause of the psychosis or, because they were not properly prescribed, did they just light [...]

Brain Balm Vol. 1, Issue 2: Psychotropics – A Healing Prescriptiontonyroberts2022-05-29T18:27:51-04:00

Prayers Inspired by Psalms with a Friend by George Love

In his book Psalms with a Friend George Love recommends writing Psalm prayers after reading and reflecting on them. Here is my Psalm 18 prayer: God of the Sabbath, my enemies surround me and disturb me. I have been restless and have desperately tried to fight back, overextending myself. I panicked. Then I cried out to you. I asked my friends to pray for me. You heard my cries. You answered our prayers. You delivered me from the deadly ways of desperation and gave me restorative rest. And from Psalm 35: Then I will rejoice in the LORD. I will be glad because he rescues me. With every bone in my body I will praise him. Lord, who can compare with you? Who else rescues the helpless from the strong? (Psalm 35.9-10) ... give great joy to those who came to my defense. [...]

Prayers Inspired by Psalms with a Friend by George Lovetonyroberts2022-05-11T19:24:18-04:00

When Despair Meets Delight: Second Edition Book Launch

The long awaited second edition of When Despair Meets Delight. Of particular note is the new material in the Postscript - pp. 163-166. This material covers the grief I went through over my parents' death in 2020 as well as signs of resurrection hope I witnessed on a psych unit in Februrary of 2021. The complete manuscript is available in .pdf format for those interested and willing to serve on my book launch team. Launch team members commit to read the book, download the Kindle/ebook version during the free promotional period from March 15-20, and then give a verified Amazon rating and review. If you would like to serve on the launch team, contact me at tonyrobertsdelight@gmail.com Also of note, I hope to soon have the audio recording of the second edition available from Audible. Thanks to technical assistance from Stefanie Merrifield and Stephen Planalp, we hope to have it [...]

When Despair Meets Delight: Second Edition Book Launchtonyroberts2022-02-23T21:00:41-05:00

Hope for Troubled Minds: A Mother’s Deepening Love Through Struggles

Diane Rabinowitz retired in 2018 from a lifelong career as a teacher. She grew up in New York, but except for a short stint in North Carolina and ten years in Kentucky, has lived the majority of her life in California. She has wide-ranging interests in health, the arts, and fitness, but her main focus since moving from Los Angeles to a small town in Northern California is to make her community more hospitable for the homeless and those with serious mental illness. She has been developing friendships and working relationships with anyone who is similarly devoted so we can create better care for the most vulnerable. Her life-long devotion to Buddhist practice sustains her. Dear Tariq, I want to tell you how much I love you, and how happy I am that you are finally in a care situation where you have recovered much of your self. In [...]

Hope for Troubled Minds: A Mother’s Deepening Love Through Strugglestonyroberts2022-02-06T18:00:47-05:00

A Father’s Literary Blessing: a review of Ben Palpant’s Letters from the Mountain

Dear One, a father desires to share some of his hard-earned convictions and half-formed ideas with his daughter, whom he hopes will come to terms with her gifting and calling. He longs for her faith journey to culminate at the peak where the 360-degree view will undo her, where she will weep for sheer joy, where she will laugh with exhilaration. These letters are my attempt to reach out over the miles and clasp your hand as you climb. To whisper encouragement in your ear as I did when you were young. To spur you on toward love and good works. To remember our story. To lean my forehead against yours and give you my blessing: from the humble to the humble, to the glory of God. Amen. If there is one thing I did right as a father it was to pass on to my children a love of [...]

A Father’s Literary Blessing: a review of Ben Palpant’s Letters from the Mountaintonyroberts2021-12-02T10:37:24-05:00

Kicked to the Curb by Susan Lockwood Roberts Relaunch

In 2018, a wonderful thing happened that almost slid under the radar. Susan's book, Kicked to the Curb was released. But we were in no position for a party. Susan was at St. Vincent's hospital with countless leads going to her brain. She had been having seizures and they were trying to determine a cause. I tried to celebrate this momentous occasion with her and carry out a modest campaign with the help of her publisher Paper Raven Books, but things were more than a little subdued. Fast forward three years, much has happened. We got engaged, married, and bought our first (hopefully) forever home. Professionally, Susan contracted with American Prison Data Systems (APDS) as Director of Education, she is a court appointed expert consultant for a case involving the provision of Special Education services to individuals incarcerated in the New Jersey Department of Correction, she just completed a two-year term [...]

Kicked to the Curb by Susan Lockwood Roberts Relaunchtonyroberts2021-09-26T21:48:32-04:00

Faith Grows in Community by Lisa Jamieson

My growing up could read like a mashup novel from National Geographic, Little House on the Prairie and Epicurious magazine. Before kindergarten, I was riding my bike to a Minneapolis candy store several blocks from home. Later, I ice skated to elementary school on the James River in North Dakota. By the time I was 9 years old, we had moved to Canada where I was collecting sap from maple trees every spring, catching smelt in Thirty Mile Creek, building blanket forts surrounded by peach and cherry orchards in the summer, swimming to a rocky pier off the southern shore of Lake Ontario and stomping Niagara grapes with the neighbors every fall. Woven between the lines of that idyllic childhood were some dark days too. I carried the grief of good-byes and struggled to make friends. Attending weekly church developed my sense of God’s presence but I perceived him to be [...]

Faith Grows in Community by Lisa Jamiesontonyroberts2021-05-21T05:37:00-04:00