What does love look like inside a family shaped by mental illness? In Sustained Through the Night , Therese McGee, Ph.D., offers a deeply honest and beautifully reflective memoir about growing up with a mother battling severe mental illness in mid-20th-century America. Set against the backdrop of working-class Chicago, Catholic faith, Cold War anxieties, and rigid cultural boundaries, this powerful story explores what it means to love someone whose mind cannot always hold reality steady. Through vivid childhood memories, Dr. McGee recounts: A mother who could ski with breathtaking skill yet be hospitalized for psychosis - A father torn between duty, work, and a collapsing home - The silent burden carried by children of the mentally ill - The stigma, secrecy, and misunderstandings surrounding schizophrenia and breakdowns - The sustaining role of faith, books, resilience, and community This is not just a story about illness. It is a story about endurance. About the quiet strength of children. About cultural divides in Chicago neighborhoods. About Catholic identity, post-war America, and the invisible emotional labor of families holding each other together. For readers of literary memoir, psychology, family systems, and faith-centered reflection, Sustained Through the Night offers compassion, insight, and hope. If you have ever loved someone with mental illness If you have ever felt unseen inside your own family If you have ever wondered how resilience is formed This book will stay with you long after the final page.
