Safe, Wanted, and Loved

A Family Memoir of Mental Illness, Heartbreak, and Hope

By: Patrick Dylan

Narrated by: Raúl E. Esparza

“Pat, we need to kill the dog.” A chill ran down Patrick Dylan’s spine as his wife spoke—psychosis had found their family again.

When a sudden mental illness struck his wife, Patrick Dylan found himself living with an eerie stranger. Scared and unprepared, he began a desperate battle to protect her from a mysterious disease, shelter their children from her bizarre behavior, and recover the woman he loved.

For years, Patrick and Mia Dylan enjoyed an intimate marriage that exemplified partnership. They worked together to create a loving home for their two children, enjoyed a close relationship with their extended family, and offered mutual support during hard times. But on the morning of Mia’s 39th birthday, everything changed.

Within weeks, she had been admitted to the emergency room, the hospital, and the local crisis facility, but none of the experts could provide an answer. As her illness eluded diagnosis, the family’s struggle was only beginning. A brave memoir in the tradition of Brain on Fire, Dylan’s Safe, Wanted, and Loved is a compassionate, honest, and gripping account of a family navigating mental illness.

©2021 Patrick Dylan (P)2022 Patrick Dylan

Do not listen and drive

If you're driving on the highway and see someone sobbing like a child in the car beside you, that's me listening to this book

Heartbreakingly Real

Safe, Wanted, and Loved is a heartbreaking recounting of a family's battle with mental illness. Told in first person, the author grabs your attention immediately and doesn't let go.
It is narrated by the phenomenal Raúl Esparza, who captures the essence of each character in this emotionally charged story.
I would highly recommend you give it a listen.

Excellent!

What an amazing story! Very well written and read. I've never been around anyone who has experienced this type of illness but it sure opened my eyes and heart to those that suffer through this, along with the families involved. Awesome listen.

Beautiful and Poignant

This book made me ugly cry more times than I could count. Anyone who has loved someone with a mental illness will immediately recognize the fear, the grief, and the uncertainty described by the author. Raúl Esparza is so good here, it’s impossible to tell if the emotion he conveys is real or just part of the performance. Regardless, the story is one I’ll be thinking on for a while.

Incredible, Heartfelt, and Necessary

I can’t share much, but just know that this book is worth the read, whether the battle of mental health affects you directly or not. I cried, I laughed, I cried some more.

This audiobook gave me hope, now I know I’m not alone

I am grateful to have found Patrick’s blog where he shared the news about this audiobook. The story is captivating and with a tone of reality that allows you to connect with it.

There are many important points that are discussed, such as the importance of recognizing the situation in which you are facing a mental illness, the support system that is with you throughout the process and most importantly, how many times the family, especially Latinx, can try to minimize or hide the problem to protect you from the stigma that a diagnosis of mental illness brings.

Being part of the Latino community and having experienced similar situations first hand, I felt identified with the way in which the author tells the story, emphasizing the right moments, showing a real, honest process and with the ups and downs that can even be frustrating but that you are faced along the way. The fact that the story is told in the first person and allows you to discover the thoughts of the main character, his doubts, emotions and fears is a powerful tool to understand the complexity of the subject and the process of facing it, allows you not to feel alone. The truth is that he is a remarkable writer.

I had the opportunity to exchange some messages with the author and in addition to being talented, he is extremely kind. In the same way, the narrator is impressive, an excellent option taking into account his cuban background and the intensity he gave to each of the lines of the story, it was very simple and pleasant to listen to the story almost without pauses.

If you are on the road to the fight against a mental illness, if your family has trouble addressing the problem, if you feel that you are alone on this path... I recommend reading/listening to this book #EndTheStigma

This is a book everyone should read.

Helps you understand the struggle & stigma of mental illness. Esparza is a great narrator.

A message that needs to be heard

This book is so well written and treats with an incredible sensibility a subject that was stigmatised for so long time. Now, without fear, without shame and with a lot of courage the author manages to tell the world this story, what the family being through, and how people can recover even with mental illness.
The narrator, the amazing actor Raúl Esparza, is just mesmerising. His skills are impeccable and his voice manages to put you in the spot with every single word, as a not emotional person hearing the audiobook gives me the chills.
I hope projects so brave and memory so important aren't left behind, they deserve to be heard.
The only thing that bothered me during the reading is the presence of a massive religious practice in the life of the people involved, religions (not spirituality which is harmless) are one of the most dangerous mental illnesses and so many people are falling and suffering because of it and what is worst is that many don't even notice how bad for personal freedom this kind of mental oppression is. so I hope that this does not lead others into indoctrination, especially for children, and more aggravate mental health conditions.

Well Done!

It was such a privilege to listen to “Pat”share his moving and heartfelt story. Thank you for your courage and vulnerability! So well written and an excellent narration. I just happened upon the audiobook when I was previewing a list of Audie Awards. I had never heard of the book, but chose it because it was a finalist and the reviews were great! I came close to finishing this book in one sitting. I was simply spellbound!

i felt like I went through this with the author.

Such a great read plus Excellent information. These types of illnesses are scattered through some of my loved ones. I could relate but also learned new things. The author did an Amazing job of bringing the events to life on paper.
Sadly, we don't all have the same resources such as supportive family, finances, and even intelligence or education, status, etc. The line about "winning the lottery" is absolutely correct. Doctors will not listen to "everyone" You also have to wonder about the pharmaceutical ties some doctors have and the influence it has over their choices in medication. I've seen horrible psychiatrists that will react to what patients say during psychosis and treat them badly. SERIOUSLY .
if not for the husband and his commitment to his family, it could've turned out quite differently. The commitment of the extended family allowed him to be there for her.
The stigma will probably never go away. But here's hoping that it will lessen over generations. I also think that medical researchers don't spend enough time and money trying to develop better meds for this. The side effects keep people from wanting to take their meds. Seems like people with mental illness are just not important enough to our society.