Words Do Matter Dr. Phil and Your Words Promoted Stigma

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An explanation about my disappearing Dr. Phil blog
I was horrified last week when I learned of a slur Dr. Phil made about individuals diagnosed with mental disorders. I wrote an Op Ed piece chastising him and an editor at USA TODAY agreed to publish it on the newspaper’s online edition. That meant a national audience would read why I felt Dr. Phil’s remark was insensitive and promoted stigma. On Monday, I posted my Op Ed here, only to have the editor call me within minutes and explain that the newspaper couldn’t put my Op Ed on line if I posted it here first. It had first rights. I hadn’t realize that I had violated our agreement and immediately removed my blog. The newspaper posted my Op Ed on Wednesday which means I am free to post it here now. That’s why my blog on Monday vanished and is now reappearing!
 

His remark that the insane ‘suck on rocks and bark at the moon’ stigmatizes people.

     “You won’t believe what Dr. Phil just said on his show,” my wife, Patti, told me. “He said insane people ‘suck on rocks and bark at the moon.'”

    “Dr. Phil said what?” I replied.

    “Insane people suck on rocks and bark at the moon. He also told a young woman who was stalking her boyfriend that she wasn’t some ‘crazy, psycho’ because of her obsession.'”

    I turned on our DVR when I got home from work to watch a Dr. Phil episode called Obsessed With Love, which focused on a 19-year old girl named Victoria.

     Within minutes, Dr. Phil mouthed exactly what Patti had quoted him as saying.  After underlining the word “insane” in a letter that Victoria had written to him seeking his help, he brushed off her worries by declaring that her obsession did not mean that she was “insane” because insane people “suck on rocks and bark at the moon.”

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I Love Hearing From You, But Not Now — Sorry

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August will be here in a few days and I will spend much of it on the road doing research for my new book and squeezing in a much needed and too short vacation. Not only is the deadline for the memoir that I am helping Jessie Close write quickly approaching, but I am starting work on a new novel.  This past week, more than 6,000 of you visited my blog, leaving behind in excess of a hundred comments. While I found most thought provoking, especially the ones that told personal stories, there are simply not enough hours in the day for me to keep up with my writing assignments, write blogs, give speeches, answer emails,  and now add the extra duty of having to monitor comments. Something has to give and I have chosen it to be monitoring comments.  I will no longer be publishing comments on past or future blogs, but will continue posting blogs each Monday along with guest blogs on Fridays or repeats of my earlier ones.

Enjoy the rest of your summer and thanks for your continued efforts to improve our mental health care system.

— Pete Earley

 

 

Virgil Stucker Describes Healing, Building Bridges and a “Recovery College” Concept

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This has been a turbulent week on this blog, beginning with a letter from an angry mother accusing NAMI and journalist Robert Whitaker of causing her son to stop taking his medications. This led to Whitaker’s response. In between, many of you posted passionate, emotional and sometimes angry comments.

Disagreements are inevitable. The question is: can we learn from each other and move forward to build a better system? I asked Virgil Stucker, the executive director of CooperRiis, to answer that question in today’s blog. Located in western North Carolina, CooperRiis is a therapeutic community. Like others that I have visited, it creates an inclusive environment where individuals feel accepted, something I believe is essential to recovery. CooperRiis and other therapeutic settings are understandably expensive so I asked Virgil to share how some of the guiding principles at CooperRiis can be used to help others in their own communities.

It is time to build bridges across the divisions  

Thank you for the invitation, Pete, to address your readers. Of  late, the dialogue, both on your blog and in the national arena has become quite divisive when it comes to answering the question: How can we best help the vulnerable amongst us, those with mental illness and sometimes addiction issues, to achieve and maintain their highest levels of recovery?  I agree with you that by “working together cooperatively with respect and open mindedness, we can achieve change.” 

You asked, “What would a mental health care system look like” that could be individually responsive to complex mental health challenges and provide effective care that is compassionate, comprehensive, and community-based? 

As we look around us, we notice that people are more different than the same.

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Rules For Posting Comments On My Blog

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What you are reading is an Author’s blog. It is not a public chalkboard where anyone can scribble whatever they wish for others to read.

My comment policy is reprinted below and can be found at the bottom of my home page.

During the past twenty-four hours, several comments appeared on recent blogs that violate my policy. They are being removed and I apologize to readers who were offended by their language or their content.

I encourage differences of opinion, but this is my website and I reserve the right to remove posts for any reason. If you are unable to abide by my policy, you are welcome to launch your own blog or post your comments elsewhere.

Thanks to those who follow the rules and add your thoughts to our discussions.

Pete Earley

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Robert Whitaker Responds To Angry Mom Blog: Who Has Really Failed Her Son?

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The angry letter from a distraught mother that I published Monday has set off a lively debate. Yesterday, I reported that the woman’s son has voluntarily admitted himself into the hospital and is meeting with his family. I also explained my views about Robert Whitaker’s appearance at NAMI’s national conference. Today, Robert Whitaker published his response to the angry mother on his own website. I asked if I could reprint his words here because I think it is only fair, after the angry attack in Monday’s blog, to give him the same auidence that Angry Mom had. He graciously agreed to let me reprint his post.

 

My Reply to Pete Earley: Do I Have Blood On My Hands?

By Robert Whitaker

Since I spoke at NAMI’s national convention last month, the writer Pete Earley has invited people who listened to my talk to send him their reports of the event. Earley wrote a book titled Crazy, which was both about his son’s struggles with mental illness and the criminalization of the mentally ill, and in his book and other writings, he has told of his frustration with laws that prevented his son from being forcibly medicated. Yesterday, on his website, he published a letter from a mom who attended my talk with her adult son, and she told of how, after returning from the meeting, her son apparently abruptly stopped taking his medication and has now gone missing.

In her letter to Earley, she blamed both me and NAMI (for inviting me) for this bad turn in her son’s life. “In my heart, I wish I could hold [Whitaker] and NAMI legally responsible for what is happening. They gave an alcoholic a bottle of whiskey for Christmas and asked him to join in a toast  . . .   I damn them (NAMI and me) and if my son ends up dead, I believe his blood should be on their hands.”

Earley then put this headline on her letter: “Mother Condemns NAMI and Whitaker: Blood on Their Hands.”

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UPDATE About Angry Mother’s Letter; My Views About Whitaker and NAMI

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Here is an update about Monday’s blog that described a mother who was furious after she attended Robert Whitaker’s presentation at the national NAMI convention and her son later stopped taking his medications. Less than forty-eight hours after her son left home, his mother received a call from a social worker at a homeless shelter. Their son was there. A mental health care worker arranged a meeting and the son has agreed to voluntarily admit himself to a hospital.

A number of you offered your prayers and extended offers of help to the family through me. In particular, I received a call from the national NAMI staff offering help to the family in whatever way possible — a gesture that I found especially gracious given the mother’s hostility toward NAMI.

The mother asked me to publicly thank everyone for their kind words and support. At the advice of the mental health professional helping them, the parents have decided to not say anything more about their son or their family so that they can work together to move down a road to recovery.

When it comes to the issues raised in the blog, I feel conflicted. I have divided my thoughts into three categories — those of a journalist, a NAMI member and a father.

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