Comments for Pete Earley

Comment on Happy Graduate and Proud Father by Claire

Claire — Tue, 15 May 2012 03:19:00 +0000

I am not surprised that your children are advocates in the mental health field. You are hugely inspiring and passionate about mental health and I am sure your insightful way of raising them was the driving force behind their hard work. So glad to hear of your son’s success in helping people like him. I have recommended Crazy to countless people and you have inspired me to be more vocal about the mental health care system in our country. Well done, Traci, what a credit you are to your family.

Comment on Happy Graduate and Proud Father by ClinkShrink

ClinkShrink — Tue, 15 May 2012 02:35:00 +0000

Congratulations!! On behalf of all the Shrink Rappers.

Comment on What Mental Health Books Helped You? by Kathy C.

Kathy C. — Fri, 11 May 2012 15:24:00 +0000

Very helpful book about how to stay connected to someone who is mentally ill: When Someone You Lonve Has a Mental Illness by Rebecca Woolis, MFT

Comment on Are People Being Arbitrarily Slapped With Psychiatric Labels? by JOHNTSHEA

JOHNTSHEA — Thu, 10 May 2012 10:06:00 +0000

Hello Mr. Earley,
Your website is obviously a great labor of love, but I must disagree strongly with this piece.
Did you seriously expect Paula Caplan to identify the woman or the hospital? Do members of the Pro-Psychiatry Crowd routinely identify the people in their stories?
As for the DSM, it has always struck me as both a latter-day sacred text and a literally textbook example of ‘Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder’!
Why did you draw such attention to Caplan’s disclaimer about Scientology? Scientology is both a religion and the greatest red herring in the Psychiatric debate. May I suggest nobody criticize an opponent’s Scientology without disclosing their own religion or lack thereof. BTW I’m a Catholic, and Scientology has a couple of thousand years to go before equaling the horrors attributed, often correctly, to my coreligionists!
I agree Paula Caplan’s estimate of ‘hundreds’ slapped with psychiatric labels and hospitalised and fed harmful drugs is probably off-center. But that’s because I would put the figure at tens of thousands or more, even assuming one accepts the whole concept of psychiatric labels in the first place.
I really don’t think I need point out to readers of Paula Caplan’s original article that she did not ignore context, or suggested the woman did not have a problem, or that ‘people who have been diagnosed with mental disorders really don’t have anything wrong with them, they simply are weak and looking for an excuse to explain their doldrums,’ or that ‘a person with schizophrenia simply needs a good night’s sleep.’

Comment on The Better Side of Columnist George Will by Marie

Marie — Mon, 07 May 2012 16:53:00 +0000

I saw that column and liked it as well. The news about Arthur Miller’s “unclaimed” son that surfaced after Miller’s death had the reverse effect on me. It undermined many of the messages that his plays conveyed. A recent memoir by Styron’s daughter touched on this issue briefly and she seemed to think that sending your Down’s Syndrome baby post-haste to an institution was common in 1966. Well, there was no questions of this with my cousin in 1967, so I don’t think it was a given.
(BTW, evidently Styron also liked to tell her “funny” stories about the residents of a nearby instiutions for the mentally disabled; these depicted them as “crazy murderers” who might be out to get you. My opinion of Styron has similarly plummeted to Grand Canyon levels.)

I guess that tells you that can or agree with many people’s public convictions (Dickens comes to mind, as well), but find the actions they take in life less than honorable. And, that can work in reverse too as in this story.

Comment on Two Different Orange Counties: Two Different Attitudes and Outcomes by Hippygramma

Hippygramma — Sun, 06 May 2012 02:05:00 +0000

Dear Pete,
I just finished your book Crazy and came to checkout your website. I was required to read your book as part of my graduate program at Gonzaga University’s psychiatric nurse practitioner program. I am so glad I read it; I learned a great deal. I was a forensic nurse in the Idaho correctional system for nearly 7 years, and 3 years before that in the Oregon system. It was apparent to me how backward Idaho is in care of the mentally ill inside prison walls. Our maximum security prison is used a holding spot for all the “crazies” in the system. We have many civil commits as well. They are all locked away in cells and treated like criminals with very little concern for their true well being. Oregon was far superior having a special management unit for those who are mentally ill and cannot live in general population.

When I came across this blog I wanted to write and let you know we finally got CIT training here in Idaho for most of the police departments in our state. Sam Cochran was here in February of this year to conduct a train the trainer seminar to help better spread this training throughout Idaho. I am so thankful for this as my daughter was diagnosed bipolar when she was 17. I will never forget the night I had to call the police as she ran from the house half dressed threatening to kill herself by throwing herself in traffic on the boulevard near our home. The office that came was awful; I remember him yelling, “I’m a police officer not a shrink, it’s my job to get her to the hospital anyway I can.” I don’t think I was ever more terrified than I was that night.

So I am so thankful for this training having come to Idaho in 2009 and for books like yours and many others who have been there for my family and I over the last 17 years as we learned how to care best for my daughter. She is good now and mother of three but I still get scared anytime the stress in her life gets bad. Anything can happen, and even though I understand it all and work with it everyday; it is not the same when it is your child.

Deb Rush

Comment on Punishing A Veteran Who Wanted Help by Hippygramma

Hippygramma — Sun, 06 May 2012 01:43:00 +0000

This is really dreadful. I work in behavioral health at the VA and this crisis line is supposed to be a safe place to ask for help. This is so wrong on so many levels.

Comment on What Mental Health Books Helped You? by Paul

Paul — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 22:23:00 +0000

In Her Wake: A Child Psychiatrist Explores the Mystery of Her Mother’s Suicide by Nancy Rappaport is a fascinating look by a professional into her own mother’s psychiatric battles and ultimate suicide.
It’s helpful for anyone who has a parent with a mental illness.

Comment on A Liar, a Murderer and Events that Give Us Pause by Donna

Donna — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:06:00 +0000

My husband and I were in Summerlin in April on vacation from Canada. I purchased “The Serial Killer Whisperer” at the book signing on April 22, 2012. The book was well written and very interesting. The book was also a very frightening look into how a Serial Killer thinks. A serial killer’s thinking is so far from my thinking that I was truely shocked. I feel a loss of innocence from reading their letters. I’m truely frightened that there are people out there like these monsters. Congratulations to Tony Ciaglia for his good work. It was a pleasure meeting Tony at the signing. —Donna from Canada

Comment on What Mental Health Books Helped You? by Lmurphrey

Lmurphrey — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 03:16:00 +0000

A new book by Rita Keeley Brown titled “Good Luck, Mrs Brown” is a remarkable story of courage and love for the father of six children of a family dealing with his schizophrenia spiraling out of control. Rita is an amazing person and, as the mother in the family, she raised six remarkable children with a respect for mental illness and, in spite of all the tragedies, a never-ending love for their father. This is not a resource book, but rather a book of hope, courage, faith and love – four things that are often hard to hold on to in the midst of crisis.