Pete Earley

(2-19-16) I received emails last week from two readers who were angry that the Senate Judiciary Committee had asked me to testify but had not asked anyone with a mental illness to speak during a recent congressional hearing.

“People with mental illnesses can speak for themselves,” one declared. “You have no right to tell your son’s story,” the other noted.

My response to their emails surprised them. Why? Because I agreed with them – although I didn’t appreciate the accusatory tone of their complaints.

Every time that I have been asked to testify before Congress, I have urged those in charge to include someone with a mental illness on the witness panel. Every time. Having a hearing about mental illness without including someone who has recovered from one is a missed opportunity. You wouldn’t hold a hearing about heart attacks without including someone who had suffered one. I’ve always felt strongly about this. That’s why my speaker’s contract includes a paragraph that states that if I am asked to participate in a panel after a speech, that panel needs to include someone with a mental illness.

After the horrific shooting on the Virginia Tech campus, I wrote an Op Ed in The Washington Post that criticized then Gov. Timothy Kaine for not including a person with mental illness on the panel investigating that tragedy. At its first meeting, I told members of the Ad Hoc Police Practices Review Commission in Fairfax, Virginia, that it needed to include persons with mental illnesses on the commission.

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Dear Pete,

My son, Dwayne Hicks, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder twenty-four years ago. He is one of the most talented, creative, artistic, patient, and sincere people you would ever meet. He figures out how to make things work and/or how to restore old things to make them appear new again; when others would have discarded them. He is an excellent hands-on dad. His two children love to play with him – and they enjoy just having him around. He has a heart of gold and loves anyone that half-way loves him – unconditionally.

I am writing to you because Dwayne is currently in the Virginia mental health system and it has been a nightmare trying to get him the help that he needs to recover. I believe my telling of his story might not only get attention and help for him, but also for others.

I also am writing to you because your son’s story — about how he broke into a stranger’s house to take a bubble bath — and my son’s story are eerily similar only with much different outcomes.

Our son was living with us along with his two children in late 2012 and had been working at a used car parts business when he began having trouble sleeping and began talking irrationally. I called the local crisis intervention services office, which is the Cumberland Mountain Community Services (CMCS) in rural Virginia. They told me there was nothing they could do unless he was trying to hurt or kill himself or hurt someone else.

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(2-11-16) Fairfax County, Virginia, officially announced today that its Diversion First effort to reduce the number of persons with mental illnesses in the county jail by diverting low risk offenders into community based treatment is up-and-running. This is tremendous news. It was even sweeter news for me because my son, Kevin, was asked to speak at this morning’s news conference about the importance of jail diversion. I am proud that he is a member of the county’s jail diversion team. 

Getting support for Crisis Intervention Team training, jail diversion, the opening of a crisis drop-off/assessment center, and a mental health docket has been a long and bumpy process in my home county. But thanks to a handful of determined officials it has happened.

In Virginia, we have a board of supervisors that runs our county governments, and Board Member John C. Cook and Board Chairwoman Sharon Bulova have been the driving forces behind Diversion First. On the law enforcement side, Sheriff Stacey Kincaid, Fairfax Police Chief Lt. Col. Edwin C. Roessler Jr., and Deputy County Executive David Rohrer each played key roles in forming a coalition that eventually brought more than a 100 different groups together to endorse jail diversion. On the mental health side, the effort was championed by Gary Ambrose, a member of the Community Service Board, which provides mental health treatment in Fairfax; Laura Yager, who assisted him, and Tisha Deeghan, our CSB executive director. Delegates Marcus Simon and Vivian Watts provided support in the general assembly.

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(2-8-16) I believe in the power of a single individual to cause change.  I believe in the power of one because of what I have personally witnessed visiting all but two states during the past ten years and what I continue to see each day.

Consider Vontasha Simms.

She is the 47 year-old mother of Romechia Simms, who was charged with manslaughter and child abuse after her 3-year-old son, Ji’Aire Lee, was found dead on a Maryland playground sitting in a swing. Romechia, who has schizophrenia and depression, had been pushing him for forty continuous hours and was still pushing him when the police arrived. An autopsy showed he died of hypothermia and dehydration.

Last week, Vontasha borrowed a car and drove 45 minutes from her home in Waldorf, Maryland to the state capitol in Annapolis, to talk to  lawmakers about the need for mental health reform, according to a story  by Fenit Nirappil in the Washington Post.

Vontasha had never been to the State House before and didn’t recognize any of the key players there but she went anyway to urge them to make it easier for parents or close relatives to take charge over adults who had mental disorders.

At the time of her grandson’s horrific death, Vontasha was living in a motel on public assistance. She is not someone who is a polished lobbyist but since Ji’Aire’s death and her daughter’s arrest, she has testified before her county commissioners and used the public outrage about the playground tragedy to talk about how she repeatedly tried to get her daughter help for her mental illness but couldn’t.

That takes courage.

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On Friday, 1-29-16, I posted a blog by  journalist/author Robert Whitaker questioning the value of anti-psychotic medications. Whitaker felt compelled to explain his position about medications because of statements challenging him made by Dr. Allen J. Frances, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University Medical School in an email.  Here is Dr. Frances’ response to Whitaker’s response.

Do Antipsychotics Help Or Harm Psychotic Symptoms?

By Dr. Allen J. Frances

This is the latest, and perhaps last, of several debates with Bob Whitaker on the role of antipsychotics in treating psychotic symptoms. It was triggered by a recent email exchange that clarified our areas of agreement and disagreement. 

Bob and I agree strongly on the following:

1) Antipsychotic medicines are used far too often in people who don’t need them.

2) Even when necessary, doses are often too high and polypharmacy too common.

3) Antipsychotics are neither all good, nor all bad. Used selectively, they are necessary and helpful. They are harmful when used carelessly and excessively.

4) The treatment of people with psychosis relies far too much on medication alone, far too little on social engagement, psychotherapy, vocational rehabilitation, and providing adequate housing. We both like the normalizing, recovery models offered  by Trieste, Open Dialogue, and Hearing Voices. (click here to read more on this subject.)

5) The care provided for the mentally ill in the US is a disaster that shames our country. (click here to read my thoughts about this.) 

Bob and I disagree strongly on the following:

1) Bob believes that long term use of antipsychotics makes psychotic symptoms worse. He therefore recommends that patients try to avoid antipsychotic medicine altogether or taper off them, whenever possible. 

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