Since the publication of my book, CRAZY: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness, I have been fortunate enough to speak in 45 states (Yes, I still am waiting for invitations from groups in Oklahoma, Nevada, Mississippi, Alaska and Hawaii, hint, hint) and I have toured dozens of successful treatment programs. Sometimes readers ask me what I would do differently if I were given a chance to rewrite my book. It is an interesting question because I have learned so much and met so many fascinating people during the past several years.
The first thing I would do is change the title.
My editor and I thought that CRAZY was catchy and since we were referring to our mental health system, I didn’t think it was stigmatizing. But I was wrong and the cover jacket with a young man on his knees gives the impression that I am talking about my son rather than our broken mental health system. For the record, I always intended for the title word CRAZY to refer to our poor health care system, not persons such as my son. Unfortunately, many persons with mental illness didn’t understand, were offended and boycotted the book.
The next thing I would do is go through the manuscript and change the words “the mentally ill” to “persons with mental illnesses.” When I wrote my book, I didn’t understand that I was marginalizing people by referring to them as “the mentally ill” — reducing them to an illness. I wouldn’t refer to anyone as the “heart transplant” and I believe we need to do everything we can to stop using language that categorizes people. 
But the most important rewrite that I would make is the addition of about a hundred more pages about successful community-based treatment programs. It really wasn’t until after I began touring the country that I began seeing first-hand how many fabulous recovery programs are available — programs that help persons with mental illnesses control their symptoms and empower them to take control of their lives.
As family members we often feel as if we can’t win. If we try to intervene, we are criticized. If we don’t, we are criticized.
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Way to go MIKE!
@Pete: I know severe mental illnesses are life-altering disorders and that not everyone is going to recover just like not everyone is going to beat cancer.
Oh, the trouble I've gotten myself into for daring to state that people can recover. And yet, there are numerous studies that demonstrate as much: Schizophrenia & Hope: http://spiritualrecoveries.blogspot.com/2007/09…
Pete-
Would your book have been published if you named it “The system of mental illness?” Would your book have been published if it included one hundred plus pages of successful community based treatment programs?
Personally, I think naming the book Crazy, and the depiction on the front cover, is on target. In hindsight, it mmust be a difficult pill to swallow, and that in no way is intended to dismiss the personal impact upon you or Mike or the rest of your family.
But, doing it the way you did, brought attention to inadequacies in our mental health “system.” Inadequacies that far outnumber the successful community based treatment programs you would have liked to have included in your book.
Good comes from exposing the bad, not from exposing the good for the sake of making good better. At least in my opinion, that's why Crazy has resonated with so many.
Pete-
Would your book have been published if you named it “The system of mental illness?” Would your book have been published if it included one hundred plus pages of successful community based treatment programs?
Personally, I think naming the book Crazy, and the depiction on the front cover, is on target. In hindsight, it mmust be a difficult pill to swallow, and that in no way is intended to dismiss the personal impact upon you or Mike or the rest of your family.
But, doing it the way you did, brought attention to inadequacies in our mental health “system.” Inadequacies that far outnumber the successful community based treatment programs you would have liked to have included in your book.
Good comes from exposing the bad, not from exposing the good for the sake of making good better. At least in my opinion, that's why Crazy has resonated with so many.
I’ve just found out about you. Thankyou so much for verbalizing what so many of us have been through with our loved ones. It is incredibly difficult th get them the help they need when they don’t want to come to terms with their illness. I hope you keep on writing and speaking out, and giving us guidelines for this lonely journey.
I know your son is an inspiration for all he has accomplished. I thought all was well with my son, and decided he didn’t need his meds anymore and it’s been 4 years of turmoil. I think it was because of all the advertisements by the pharmaseutical companies about the side effects of medications that triggered his decision to stop taking his meds which has spun his life out of control. Keep up the good work.