When do we release Andrea Yates and John Hinckley?

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An editorial published in The Wall Street Journal recently by D.J. Jaffe, one of the founders of the Treatment Advocacy Center (TAC), caught my interest. You can read the article here.

I write about TAC and assisted outpatient treatment laws, commonly called AOT laws, in my book.  Put simply, AOT laws require a person with a history of mental illness to take their medication regardless of whether or not they want to take it.   

D. J. Jaffe

Most states that have passed AOT laws have very stringent criteria about when a person can be ordered by a judge to take medication. First, there has to be evidence that medication actually helps control a person’s symptoms. In addition, the person also has to have a history of either going off their medication several times or of violence.

AOT laws, such as Kendra’s Law, in New York, have proven to be highly effective at helping persons who have chronic illnesses and often end up in our jails, prisons or are homeless.  

Of course, ordering a person to take medication when they don’t want to take it is controversial and if you want to start a heated discussion in mental health circles — just mention AOT.  Both sides feel passionately about the issue.

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Hypocrites, Empress Hotel and Hammock Days!

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Pete, Patti, and Bella (see end of blog)
As promised, I began sending out copies of my blogs about Burger King’s offensive advertisement to friends of mine in the national media starting  last Thursday night. The first to respond was my old employer, The Washington Post.
Writer Monica Hesse spoke with NAMI Director Mike Fitzpatrick and MHA Director David Shern and then contacted Burger King.

Making Burger King Accountable: Part TWO

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I writing again about the need to make Burger King accountable for the objectionable television advertisement that it is broadcasting and to bring you up-to-date about my campaign to make the company pull this ad off the airways.

 After writing about the ad in my Wednesday blog, I sent out appeals to four different mental health advocacy groups.

 My friends, Bob Carolla and Ron Honberg at the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the largest grassroots mental health advocacy group in the nation, responded immediately. Bob, who heads up NAMI’s media relations, and Ron, its director of policy and legal affairs, told me that NAMI Executive Director Mike Fitzpatrick already had written a letter complaining to Burger King. 

Mike had mailed it March 4th, but Burger King’s Chief John W. Chidsey had not had the courtesy of responding. (Mike’s letter is attached at the end of this blog.)

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Let’s Make Burger King Accountable

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On its website, Burger King shows a video about social responsibility with Pete Smith, one of its top managers, talking about the importance of diversity and treating people respectfully. 

Apparently Mr. Smith has not watched the newest television commercials that his company is broadcasting on prime time.

The Burger King — which is, I guess, what you call the company’s mascot — is shown being chased by two men in white coats. A woman watching the chase helps the fleeing King by tossing water in one of the men’s faces while the other man screams that the King is CRAZY. Meanwhile, the King runs away.

Get it? Little men in white coats chasing someone who is crazy. Ha, ha, ha.

The ad, of course, turns people with serious mental disorders, such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and major depression into a  punch line. Oh, those CRAZY people need to be locked up.  The ad is demeaning and it  marginalizes people with serious disorders while increasing stigma and harmful stereotypes.

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My Mom’s Eyesight and Best-sellers

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Life threw me a curve ball a few days ago when my mother stepped into my office and said she could no longer read the dial on her over-sized watch.

I immediately suspected the worst.

About twenty years ago, my mom went in for what was supposed to be the routine removal of a cataract from her left eye. Instead, an incompetent doctor in Rapid City, South Dakota, damaged her optical nerve and blinded that eye.

My mother, being who she is, simply went on with her life.

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What I’d do differently!

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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.

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