Pete Earley

Representative Tim Murphy, the only psychologist in the U.S. Congress, is continuing to keep pressure on the federal government to improve our mental health care system. This Wednesday, March 26th, the subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the House Energy and Commerce committee, that Rep. Murphy co-chairs will hold an investigative hearing about the nation’s lack of psychiatric hospital beds.

Beginning at 10 a.m. in Room 2123 of the Rayburn House Office Building, the hearing is entitled: “Where have all the patients gone? Examining the Psychiatric Bed Shortage.”

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These past few months have been difficult.

I lost my mother in December to a fast acting cancer. She was 94 and died at home. I could not save her.

Her death caused my father’s dementia to become much, much worse. He is 93. It is heartbreaking watching him become more and more confused each day. I cannot save him.

Because of my mother’s age, people told me that she had lived a full life. They were trying to comfort me. Could you also argue that the longer you have someone, the tougher it is to let go?

These incidents have reminded me of my son’s first hospitalization. It happened on my birthday. Because he was ill, I was surprised when he handed me a home-made birthday card when I visited him at the hospital.  I described what happened next in my book,  CRAZY: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness.

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Few issues in mental health are as controversial as involuntary commitment. Everyone has a strong opinion, especially individuals who have been forced into treatment and their families.

My good friend, Baltimore psychiatrist Dr. Dinah Miller, and her colleague, Dr. Anne Hanson, are doing research for a book they plan to publish called: “Committed: The Battle Over Forced Psychiatric Care.” 

Dr. Miller asked me yesterday if I would help her meet individuals who have stories — good or bad– to tell about their experiences with involuntary treatment.

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WESTERN SKYSCRAPERS COMPETE WITH STALIN’S “GIFT” 

Do Europeans look at mental illnesses differently from us?

I’m posing this question because last week I was in Warsaw, Poland, delivering a speech to an international group. Its members seemed genuinely surprised when I told them my personal story about how I was turned away from a hospital emergency room when I took my son, who was psychotic,  there for help. The audience appeared even more shocked when I said there were 360,000 persons in the U.S. with severe mental disorders currently incarcerated in U.S. jails and prisons. When I also mentioned that the largest public mental facility in the U.S. is a jail and that the chances of a individual in the midst of a mental break ending up in a hospital versus a jail are three-to-one in favor of a jail — well, let me just say that I saw lots of jaw dropping.

Before I continue writing about mental health, however, I have to digress.

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FROM MY FILES FRIDAY: I’m asked all the time to name what cities and communities are doing things right. In this blog from 2011, I  describe programs that make a difference and what I believe is an essential ingredient in helping someone recover.

WHAT HELPS PEOPLE RECOVER?

What’s the most important ingredient to recovery if you have a mental illness?

The Mental Health Coalition in La Crosse asked me during a recent trip to Wisconsin to tell its members about successful programs that I’ve seen while traveling to three foreign countries and 46 states. I don’t mind citing specific examples.

Want to see a top notch Crisis Intervention Team in operation. Go to Houston, Texas. CIT is important because law enforcement officers deal with more persons with mental problems than most psychiatrists do during a day. We need more CIT training.

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