A Girl With An Untreated Mental Illness and a Sexual Offender: Who Gets Committed?

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I received a desperate email this week from a father who explained that his daughter has a serious mental disorder but she doesn’t believe anything is wrong with her and consequently will not seek any help. Last week, she assualted him.

Finally, he thought, his daughter had reached a point where he could get her involuntarily committed into a hospital where she could get treatment.  But at her hearing, a special justice ruled that the woman did not meet Virginia’s criteria for involuntary commitment. Even though the woman was psychotic and had attacked her father, the special justice would not involuntarily commit her to a hospital.

“What’s it going to take for me to get my daughter help?” the father asked in his email. “Does she have to kill me?”

I should mention that the father lives in Fairfax County, Virginia, where I also reside. I should also mention that the three special justices, who oversee involuntary commitments here, have a well-deserved reputation in our state for being reluctant to force anyone into treatment.

Contrast that father’s experience with what happened to another Virginia resident who also wrote to me this week. He complained that he had been involuntarily committed to a state facility even though he has never been diagnosed with a mental illness. Click to continue…

NBC Buys Rights to My New Book “Serial Killer Whisperer”

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Courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter:

‘Law & Order: SVU’ Producer Developing ‘Serial Killer Whisperer’ at NBC

The network has given a script order to the drama project based on the upcoming book about traumatic brain injury survivor Tony Ciaglia.

The Serial Killer Whisperer by Pete EarleyNBC is expanding its Law & Order universe with consulting producer Judith K. McCreary.

The network has given a script order to Serial Killer Whisperer, an hourlong drama project loosely based on the life of traumatic brain injury survivor Tony Ciaglia.

The character-driven project with procedural elements will revolve around a fictional version of Ciaglia, who after suffering a traumatic brain injury that renders him incapable of judging or feeling repulsion winds up becoming a confidant to convicted serial killer.

Ciaglia’s story is the subject of Pete Earley’s The Serial Killer Whisperer: How One Man’s Tragedy Helped Unlock the Deadliest Secrets of the World’s Most Terrifying Killers, which Simon & Schuster unit Touchstone will publish in January.

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Positive Review for My New Book “The Serial Killer Whisperer”

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The Serial Killer Whisperer by Pete EarleyBefore a book is released, publishers send advance copies of it to reviewers to read. The reviewers need time to read a book and comment on it before it actually appears in bookstores for sale. Some of the most important reviews are printed in trade publications such as Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, or The Library Journal.

These reviews are important because book sellers often use them to gauge when a “hot” title might be coming their way. Hollywood agents also watch those publications for reviews of promising books that might be made into movies.

Which is why I was thrilled when Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews both gave my new book, The Serial Killer Whisperer, positive reviews this past week.  My book will not be available until January 10, 2012.

Here is what Kirkus had to say about it.

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What’s Your Advice?

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I get emails every week from desperate parents seeking advice. Many have a son or daughter who’s been arrested. I remind them that I am not a lawyer, nor am I a social worker, psychologist or psychiatrist. I’m simply a father who became angry when my son got sick and I couldn’t get him meaningful help for his mental disorder.

The most common question that I am asked by other parents is:

  How did you get your son to take his medication?

The answer is: I didn’t.

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Brian J. Kelley: My Friend the Spy Expert

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Brian Kelley telephoned me shortly after my book,  Confessions of a Spy: The Real Story of Aldrich Ames, was published in 1997 and invited me to lunch. At the time, he was working at the CIA and was especially interested in my trip to Moscow where I had met with the KGB (now called the SVR) and also with the relatives of Soviet General Dmitri Polyakov, one of the CIA’s most important assets until he was exposed and executed.  

Soft spoken, intelligent and personable, Kelley impressed me with his knowledge of the Ames case and his questions about Polyakov. I liked him instantly, but didn’t think much about our lunch until August 1999 when I got a telephone call from a friend who worked at the CIA.

“Brian Kelley has been accused of being a Russian spy?” he declared.

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Death of an Advocate: Glenn Koons

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Glenn Koons and Marlee Matlin

 

I first met Glenn Koons when I was invited to speak at a luncheon in Montgomery County, Pa., being hosted by the National Alliance on Mental Illness. It was one of the first speeches that I delivered after publication of my book and before my talk, NAMI Board Member Carol Caruso introduced me to Glenn. I was immediately struck by his easy-going manner. Carol bragged that Glenn was one of the first NAMI trained  Peer-to-Peer mentors in the entire nation. Glenn and I spoke for several minutes and I was impressed by his thoughtfulness and enthusiasm.

Our paths continued to cross during the coming years at various NAMI meetings and conventions. I was always happy to see Glenn and was thrilled when I learned that he had been one of only four NAMI peers who had been invited to the White House by President Obama to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.   Glenn wrote about the event for a NAMI blog.

A few weeks ago, I was asked by NAMI’s Darcy Taylor to write an article for NAMI’s VOICES publication. In my article, I mentioned three “consumers” who have inspired me. They are  Dr. Fred Frese, Diana Kern, and Glenn Koons. 

The day after I submitted my article, an email arrived telling me that Glenn was dead.

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