Pete Earley

(11-20-24) Risdon N. Slate, an expert about the criminalization of mental illness, has published a memoir, Resilience In The Storm: My Journey With Mental Illness, describing his personal struggles, lessons learned and his recovery. I asked him to share part of his story.

Dear Pete, this chapter captures me in a full-blown manic episode after my psychiatrist decided I was not mentally ill and took me off lithium. Prior to the doctor stopping my medication, I had remained in the closet regarding my mental illness for eight years, telling only significant others that I was bipolar and seeing psychiatrists behind the scenes for meds. I was running from the stigma surrounding mental illness. I was embarrassed. I was ashamed.

After the manic episode, I decided if this could happen to me as a criminology professor with a PhD in criminal justice, work experience as a federal probation officer and as an assistant to the warden at a medium/maximum death row prison it could happen to anyone.

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THIS IS NOT ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH. IT IS ABOUT JOURNALISM.

(11-1-24) I’ve been a working journalist since I turned 17 and I have strong feelings about the freedom of the press and open discussions. Which is why I was disappointed this week when Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos decided to kill an editorial in his own paper. This is not about whether you are going to vote for Donald Trump or for Kamala Harris. Although Bezos attempted to sugarcoat his actions (after more than 250,000 readers canceled their subscriptions), in my view he acted out of fear. Click to continue…

Dr. E. Fuller Torrey quits NAMI

Torrey calls NAMI a Mental Health America “Clone” Embarrassed to belong in advocacy group he once championed.

(9-20-24) Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, who played a crucial early role in helping the National Alliance on Mental Illness become the nation’s largest and most influential mental health organization, is ending his 40 plus-year affiliation with the grassroots group, writing in a recent letter: “NAMI is now a sad shadow of its original self, and I am embarrassed to belong. Please cancel my membership.”

In his open letter (see end of blog post) to NAMI CEO and President Daniel H. Gillison Jr., Dr. Torrey explained: “NAMI functioned as a very effective mental illness advocacy organization for almost 20 years. However, by the turn of the new century, it had become clear that, despite its name, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill was abandoning its focus on mental illness in favor of mental health issues. But it is even worse since NAMI no longer even distinguishes between mental illnesses and mental health problems.”

He was referring to NAMI’s decision several years ago to begin representing all mental health issues – a so-called “big tent”  approach- rather than focusing primarily on “serious mentally illnesses, (SMIs)” defined as schizophrenia, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, autism, as well as severe forms of other disorders such as major depression, panic disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The DSM-5 TR, lists nearly 300 mental disorders grouped into 20 categories. It recently added “prolonged grief disorder.” Torrey has argued for years that NAMI should stick to focusing on serious brain diseases and not all possible mental ailments.

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(8-20-24) Six months after I was diagnosed with Stage Four Lung cancer, I remain in remission with only a few troubling side effects. I continue to spend my time focused on my family (especially my local grandchildren) and my health, but recently I agreed to sit down with Poonam Sharma creator of The Release Podcast.

The interview was much different from others because she asked probing questions about what I have learned from my books about the need for human connections, especially lessons from  No Human Contact, which describes the life of Thomas Silverstein. He was held under the most isolating conditions allowed by law by the federal government for 36 years after murdering a correctional officer.

Discussing human connections is important to me because individuals with serious mental illnesses often are the most isolated people in our society and recognizing humanity in each person and developing relationships with those who are often invisible or on the fringes is essential to recovery.

Caveat: I say in the podcast that I am “not religious.” What this means is that I am no longer attending church or participating in organized religion, as I did nearly all of my life. I have soured on denominations and religions which condemn others who don’t share their beliefs. I believe in God and pray for guidance daily but I accept that none of us truly knows God. I do not know if there is a heaven or consciousness after death. Instead, I acknowledge what is written in 1st Corinthians 13:12. “For now we see through a glass, darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; but then shall I know, even as also I am known.”

Are some people beyond redemption? Are individuals born bad or is hate taught?

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(5-9-24) “I hope my book can bring awareness to those struggling with a mental illness or those who know someone who is, to not feel alone in this lifelong battle. I do not want this to happen to anyone else,” explained Colleen Phipps when she sent me a copy of her book, Walk Barefoot In The Mud For Me.

I always am grateful when someone with a mental illness or a parent or a loved one shares their personal story about their struggles obtaining help from our inadequate, often confusing and frustrating mental health care system.

A tireless advocate, who is NAMI’s Butte County President in Chico, California, Phipps describes in her book what happened to her adult son, Donovan, who has a serious mental illness. His is a tragic story. While psychotic, he drove through a red light, killing a person. Donovan was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 32 years to life in prison. Of course, his parents had tried to get him help but couldn’t.

I’ve not yet had a chance to read her book, which began as notes that she took tracking Donovan’s illness.  These notes inadvertently created a diary which Phipps’ daughter, Lori, persuaded her to get self-published through Amazon.

Bravo Colleen – for continuing to love, support, and fight for your son and through him, all of us.

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Vincent Van Gogh painted Starry Night while in a mental institution.

(4-26-24) Are bipolar disorder and creativity linked?

In her groundbreaking 1996 book, Touched By Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament, Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison, argued that “many artists subject to exalted highs and despairing lows were in fact engaged in a struggle with clinically identifiable manic-depressive illness.”

Her book helped promote the idea that artistry/creativity and bipolar disorder are linked. The 2001 Academy Award winning movie, A Beautiful Mind, further cemented in the public’s mind that genius and serious mental illnesses go hand-in-hand.

Gabe Howard, a talented speaker, popular mental health podcaster, author, and tireless advocate for those living with bipolar disorder,  writes that the “narrative of mental illness as the source of creativity is simply untrue.”

What’s your opinion? Are creative people more prone to bipolar disorder? Does the illness foster creativity?

What We Get Wrong About Being Bipolar | Opinion

By Gabe Howard, first published in Newsweek Magazine.  Used with author’s permission.

As someone who lives with bipolar disorder, there are many things about my life that society gets wrong, one of which is that people with bipolar disorder are more creative than the rest of the population.

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