Crazy

A Father's Search Through America's Mental Health Madness

By: Pete Earley

Narrated by: Michael Prichard

Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

Pete Earley had no idea. He'd been a journalist for over 30 years, and the author of several award-winning, even best-selling, nonfiction books about crime and punishment and society. Yet he'd always been on the outside looking in. He had no idea what it was like to be on the inside looking out until his son, Mike, was declared mentally ill, and Earley was thrown headlong into the maze of contradictions, disparities, and catch-22s that is America's mental health system.

The more Earley dug, the more he uncovered the bigger picture: our nation's prisons have become our new mental hospitals. Crazy tells two stories. The first is his son's. The second describes what Earley learned during a year-long investigation inside the Miami-Dade County jail, where he was given complete, unrestricted access. There, and in the surrounding community, he shadowed inmates and patients; interviewed correctional officers, public defenders, prosecutors, judges, mental-health professionals, and the police; talked with parents, siblings, and spouses; consulted historians, civil rights lawyers, and legislators.

The result is both a remarkable piece of investigative journalism, and a wake-up call; a portrait that could serve as a snapshot of any community in America.

©2006 Pete Earley (P)2006 Tantor Media Inc

Critic reviews

"Parents of the mentally ill should find solace and food for thought in its pages." (Publishers Weekly)
"Crazy is a godsend. It will open the minds of many who make choices for the mentally ill." (Patty Duke)

Great Book!

If you could sum up Crazy in three words, what would they be?

I learned so much from this book and I have found myself referencing it repeatedly in conversations with people regarding mental health treatment. Pete Earley beautifully captures the struggles of having a family member with mental illness and in the same book provides a thorough historical depiction of mental health treatment in the USA. He accurately explains that jails have become the new mental health institutions and proposes new ways to approach how we manage chronically mentally ill adults.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Crazy?

Pete Early talks about the importance of seeing the humanity in everyone including homeless adults. He encourages the reader to understand mental illness and give a homeless person the dignity and respect to look them in the eyes. I think of this every time I am at a light and I look up and see a homeless person asking for money.

Any additional comments?

Bravo! Outstanding book.

This book will evoke big emotions.

Such a great book. If you know someone who suffers from mental illness, this is a great book to read. It will leave you with a new understanding of how they feel, and a huge drive to want to change the way the world treats them. I enjoyed this book more than I can express.

A sobering lesson...

If you love someone with a mental illness, you MUST read this book. Pete Earley looks at mental illness through two lenses: investigative journalist and father. His personal connection with mental illness through his son makes this work poignant and, at times, heartbreaking.

Earley teaches us a sobering lesson. In today's healthcare culture, you cannot help someone who is mentally ill unless they want help. If they do not want help (and many do not, since their illnesses prevent them from seeing how desperately help is needed), they are likely to end up in prison. Prisons have become, Earley concludes, the modern day institution for the mentally ill.

If you are a parent or loved one of someone who is mentally ill, you may seek answers in this book for how to help that person. You might, in turn, be disappointed when no clear cut answers are delivered. But it's not for lack of trying. Earley leaves no stone unturned in his quest to understand what happens to mentally ill people in our society, and how we can begin to help them. (Reading this book is an excellent start!)

A smartly written expose on a harrowing part of the human condition

Pete Early does a phenomenal job intertwining his personal story with mental illness through his son's diagnosis, struggles, and bout with hospitalization and the legal system with a journalistic investigation on the many tenants of the nexus between civil rights, medical care, the penal system, and the mentally ill. This book does a great job acknowledging and indeed exposing the many players involved in our society vis a vis the mentally ill, and gives a voice to what is arguably the most forgotten and underrepresented part of our population- the mentally ill.

Good blend of historical/current

Great book if you want to understand what the mental health system is now and some of the reasons it is the way it is.

As a mom of a son who has now been diagnosed as bipolar disorder and in jail, this book empowers me to take action

I'm a mom of a typical 20 year old son (graduated from a elite high school, scholarships to play baseball in college) and 1 day within 45 min of talking with him we was arrested for attempted murder. For 5 months he has been in jail. We had a private Psychiatrist evaluate him and now waiting for the state to evaluate to await if they decide to get him mental help or prison. He will now have a felony for the rest of his life. The private psychiatrist diagnosed him in jail with bipolar disorder. He needs help, and that is what I want him to have. Being in 'the system' takes a long time for them to decide his future, he's another criminal, not someone's son. He could have been getting mental help this entire time instead of getting worse by being locked up, with no help.

Thank you for writing this book, I have shared it with many family members and friends to read.

A fascinating yet horrifying read

I have owned this book for a number of years...getting the audiobook allowed me to get it read and ponder it. I love the way the author, a journalist, marries his own personal experiences with his son with a serious mental illness...and the historical treatment and warehousing of the mentally ill. It is no secret that jails and prisons have become the “hospitals” and “housing” for our mentally il brothers and sisters. A sad state of affairs. Gripping read. After I read it, my son-in-law read it, recommending to his brother-in-law. Was very touched to hear them both discussing this and it’s impact on them. Any older teen or adult could get into the messages in this book. Recommend to all!

an inside look at a fathers fear of the unknown

this book open my eyes to the struggle that all members of society are faced in a daily basis. all looking at each other for an answer to mental illness. but without resolve.

COs and LEOs can relate

I spent several years working as a deputy/CO in a jail in Florida, often with mentally ill inmates. This book was fascinating and fast paced. I could relate to many of the stories. I agree with the author, that law enforcement should take CIT training.

(I really like this narrator. He also read a couple other of my favorite books)

A poor system that father had to find out about

I read this in March 2007 and felt that this book was an eye opener -- I mean, even if you know what happened in the Reagan years, with the closing down of the mental institutions and the eventual flow of these people to the streets as homeless with no place to go except jail, maybe family if they are lucky, and back to the street-- reading this book really brought a reality check for me as to how it works (or, rather, doesn't)