This week I chose to focus on a theme that has come up frequently this week with Earley. This is the problem of homelessness and mental health. Many of our mental health patients have been neglected to the point that homelessness has become a real problem. Many of the people in homeless encampments face many horrors daily such as violence or disease. The video highlights that the massive amount of homeless people in cities are beginning to show people that we are not doing a good job at providing mental health treatment. Also, the types of places that these homeless people are residing in are places that can cause danger or abuse resulting in imprisonment, feeding the vicious cycle once again.
Pete Earley and Virginia’s Mental Hospitals
While reading Crazy this week, I wanted to find more information on the book’s author, Pete Earley. While searching, I came across an article that he wrote for the Washington Post earlier this year about the state of mental hospitals in Virginia. He explains that these hospitals are running out of space and can no longer accept any new patients. The reason for the lack of space is private hospitals dumping patients that are difficult to take care of (i.e., mental health patients). Earley goes on to explain how and why private hospitals can do this and other issues that plague mental health hospitals in the state.
Post for Week 13
Hello everyone at the bottom of this post will be a link to the the Virginia law site. The law being linked is the Virginia state law related to the the involuntary incarceration of the mentally ill. The reason for linking this site is quite obvious due to what we have been reading this week with Mike’s story and all. I hope this helps everyone understand all the red tape that Pete his family had to deal with when dealing with Mike’s court case.
https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title37.2/chapter8/section37.2-817/
Pete Earley
http://www.peteearley.com/author/
This is Pete Earley’s website that essentially compiles all of his works and information about him. While reading Crazy, one thing that I haven’t been able to shake is the family response to Mikes condition. Being in a family that has had similar issues with mental illness and trying to navigate the proper response and providing effective help, I found Earley’s work to portray those battles extremely well. It shows the raw frustration and annoyance followed by the guilt and anger of everyone involved.
Incarnation Nation
Since we are reading Pete Earley’s Crazy: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness this week, I though it pertinent to do some research into the number of mental health-related incarnations in the United States. I stumbled across as article published in 2014 by the APA that covers exactly this. This article gives an excellent look into the history behind the growing number of mental health-related prison cases, as well as the psychological effects. I personally found the article enlightening, especially since we are given an inside look through Earley’s book on this very topic. Please check it out for yourself! I’ve provided the link down below!
Collier, Lorna. “Incarceration Nation.” American Psychological Association, October 2014. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2014/10/incarceration.
Incarnation Nation
Since we are reading Pete Earley’s Crazy: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness this week, I though it pertinent to do some research into the number of mental health-related incarnations in the United States. I stumbled across as article published in 2014 by the APA that covers exactly this. This article gives an excellent look into the history behind the growing number of mental health-related prison cases, as well as the psychological effects. I personally found the article enlightening, especially since we are given an inside look through Earley’s book on this very topic. Please check it out for yourself! I’ve provided the link down below!
Collier, Lorna. “Incarceration Nation.” American Psychological Association, October 2014. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2014/10/incarceration.
Mental Health Check-In #3
You thought it was over? NOPE.
How is everyone? Hanging on for the last few weeks of the semester? I know the finish line may seem so far away, but we can do it!
Did you do anything fun over the weekend? Did you eat good food? I hope so!
What kind of day does it feel like? A bones day (productive) or a no-bones day (unproductive)?
Be sure to drink plenty of water and get some rest. Oh, and pet your dog, if you have one; they need love too.
You got this!!! 
Pete Earley, Journalist and Mental Health Advocate
Week #13
One of the reasons I wanted to take this course was to gain some insight and understanding of mental health care and the history behind all the unfortunate stereotypes that accompany people who are suffering from mental health issues. As the parent of four adults and a grandparent of two teenagers, the problems of teens and young twenty-somethings became particularly relevant because, over the years, I have been personally involved in the different aspects/consequences of several crises.
Unfortunately I have witnessed a great deal of bias towards people that are struggling with mental health problems. These conditions often go “hand-in-hand” with drug and alcohol addiction, which is also quite stigmatized. Pete Earley’s book chronicles his journey dealing with a son who has mental health problems. I found it to be most compelling and could relate to the struggles of a parent who is dealing with an adult child and a system that does little to nothing to protect our vulnerable mentally ill young adults.
I truly believe the key to change is understanding. Educating people about mental illness will help take much of the fear and loathing out of just saying someone is “crazy.” Once we understand the truths of mental illness, we, as a society, can move forward to help these people with understanding in our minds and empathy in our hearts.
Mental Illness in Media
Mental Illness is often misrepresented in film and TV, but this video highlights some of the ones that got it right. Crazy Ex Girlfriend makes the top of the list by capturing Borderline Personality Disorder and her struggle to get a diagnosis to finally begin treatment. Rachel finishes law school and finally lands a dream job at a law firm in NYC, and gives it all up on a whim after she runs into her ex boyfriend from camp on the streets in NYC. She impulsively follows him back to California and starts a new life there in hopes that they will get back together. This show is so funny while also addressing serious topics of mental health like anxiety, depression, and addiction in a poignant way.
People Like Ourselves: Portrayals of Mental Illness in the Movies
While doing some research for the short essay earlier this week to see if I could find some scholarly sources on the portrayal of mental health in M*A*S*H, I stumbled across People Like Ourselves: Portrayals of Mental Illness in the Movies (2003)by Jacqueline Noll Zimmerman, which appears to cover a wide range of books, movies, and television shows that portray mental health. She appears to cover a lot of topics, including the price of conformity, the denial of reality, Hitchcock’s interpretations, women with mental illness, divine madness, war, and general violence. She looks at all these different genres and critiques how mental illness is portrayed. While she does not cover M*A*S*H, I’m still interested in many of the movies and shows she does mention, particularly the war genre, since that’s the area I’m most interested in. I think I’ll be looking into a copy of this to read sometime in the future, even if she doesn’t cover the show I was originally looking for.
Jacqueline Noll Zimmerman. People like Ourselves : Portrayals of Mental Illness in the Movies. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow, 2004.
