by Art Levine
293 Commission on Care report: Commission on Care, Final Report, June 30, 2016, https://s3.amazonaws.com.
294 suicides down to zero: M. Justin Coffey, M.D. and C. Edward Coffey, M.D., “How We Dramatically Reduced Suicide,” NEJM Catalyst, April 20, 2016, http://catalyst.nejm.org/dramatically-reduced-suicide/.
295 results are striking: Robert Drake et al., “Longitudinal Course of Clients With Co-occurring Schizophrenia-Spectrum and Substance Use Disorders in Urban Mental Health Centers: A 7-Year Prospective Study,” Schizophrenia Bulletin 42, no. 1 (2016): 202–211, https://academic.oup.com.
296 one in ten mental health clinics: Mark P. McGovern et al., “Dual Diagnosis Capability in Mental Health and Addiction Treatment Services: An Assessment of Programs Across Multiple State Systems,” Administration and Policy in Mental Health 41, no. 2 (March 2014): 205–214, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov; though out of date, a partial list of facilities measured for minimal dual diagnosis (DD) quality around 2012 is available online at https://www.scribd.com; a list is also available for Connecticut facilities, see “CT List: Prepared for the Hazelden Directory of Co-Occurring Programs (DDC or DDE), 2009–2012,” at https://www.scribd.com.
296 “Right Care” initiative: “We Must Lift Up Our Voices: Lown and RCA Respond to Election Results,” The Messenger, December 2016, http://rightcarealliance.org.
297 reduce re-arrests: Maia Szalavitz, “Five Studies: Mental Health Courts Are Finding Their Footing,” Pacific Standard, November 25, 2015, https://psmag.com.
297 slashes re-arrest rates: Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development, “MST® for Juvenile Offenders,” http://www.blueprintsprograms.com; Shields for Families, MST, https://www.shieldsforfamilies.org.
297 funding: NAMI, Our Finances, http://www.nami.org; Mental Health America (MHA), Financial Information and Annual Reports, http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net; Replies from NAMI and MHA regarding drug industry support, August 2016, online at https://www.scribd.com.
ASSISTANCE, ADVOCACY AND INFORMATION RESOURCE GUIDE
(NOTE: Inclusion on this ideologically diverse list doesn’t imply endorsement.)
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline:
1-800-273-TALK (8255)
https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org
This hotline website also offers sources for finding local support and therapists.
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention: It conducts research and prevention initiatives, while offering support for those affected by suicide. (http://afsp.org)
The Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law: A nonprofit advocacy and legal organization that protects the rights of people with mental illnesses; its website is packed with information on lawsuits and reforms. (http://bazelon.org)
Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development: The University of Colorado’s Center for the Study of Prevention and Violence has evaluated 1,400 programs claiming to promote the health and well-being of kids, but only 5 percent have been designated as model or promising. Here are the best: http://www.blueprintsprograms.com.
Case Western Reserve University, Center for Evidence-Based Practices: This academic center offers training and a clear resource guide on an array of well-proven methods. (http://www.centerforebp.case.edu/practices)
The Child Mind Institute: An independent organization that provides research, advocacy and clinical care for children and teens who suffer from psychiatric and learning disorders. Although downplaying the dangers of medications, the institute’s website offers a symptom checker and mental health guides that can be useful: https://childmind.org/topics-a-z/.
Drug Information:
Independent websites, such as The Carlat Psychiatry Report, are often behind paywalls. Most popular health websites are subsidized by drug companies, so for laymen, the most honest research can be found at Consumer Reports’s Best Buy Drugs (http://www.consumerreports.org/drugs), while psych med users can share unvarnished information and resources at CrazyMeds: https://www.crazymeds.us. The website https://rxisk.org/ helps consumers learn about side-effects, but it could needlessly scare some people who may benefit from psychiatric drugs.
Foundation for Excellence in Mental Health Care: A philanthropy that promotes innovative alternative treatments through grants and education. (http://www.mentalhealthexcellence.org)
Hearing Voices Network (HVN) USA: The alliance offers support for those taking an alternative view on hearing voices and other extreme experiences. (http://www.hearingvoicesusa.org)
Mad in America: Founded by author Robert Whitaker, this is the nation’s most influential news and commentary website critical of drug-oriented psychiatry. In recent years, it has expanded its mission to include continuing education online courses about alternative approaches, taught by experts. (https://www.madinamerica.com)
Mental Health America: The nation’s leading community-based nonprofit offering both mental health services and advocacy, it has more than two hundred affiliates in forty-one states. It also provides invaluable information about mental illness, including this personal resource guide: http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/finding-help.
National Alliance on Mental Illness: A grassroots organization that provides advocacy for access to services and support for mentally ill people across the United States. With more than 1,000 affiliate organizations across America, it’s best known for providing training and support for parents of mentally ill people. (http://www.nami.org/)
National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors: The organization also promotes best practices that should be widely used: https://www.nasmhpd.org/content/technical-assistance-programs.
National Child Traumatic Stress Network: A national collaboration of providers and families, this is a good starting place to look for a skilled trauma therapist: http://www.nctsn.org/about-us/affiliated-members.
National Empowerment Center: A consumer-driven organization that provides peer-oriented training and resources. Its toll-free information and referral line is 1800-POWER2U (800-769-3728), but it’s not a crisis line. (www.power2u.org) Affiliated groups can be found here: http://www.power2u.org/consumerrun-statewide.html.
National Institute of Mental Health: In addition to research, it offers helpful resources. (https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/find-help/index.shtml)
National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse: A tiny but dedicated group that offers information and guidance to individuals with mental health conditions and mental health professionals. (http://www.mhselfhelp.org) It has a useful, if incomplete, consumer-driven services directory here: http://www.cdsdirectory.org.
Online Mental Health Resources, prepared by Susan Rogers, Director, National Mental Health Consumers’ Self-Help Clearinghouse, available here: https://www.scribd.com/document/345564979/MH-Resources. Her list combines mainstream and alternative groups addressing reform and providing assistance.
Treatment Advocacy Center: Founded by the controversial champion of mandated outpatient treatment laws, schizophrenia researcher Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, the group works to overcome barriers to treatment while offering compelling reports on the social impact of untreated mental illness. (http://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org)
Valuable publications:
Xavier Amadour, I Am Not Sick, I Don’t Need Help: How to Help Someone With Mental Illness Accept Treatment (10th Anniversary Edition), Peconic, NY: Vida Press, 2011, excerpt online at NAMI, https://www.nami.org.
Pete Earley’s blog: The author of the investigative book, Crazy, has an informative pro-medication blog covering mental health controversies. (http://www.peteearley.com/blog/)
Sarah Glazer, “Treating Schizophrenia,” CQ Researcher, December 5, 2014, http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2014120500. A balanced look at schizophrenia and meds, it also offers an organizational guide (article purchase may be required).
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Reporting and writing this book wouldn’t have been possible without the support, assistance
and cooperation of many individuals. I am grateful to all those people who generously shared their time and whom I quote in the book. But I’m especially indebted to these families and individuals who agreed to tell me their personal stories about the tragedies they endured in the hope of spurring reform. Among them: Stan and Shirley White, Darla Grese, Marvin Simcakoski and Jason’s wife, Heather Simcakoski, Janette Layne and Marisa Conover. Equally important in shaping this book were the insights and histories of the survivors of reckless prescribing or dangerous residential treatment programs, including Scott Barber, Paul Walton, Colleen Davidson and Erin Rodriguez. A key person who enabled me to reach out to victims of abusive “troubled teen” programs was Angela Smith of HEAL, a survivor who has become the nation’s best-informed activist on this issue. Heroic Brandon Coleman was my guide to VA whistleblowers.
My reporting on effective and promising mental health programs was guided by the research and insights of numerous academics, joined by ground-breaking clinicians and program administrators. Some of them were quoted directly, while others’ writings also helped me address the question: How can we do a better job of providing treatment to people grappling with serious mental illness, substance abuse and PTSD? These innovators include Robert Drake, William McFarlane, Tamara Sale, Lisa Dixon, Mary Vieten, Michael Cornwall, Stephen Xenakis, J. Douglas Bremner, Mark McGovern, Susan Rogers, Daniel Carlat, Robert Rosenheck, Christopher Bellonci, David Healy, Anthony Lehman, David Pilon, Richard Van Horn, Mark Ragins—and all the important researchers, including Douglas Ziedonis, supported by the unique Foundation for Excellence in Mental Health Care. My understanding of effective and abusive treatments, and the pharmaceutical industry, clearly owes a great debt to the work of Anne Fletcher, Maia Szalavitz and especially Robert Whitaker, who has demonstrated how powerful reporting can change long-held views, as well as to Martha Rosenberg. Lobbyist Debbie Plotnick of Mental Health America was my indispensable policy expert. Maria Bamford’s artistry on mental illness and stigma was a great inspiration.
My own reporting, especially in Los Angeles County and on residential programs, couldn’t have happened without the support of the leaders of key journalism foundations. Among them were Margaret Engel of the Alicia Patterson Foundation; Sandy Bergo of the Fund for Investigative Journalism; and Joe Conason and Esther Kaplan of the Nation Institute’s Investigative Fund. Joe and especially Esther, superb investigative reporters themselves, also helped me sharpen and deepen the emotional depth of the stories I told about CRC Health for Salon in 2012. Dave Daley played a key role in ensuring the article’s publication.
In publishing and editing my reporting on mental health and other investigative topics, both before and after I was given the opportunity to write this book by The Overlook Press, talented and supportive magazine, policy and weekly newspaper editors gave me the encouragement and guidance that proved invaluable to me. These include Jake Cline of South Florida’s City Link weekly, who backed me in 2001 on my first major article on this topic; David Kendall of the Progressive Policy Institute; Harold Meyerson, Tara McKelvey and the then-publisher Diane Strauss of The American Prospect; Strauss, now the publisher of The Washington Monthly, continues to support reform in a magazine that has been a journalistic home for me, first under Charlie Peters and now edited by Paul Glastris; Ryan Grim, the Washington bureau chief of The Huffington Post, who has supported and showcased my reporting while assigning Sasha Belenky to help me transform an investigative project into a powerful narrative; Don Hazen and Jan Frel of AlterNet; and the editors of Newsweek, especially James Impoco, Bob Roe, Ross Schneiderman, Matt McAllester and Barclay Palmer, who featured my article “The Jesus Gulag.”
I count journalists among the friends and family members who supported and encouraged my work in ways they know well. I am especially grateful to my sister Susan Levine Houston and her husband, novelist and retired judge Julian Houston; James Fallows; Mark Stricherz; Sheila Kaplan; Alan Pell Crawford; Tom D’Antoni; David Dennie; Susan Murray; Diane Dodson; Keshini Ladduwahetty; Timothy Noah; and so many others.
Finally, this book wouldn’t have seen the light of day without the aid of literary agent Jill Marsal; the dedicated Overlook editor Chelsea Cutchens, and publicist Shannon McCain; consulting editor Ed Robertson and researcher Cathy Kreyche; and independent publicist Elizabeth Shreve.
For everyone’s support and wise counsel, I will be forever grateful.
ART LEVINE, a prize-winning contributing editor of The Washington Monthly, has written for The American Prospect, Salon, The Atlantic, The Daily Beast, Mother Jones and numerous other publications. Among other awards, he was named “Journalist of the Year” by the Florida chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in 2001 for his articles in City Link, a Florida weekly, exploring the criminalization of the mentally ill in South Florida. As a Health Policy Fellow with the Progressive Policy Institute, he wrote a prescient major report, Parity-Plus: A Third Way Approach to Fix America’s Mental Health System, that looked at roadblocks to using effective treatments. Since then, he has exposed a wide range of corporate and government wrongdoing, in a series of articles for Newsweek, The American Prospect, The Washington Monthly and Salon, among others.
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