Few things are more harrowing for a parent than watching a child’s descent into mental illness, where the shadows close in and shut off all the light in the world.
Pete Earley knows this in his bones.
His 2006 book “Crazy: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness,” a Pulitzer Prize finalist, chronicles his son’s battle with bipolar disorder and is also an indictment of how the criminal justice system deals with the mentally ill through incarceration, not treatment.
“It’s a mess and it’s not just me saying it,” said Earley, who speaks May 12 at the 10th annual Mental Health Benefit Luncheon in Englewood, which is sponsored by the Arapahoe/Douglas Mental Health Network. “Studies and commissions across the country are concluding that the system is broken.”
Earley’s saga began when his son, Mike, had a psychotic break during his freshman year in college. He was later arrested for breaking into a neighbor’s house, taking a bath and trashing the premises. A long tangle with the court system followed, a process where jail was favored over treatment.
“I had a college degree, a good salary and had studied mental illness, but I couldn’t help my son,” said Earley, who grew up in Fowler and who covered the intelligence community for The Washington Post in the 1980s. “The thing about this country is that unless you are rich, it’s very hard to get help for mental illness. I’m not talking about Hannibal Lecter-style serial killers, but things like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.”
Part of the problem is the 1980s movement to deinstitutionalize the mentally ill. Although health professionals meant well, thousands of people were released with no safety net. They had few resources to turn to; many were estranged from their families.
Earley, who lives in Virginia, notes these numbers: In 1955, about 560,000 Americans were being treated in state mental hospitals. Based on population growth since then, you would expect more than 930,000 people in such hospitals today. There are only 55,000. Nearly 300,000 are imprisoned. Another half-million are on probation.
The largest public mental-health facility in the U.S.? The Los Angeles County Jail, home to 3,000 mentally ill inmates.
While Earley’s son, Mike, eventually made it out of the court maze and is doing peer-to-peer counseling — “He’s doing great,” his dad says — Earley said the nation’s mental-health services have not improved, especially in an age of budget cuts. The National Alliance on Mental Health recently gave Colorado a “C” grade.
“The tough thing about mental illness is that it’s in your mind,” Earley said. “It’s not like breaking a leg where you set it and it heals.”
Asked what he would tell other parents wrestling with such a problem, Earley sighed.
“You’ve got to have hope,” he said. “The hardest thing for me was that I couldn’t take Mike to a doctor and say, ‘Fix him.’ I had to become his partner and work with him. I couldn’t just tell him what to do.
“That’s the grim reality of these illnesses.”
William Porter: 303-954-1877 or wporter@denverpost.com
Author to speak at benefit luncheon
What: Pete Earley, author of “Crazy: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness,” will speak and sign books at the Mental Health Benefit Luncheon sponsored by the Arapahoe/Douglas Mental Health Network.
When: 11 a.m. May 12
Where: Inverness Hotel and Conference Center, 200 Inverness Drive West, Englewood.
Tickets: Individual tickets are $75. Available at or 303-779-9676. Sponsorships are available by contacting Carolyn Moershel at 303-793-9601.
