Crazy: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness

The Baker Act is a Florida law passed in 1971 stating that an individual can only be held involuntarily for psychiatric evaluation for 72 hours. For Earley, the law exemplifies the obstacles that relatives face when trying to obtain help for loved ones with mental illnesses. It also speaks to the broader problems associated with deinstitutionalization, which Earley argues was a well-meaning but ultimately misguided movement.

Bipolar disorder is a serious mood disorder characterized by extreme mood swings from mania to depression. This disorder can impair sleep, activity, judgment, and behavior. Earley’s son, Mike, receives a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, as does Ted Jackson.

A crisis intervention team consists of police who are trained to use nonviolence and de-escalation tactics to better interact with people with mental illnesses. The goal of CITs is to reduce casualties during altercations with law enforcement and thus to mitigate The Plight of People with Mental Illnesses in the Criminal Justice System; however, many departments resist establishing CITs, which do not in any case address the root causes of run-ins between police and individuals in mental crisis.

Decompensation occurs when an individual who has been successfully managing their mental illness (with therapy and/or medication) begins to exhibit symptoms of mental health deterioration or distress. This can occur when a patient stops taking their medication, or when the medication stops working. Earley documents many instances of decompensation in his investigation, driving home the reality that mental illness is chronic and that his own son is likely to one day relapse.

Deinstitutionalization was a movement that began in the 1960s after a series of exposés revealed poor conditions in state-run psychiatric hospitals and asylums. Many adults with mental illnesses or developmental disabilities were released without proper support systems and services to help them transition to independent living, resulting in the rise of homelessness and incarceration.

The National Association of Mental Illness (NAMI) is an advocacy and support network for the families of people with mental illnesses. As such, it is key to Earley’s arguments about Invisibility, Stigma, and the Need for Community.

The National Institute for Mental Health is a federal agency within the National Institutes of Health whose work focuses on mental health research.

Schizophrenia is a thought disorder that changes the way a person thinks and reacts to the world around them. This disorder is often characterized by thoughts, experiences, paranoia, delusions, or hallucinations that appear to be disconnected from reality. The disorder can make it difficult to function in everyday contexts; it is also among the most stigmatized mental illnesses. Alice Ann Collyer is one of several people with schizophrenia whom Earley meets.