Crazy, By Pete Earley - 1263 Words

Due to the wide variety of populations that social workers interact with throughout their careers, it is important that they are knowledgeable about the unique lived experiences of their clients. It is also pertinent that social workers are informed about the overarching systems that their clients are involved in, as well as the policies that have a significant influence on their clients’ lives. In his book, Crazy, Pete Earley has presented a detailed examination of a population that he has a personal connection to: individuals with serious mental illness (SMI). Earley, a former news reporter, described his experiences interviewing stakeholders in the mental health and criminal justice systems in hopes to shed light on the injustices†¦show more content†¦A majority of the book involves an examination of the debate between advocates for patients’ right to adequate treatment and advocates for patient’s civil rights. Another one of Earley’s major arg uments was that jails were not suitable environments for individuals with SMI. He found that inmates were being shuffled between jails, psychiatric hospitals, and courts. Through his observations, and interviews, Earley determined that jails were not equipped to treat individuals with SMI. Thus, these individuals were never actually being rehabilitated. Overall, Earley’s arguments were consistent with the idea that individuals with SMI should be receiving consistent treatment. His personal experiences with his son seemed to have a significant influence on his beliefs about individuals with SMI, as he assumed that individuals with SMI did not have insight into severity of their own mental illnesses. His arguments mostly stemmed from his role as a parent struggling to navigate the mental health and criminal justice systems as a result of a crime committed by his son. Throughout the book, it is evident that Earley is writing from the point of view of a protective parent. This point of view is obvious when Earley shows compassion, empathy, and understanding towards individuals with SMI and their families. As Earley listened to various troubling storiesShow MoreRelatedCrazy, By Pete Earley1184 Words   |  5 PagesThe book, Crazy, is an interesting, and informative non-fiction book, about the struggles that mental health patients and their family members encounter. Pete Earley starts off the story by talking about his son Mike, who started to act strangely in his senior year of college. (Earley page 9). It turned out that Mike would be diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and was prescribed medications. Mike thought he was fine, therefore would frequently stop taking his medications. Mike refused treatment fromRead MoreCrazy, By Pete Earley1455 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction In the book, Crazy, by Pete Earley, provides a detailed overview of the mental health system in the United States, as it presents a first hand narrative of Earley’s family journey through the system. The author’s major premise and arguments, in the book, is to highlight the history of mental health, navigation through the judicial system with mental illness, the bureaucracy and policies of hospitals, society views on human rights and client safety, and the impact on the individual, familyRead MoreCrazy: a Fathers Search Through Americas Mental Healthy Madness - Annotated Bibliography864 Words   |  4 Pagesendangering the lives of the prisoners or the public. This viewpoint is contrary to that in Pete Earley’s book because it endorses the imprisonment of the mentally ill, while in contrast Earley strongly believes the mentally ill need treatment, not imprisonment. Earley, Pete. Crazy: A Fathers Search Through Americas Mental Health Madness. New York: Penguin Group, 2006. Print In this book Pete Earley a father with a son who becomes mentally ill at age 22, documents his journey with his sonRead MoreCrazy : The Struggles Mental Health Patients And Their Family Members Encounter2007 Words   |  9 PagesThe book Crazy, was an interesting, and informative non-fiction book, about the struggles mental health patients and their family members encounter. Pete Earley starts off the story talking about his son Mike, who started to act strangely in his senior year of high school. It turned out that he would be diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and was prescribed medication. Mike thought he was fine, therefore would frequently stop taking his medications. When Mike was in the hospital, he refused treatmentRead MoreMental Illness Discrimination.1036 Words   |  5 PagesStereotypes There are cases of mentally ill people having violent behaviour, but many factors could have affected that person. The Virginia Tech massacre occurred because a mentally disturbed gunman f ell through the cracks in the mental health system (Earley, 2009). Perhaps if someone leant a helping hand or showed concern, some of these tragic events would have been avoided. If society reviewed information and studies on mental illness, they would learn that there can be many factors that contributeRead MoreShould Mentally Ill Inmates Be More Important?1882 Words   |  8 Pagesdeal with them. A lot of harm to mentally ill inmates are said to be inflicted by the staff. An author, Pete Earley, who wrote a book about the mentally ill in prisons called Crazy:A Father s Search through America s Mental Health Madness stated in his book about having a conversation with a correctional officer at the Miami s Dade County Jail. This correctional officer discloses to Earley that the he had physically hurt a mentally ill inmate punching him several times in the kidney then proceedingRead MoreThe Role of the Death Penalty on Preventing Future Crime Essay8133 Words   |  33 Pagesemptines s beyond what a person normally experiences in prison. Meager hope alternates with deep despair. The fear of execution mixes with pressures caused by prolonged isolation and deprivation. As one observer has noted, death row normally drives one crazy. Given such conditions, it is no wonder that some prisoners choose to die. To execute them is to assist in state-induced suicide. People who kill cause extreme suffering to others and that suffering needs to be acknowledged. But can that justifyRead MoreStephen P. Robbins Timothy A. Judge (2011) Organizational Behaviour 15th Edition New Jersey: Prentice Hall393164 Words   |  1573 Pageswho struggle to convince employers to hire them. St. Louis resident Peter Gordon, 53, has been unemployed more than a year. Once he becomes a 99er, his unemployment check will run out. â€Å"I will be OK for another 20 weeks,† Gordon said. â€Å"But I’m going crazy.† Akron’s Susan Harrell has been jobless more than 2 years and has exhausted her unemployment benefits. Laid off from her $60,000/year telecommunications job, she finds employers unwilling to hire her because she is unemployed, 58, or both. â€Å"They look