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Quote by Pete Earley

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

This nonfiction work documents one father's experience after his son is diagnosed with mental illness. The book examines the American mental health system, including its complexities, shortcomings, and the impact on families seeking care. Through personal narrative, the author explores issues surrounding treatment, hospitalization, medication, and the social stigma associated with mental illness. The account raises questions about how society handles mental health crises and the difficulties families face in obtaining appropriate help for their loved ones. more

Author

Pete Earley

Pete Earley is an American journalist born on September 5, 1951. He is renowned for his reporting on crime, politics, and social issues, particularly for his ability to present complex social problems in an accessible way to readers. more

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“Not ill? No truly, I am young, healthful, and strong; the blood flows freely in my veins; my limbs obey my will; I am robust in mind and body, constituted for a long life. Yes, all this is true; and yet, nevertheless, I have an illness, a fatal illness,-an illness given by the hand of man!”

“Mr Earbrass stands on the terrace at twilight. It is bleak; it is cold; and the virtue has gone out of everything. Words drift through his mind: anguish turnips conjunctions illness defeat string parties no parties urns desuetude disaffection claws loss Trebizond napkins shame stones distance fever Antipodes mush glaciers incoherence labels miasma amputation tides deceit mourning elsewards.”

“We have a dysfunctional dream of the planet, and humans are mentally sick with a disease called fear. The symptoms of the disease are all the emotions that make humans suffer: anger, hate, sadness, envy, and betrayal. When the fear is too great, the reasoning mind begins to fail, and we call this mental illness.”

“He had thrown himself away, he had lost interest in everything, and life, falling in with his feelings, had demanded nothing of him. He had lived as an outsider, an idler and onlooker, well liked in his young manhood, alone in his illness and advancing years. Seized with weariness, he sat down on the wall, and the river murmured darkly in his thoughts.”

“R-4 got stuck on the First Law. "Can anyone really protect a human being from all harm whatever?" it thought. "No. It is inevitable that all humans must be injured, contract illnesses and ultimately die. The future can only be averted for humans who are already dead. Ergo..." It took a dozen cops to subdue R-4, after his blood orgy in a department store (83 dead, none injured).”