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

Earley decides that he wants to hear more from parents like himself, and he reaches out to the Miami chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI). The chapter is run by Rachel Diaz and Judy Robinson, who host separate family support groups.

Rachel Diaz, an 80-year-old woman whose husband became a “recluse,” believes that people with mental illnesses are unable to see their illness objectively or understand that there is anything wrong with how they think. She emphasizes mental illness as a chemical imbalance, one that family members ought not to feel ashamed of or embarrassed about. Earley sits in on one of her support groups, where a pharmaceutical representative from Bristol-Meyers Squibb speaks about a new antipsychotic medication called Abilify.

Earley then attends a NAMI meeting run by Judy Robinson, a woman in her seventies who became active within the organization after her son, Jeffrey, was diagnosed with a mental illness. Rather than doling out advice, Robinson focuses on the latest scientific studies, advocating for political change and telling families of individuals with mental illnesses to push for what they need. Her blunt responses as parents talk about their concerns for their children as they deal with doctors, medication changes, law enforcement, and social services provide a stark contrast to Diaz. Robinson does her best to empower parents to “become [their] own advocate[s] and fight for [their] loved ones” (110). This statement hits Earley especially hard as he looks around the room and realizes that, much like these parents, he’ll never find a cure for his son’s mental illness.

Robinson tells Earley that there is someone she wants him to meet, and as they drive, she tells the story of her son, Jeff, who was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. His mental illness began at the age of 18, and over three decades, he was arrested at least 40 times. His tendency to get into fistfights worried Robinson, who feared that the police would one day kill him.

This concern led Robinson to contact Lieutenant Sam Cochran in Memphis, Tennessee. In response to the Memphis community’s distrust of police when dealing with people with mental illnesses, Cochran trained a squad of police to respond specifically to such calls. This squad became known as the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT). Their training led to fewer casualties between police officers and suspects. Robinson found this idea remarkable and did her best to advocate for a CIT to be formed in Miami over the next six years. The Miami police department didn’t take her suggestion seriously until several deaths occurred because of the Miami police department shooting innocent suspects who had mental illnesses.

Robinson and Earley arrive at the house of Renee Sherman, mother of Robbie Sherman, a young man who has bipolar disorder. Robinson met Renee Sherman through her NAMI support group. Robbie’s psychotic episodes and violent outbursts proved difficult to control, and he was shot to death by Miami police. Robinson used this incident, as well as interest from a journalist at the Miami Herald, to spark public discussion about instating CIT in Miami. Earley reflects on how similar Robbie’s story sounds to his son’s and how easily Mike’s encounter with the police could have gone wrong.

Feeling overwhelmed and tired by his investigation in Miami, Earley returns home to Virginia. On the flight home, Earley dreams that he has returned to the ninth floor, this time as an inmate. Upon waking, he makes the connection: “We lock up the mentally ill because they terrify us. We are afraid of them and even more frightened of what they symbolize” (122). He realizes by seeing himself locked up in the dream, “It could happen to us. It could happen to me” (122)