Reporter Pete Earley felt that he was standing “on the outside looking in” when he interviewed people for his articles and books about crime. But when his son, Mike, became psychotic, Pete found himself on the inside looking out. Combining the perspectives of the detached reporter and an affected party, he tells in Crazy about his frustrating search for care for his son and also about the fate of prisoners who are mentally ill.

Mike Earley suffered his first psychotic breakdown during his last year at college in Brooklyn. Over time he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and schizoaffective disorder, each diagnosis bringing in its wake different drugs and different therapies. What a difference, Mike’s dad notes, between the precise medical diagnosis and treatment of, say, a broken leg and the impressionistic, trial-and-error labeling and treatment of mental illness.

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