Synopses & Reviews
Liza Long is the mother of a child who has bipolar disorder. When she heard about the Newtown shooting, her first thought was, What if my son does that someday?” She wrote an emotional response to the tragedy, which the Boise State University online journal published as I Am Adam Lanza's Mother.” The post went viral, receiving 1.2 million Facebook likes, nearly 17,000 tweets, and 30,000 emails.
Now, in The Price of Silence, she takes a devastating look at how we address mental illness, especially in children, who are funneled through a system of education, mental healthcare, and juvenile detention that leads far too often to prison. In the end she asks one central question: If there's a poster child for cancer, why cant there be one for mental illness? The answer: stigma. She is speaking in a way that we cannot help but hear, and she won't stop until something changes.
Review
[A] clarion call for change and justice, and an enthralling portrait of a father who refused to surrender. (Bebe Moore Campbell)
Review
Takes readers on a harrowing personal journey... (Senator Pete V. Domenici [R-N.M.] and Nancy Domenici)
Review
[A] clarion call for change and justice, and an enthralling portrait of a father who refused to surrender. (Bebe Moore Campbell)
Takes readers on a harrowing personal journey... (Senator Pete V. Domenici [R-N.M.] and Nancy Domenici)
Review
“In this courageous, determined, radical book, Liza Long exposes the dearth of alternatives for parents of kids with mental illnesses, the shame that attends their perceived failures, and the hope that such families may find their collective voice and demand better options. I hope her passionate cry is heard far and wide.”
—Andrew Solomon, PhD, author of The Noonday Demon and Far from the Tree
“Not only is Liza Longs The Price of Silence an honest and inspiring memoir, but its an incisive indictment of what passes for a mental-health-care system in America—and whats too often the result, mental illness leading to prison, not treatment. But The Price of Silence doesnt only illuminate the crisis, it offers solutions—ones that can lead to healing.”
—David Sheff, author of Beautiful Boy
“Liza Long offers a lucid description of the myriad of problems that confound and perplex the average parent who struggles mightily to find answers and relief for their child. In the process, she charts a course that will provide an excellent guide for others on this difficult journey as they make their way through the maze of our current mental health care system.”
—Demitri Papolos, M.D., Co-Author, The Bipolar Child
“The most excruciatingly honest, portrayal of what it's like to be the mom of a child with serious mental illness and how the mental "health" system gets in the way.”
—DJ Jaffe, Executive Director, Mental Illness Policy Org
“Liza Long deals a powerful and devastating blow-by-blow indictment of how our mental health system has failed us. Her courageous voice is an important call to action for a nation that has for too long ignored the true situation. A must-read for anyone who wants to understand the mental health crisis facing our nation."
—Matthew Lysiak, author of Newtown
“The Price of Silence goes deep into the civil rights issues that parents face in getting appropriate care and education for their children. Liza's ability to share the truth about her family's experiences is changing history, making it possible for others to step out of the darkness of isolation. Courage personified, she is our Flawless heroine.”
—Janine Francolini, Founder and Board Chair of The Flawless Foundation: Seeing the Perfection in Every Child
Synopsis
"A magnificent gift to those of us who love someone who has a mental illness...Earley has used his considerable skills to meticulously research why the mental health system is so profoundly broken."--Bebe Moore Campbell, author of 72 Hour Hold Former Washington Post reporter Pete Earley had written extensively about the criminal justice system. But it was only when his own son--in the throes of a manic episode--broke into a neighbor's house that he learned what happens to mentally ill people who break a law.
This is the Earley family's compelling story, a troubling look at bureaucratic apathy and the countless thousands who suffer confinement instead of care, brutal conditions instead of treatment, in the "revolving doors" between hospital and jail. With mass deinstitutionalization, large numbers of state mental patients are homeless or in jail-an experience little better than the horrors of a century ago. Earley takes us directly into that experience--and into that of a father and award-winning journalist trying to fight for a better way.
Synopsis
Former
Washington Post reporter Pete Earley had written extensively about the criminal justice system. But it was only when his own son-in the throes of a manic episode-broke into a neighbor's house that he learned what happens to mentally ill people who break a law.
This is the Earley family's compelling story, a troubling look at bureaucratic apathy and the countless thousands who suffer confinement instead of care, brutal conditions instead of treatment, in the "revolving doors" between hospital and jail. With mass deinstitutionalization, large numbers of state mental patients are homeless or in jail-an experience little better than the horrors of a century ago. Earley takes us directly into that experience-and into that of a father and award-winning journalist trying to fight for a better way.
About the Author
Liza Long is an author, educator, erstwhile classicist, and single mother of four children based in Boise, Idaho. She has written and edited extensively for regional publications, including Eagle Magazine, Greenbelt Magazine, and The Blue Review. Since her essay "I Am Adam Lanza's Mother" went viral, she has appeared on the Today Show, Good Morning America, Erin Burnett Out Front, and Anderson Cooper 360, among others. She presented a talk on stigma at TEDx San Antonio in October 2013.