My Childhood Best Friend and America’s Failure to Help the Mentally Ill - The Atlantic

Thousands of people with severe mental illness have been failed by a dysfunctional system. My friend Michael was one of them. Twenty-five years ago, he killed the person he loved most.

This article was featured in One Story to Read Today, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a single must-read from The Atlantic , Monday through Friday. Sign up for it here. O n the night of June 17, 1998, a Cornell campus police officer named Ellen Brewer had just begun her shift when she noticed a tall, silhouetted figure moving slowly across the engineering quad. The man appeared to be dressed all in black. Brewer felt a whisper of danger. She slowed her car, and the shrouded figure began loping toward her. He raised a hand and hailed her as if she were a taxi driver. As he drew clos

related reading

• The Darker Side of Aaron Swartz | The New Yorkernewyorker.com
• Men Who Kill Themselvesmetropolitanreview.org
• Courts are using the powerful “black robe effect” to treat severe mental illness. Should they?vox.com
• What Do We Owe the Insufferable?substack.com
• Sane Thinking About Mental Problems | Otiumsrconstantin.wordpress.com
• The Deaths—and Lives—of Two Sons | The New Yorkernewyorker.com
• The Challenge of Going Off Psychiatric Drugs | The New Yorkernewyorker.com
• When Reason Fails | The Point Magazinethepointmag.com
• The Best Way To Save People From Suicide - The Huffington Posthighline.huffingtonpost.com
• Different Worldsslatestarcodex.com
• Motherratsfromrocks.substack.com
• The Gentrification of Disability - Freddie deBoerfreddiedeboer.substack.com