Within Our Reach: Ending the Mental Health Crisis [Hardcover]

Rosalynn Carter (Author), Susan K. Golant (Author), Kathryn E Cade (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

In Within Our Reach: Ending the Mental Health Crisis, Rosalynn Carter and coauthors Susan K. Golant and Kathryn E. Cade render an insightful, unsparing assessment of the state of mental health. Mrs. Carter has been deeply invested in this issue since her husband’s gubernatorial campaign when she saw firsthand the horrific, dehumanizing treatment of people with mental illnesses.

Using stories from her 35 years of advocacy to springboard into a discussion of the larger issues at hand, Carter crafts an intimate and powerful account of a subject previously shrouded in stigma and shadow, surveying the dimensions of an issue that has affected us all. She describes a system that continues to fail those in need, even though recent scientific breakthroughs with mental illness have potential to help most people lead more normal lives.

Within Our Reach is a seminal, searing, and ultimately optimistic look at how far we’ve come since Carter’s days on the campaign trail and how far we have yet to go.

Rosalynn Carter, a driving force in the field of mental health throughout her public service career, is the best-selling author of First Lady from Plains. She lives in Plains, Georgia.

Susan K. Golant has written more than 30 books and is coauthor of the award-winning Helping Someone with Mental Illness (with Rosalynn Carter). She lives in Los Angeles.

Kathryn E. Cade serves as chair of the board of trustees of the Judge Baker Children’s Center in Boston. She lives in Massachusetts.

In Within Our Reach: Ending the Mental Health Crisis, Rosalynn Carter and coauthors Susan K. Golant and Kathryn E. Cade render an insightful, unsparing assessment of the state of mental health. Mrs. Carter has been deeply invested in this issue since her husband’s gubernatorial campaign when she saw firsthand the horrific, dehumanizing treatment of people with mental illnesses.

Using stories from her 35 years of advocacy to springboard into a discussion of the larger issues at hand, Carter crafts an intimate and powerful account of a subject previously shrouded in stigma and shadow, surveying the dimensions of an issue that has affected us all. She describes a system that continues to fail those in need, even though recent scientific breakthroughs with mental illness have potential to help most people lead more normal lives.

Within Our Reach is a seminal, searing, and ultimately optimistic look at how far we’ve come since Carter’s days on the campaign trail and how far we have yet to go.

"Rosalyn Carter humanly portrays the twenty-first century threshold we're standing on in the treatment of mental illness. IN her conversational approach to neuroscientific breakthroughs, research supporting early intervention and prevention, and the advance of the recovery movement, she illuminates the avenues that will help mainstream care and end the mental health crisis."—Mary Jane England, M.D., President of Regis College, former President of Washington Business Group on Health

 

"Rosalynn Carter and her coauthors have made a major contribution to better understanding of mental health in America today. With their compelling emphasis on the importance of sound science, the elimination of old stigma, and critical progress in public policy, they give us genuine cause for hope."—Former Senator Tom Daschle

 

"One day, I predict that mental illnesses will be treated no differently than other physical illnesses. When that wonderful new era finally arrives, it will be in significant measure due to Rosalynn Carter."—Thom Johnson, former chairman and CEO of CNN

"Within Our Reach challenges us not only to look at how far we have come in our knowledge of how to treat mental illnesses but how far we have yet to go to address the mental health crisis in our society—a crisis that touches everyone."—Dr. David that, former U.S. Surgeon General

"I am delighted taht Mrs. Carter continues to highlight the importance of recovery and personhood as she did before our New Freedom Commission, thus giving hope and conquering discrimination."—Daniel B. Fisher, M.D., Ph.D., Executive Director of the National Empowerment Center

"Mrs. Carter and I worked together in the struggle to fulfill my father's dream of fairness and equity for mental health with other health conditions, which was finally realized with the passage of the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act in 2008. I was struck by her authenticity and sincere passion for mental health issues. Within Our Reach leaves us with real practical ideas for improving our mental health system."—David Wellstone, son of the late senator Paul Wellstone (D-MN)

 

"Since Mrs. Carter began her work in mental health advocacy almost 40 years ago, we have developed a much clearer understanding of how mental illnesses impact the whole person. Within Our Reach looks at broader social conditions such as housing and employment and the needs of a person living with a mental illness within their community. This book is a powerful tool for our use as we work to eliminate the barriers that hinder so many from living a full life in the community."—Rosa Gil, Founder, President, and CEO of Comunilife, Inc.

 

"In Within Our Reach, former first lady Mrs. Rosalynn Carter reminds us with great passion and persistence of the importance of resilience, respect and recovery as we approach children and adults with mental illness. Our failure to get quality mental health treatment for children of all ages is driving more and more of them into a cradle to prison pipeline, where they slip away from us and into the adult criminal justice system. We must act now to save them. As Mrs. Carter reminds us, we have not a moment to waste."—Marian Wright Edelman, Founder and President of the Children's Defense Fund

 

"Rosalynn Carter became a convert to the cause of individuals with mental illness along the campaign trail. She has been its champion ever since. The former First Lady makes clear that mental illness is no respecter of persons. It does not register as Republican or Democrat or affect any one race or gender. It affects us all—family and friends, communitiesthat and nations. But Within Our Reach makes clear taht, as never before, there is hope and help available to all those who suffer."—The Honorable Gordon H. Smith

 

"Mrs. Carter offers an invaluable record of several decades on the issue of mental health. The bulleted format provides easy access to specific topics, but one is drawn into each chapter as they culminate in a message of recovery being real and achievable."—Jeannie Ritter, first lady of Colorado

"As a freshman mental health advocate, Within Our Reach: Ending the Mental Health Crisis is now my primer on the state of mental health in our country and the monumental challenges we face. It's not only a clear-eyed, compassionate, deeply informed call-to-arms from a woman who has been in the health care trenches for forty years, it's also a really good read."—Glenn Close, actress

About the Author

Rosalynn Carter, a driving force in the field of mental health throughout her public service career, is the best-selling author of First Lady from Plains. She lives in Plains, Georgia.

Susan K. Golant has written more than 30 books and is coauthor of the award-winning Helping Someone with Mental Illness (with Rosalynn Carter). She lives in Los Angeles.

Kathryn E. Cade serves as chair of the board of trustees of the Judge Baker Children’s Center in Boston. She lives in Massachusetts.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Rodale Books; 1 edition (April 27, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594868816
• ISBN-13: 978-1594868818
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #43,275 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars How to Restore Sanity to Our Current Approach to Mental Health, April 17, 2010

By	Daniel Murphy "Dan Murphy" (Redmond, OR USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Within Our Reach: Ending the Mental Health Crisis (Hardcover)

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"It is far harder to kill a phantom than a reality." Virginia Woolf

In Within Our Reach: Ending the Mental Health Crisis, Rosalyn Carter's brief (156 pgs), well-researched (179 endnotes), interesting and readable book, the former first lady lays waste to many of the ghosts that haunt the field of mental health.

Mrs. Carter is no newcomer to the field, first becoming interested in the mental health issues while helping Jimmy Carter campaign for governor of Georgia in 1966. Under Jimmy Carter, the most significant mental health bill in modern times was passed in 1980, only to be defunded one month after Reagan was inaugurated.

Within Our Reach largely sticks to the facts, and is not a partisan polemic. One in four Americans suffer from mental health related symptoms. Mental health is the largest single cause of disability and loss of productivity in the work place. Yet the treatment for mental health related problems is plagued by lack of access, a diminishing work force of qualified mental health professionals, little to no coverage of costs for those without insurance, and very spotty coverage for those that do. In primary care (I'm a family practitioner) it is estimated that 40% of office visits are related directly or indirectly to mental health issues.

Within Our Reach is true to its introduction, which is titled "A Call to Action". In an easy to follow and logical sequence, Mrs. Carter lays out the phantoms that have inhibited reaching workable solutions to mental health illnesses in the U.S., and then provides the means to exorcise these demons. What are some of these specters? One is the stigma of mental illness, exacerbated by the frequent portrayal in the media of the mentally ill as being frightening and prone to violence. This ghost is laid to rest by pointing out that the mentally ill human has four times as many violent crimes committed against them as the average population does. Meanwhile, only 2% of violent crimes can be attributed to the mentally ill, suggesting that they are LESS likely to commit an act of violence than their sane counterparts in society. Another phantom, hard to kill, is that we can't afford to pay for adequate mental health treatment in the U.S. Carter's response to this is twofold: we can't afford NOT to treat the number one cause of loss of workplace productivity in the U.S., and there are many innovations in the field of mental health that drastically lower the price tag for treatment. The last difficult to slay phantom that I'll mention (there are many others in the book) is along the lines of "why should we bother, not much can be done for crazy people anyway". "Ah" Rosalynn Carter would say, "But there IS much that can be done." And much to the point, the earlier that intervention is done for conditions such as schizophrenia, persistent depression, PTSD, panic attacks, and bipolar affective disorder, the better both the short and long term results are, and the cheaper the short and long term costs are to both the sufferer and society. Watching for early signs of schizophrenia in schools for example, with subsequent prompt intervention, appears to result in dramatic improvements in long term outcomes.

Carter is a pragmatist, not a philosopher or neuroscientist; those looking for the underlying causes of mental illness or those who argue that mental illness is simply what those with neuro-typical behavior call behavior that is less common, will need to look elsewhere for edification.

It is refreshing that for every problem Carter raises, she also presents a workable and affordable solution. It is a rare book that can bring one up to speed on a complex subject in less than 160 pages; this gem is one of them. If the blueprint that Carter lays down were to have been implemented in Virginia Woolf's day, one of literature's most perceptive writers might not have filled her pockets with rocks and waded into a river to end her own life. If the scaffolding of Carter's suggested course of action can be erected, this book suggests (and I am now convinced) that our homes, our communities, and our nation would often move from mentally surviving to mentally thriving. Respect, compassion, and state of the art mental health concepts come together in an admirable and tantalizing blend in Carter's writings. Time to lay the phantoms that have prevented action in the past to rest, and Carter's potent remedies are the sort of bright sunlight that causes ghosts to vanish.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Accessible Overview, March 5, 2010

By	Yours Truly (New York, New York USA) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE)

This review is from: Within Our Reach: Ending the Mental Health Crisis (Hardcover)

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For former First Lady Rosalynn Carter and her co-authors it must be bittersweet to report that thirty years after Mrs. Carter and Senator Ted Kennedy succeeded in passing legislation to reform mental health care, the job remains "within our reach" but still undone. Carter is too tactful to point out that Ronald Reagan,the president who failed to fund this legislation, was nearly killed by a mentally-ill would-be assassin. But I digress.

This book offers a readable overview of what we persist in calling our mental health "system." We see the impact of a variety of mental ills--depression, biopolar disorder, schizophrenia, trauma substance addition-- on various populations, children (especially in foster care), young adults, parents, soldiers, and the elderly. Mrs. Carter has been working on this issue since her husband ran for governor of Georgia and she was beseeched by the families of mental patients to do something to provide more humane care. If our larger health care system is broken, the subset of mental health care functions only sporadically. And when it fails, the regrettable result is too often suicide, the most frequent form of violent death among young people in the U.S.

Mrs.Carter clearly has worked hard to bridge the world between patients, their families and mental health professionals. She quotes freely from all of them to present the problems from all points of view, and she shares much of her own family experience here. But clearly, without the power of the White House or some powerful figure in Congress to drive this issue, it languishes.

Meanwhile,we know more than ever about the brain,and there are promising treatments for many persistent problems. But there are not enough mental health professionals to address the patients, especially those in rural areas and among the aging.

I hope others will take up various aspects of this strand of American medicine. Perhaps more targeted and angrier attacks on the societal complacency that surrounds mental illness will force us to deal with the anguish it causes.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ironic title, March 12, 2010

By	JackOfMostTrades "Jack" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Within Our Reach: Ending the Mental Health Crisis (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

Rosalynn Carter has an informed, intelligent, and well-documented overview of what happens to people described as having mental health problems. The irony of her title lies in the fact that she spends considerable time demonstrating the U.S. has no mental health 'system' and that people who suffer from various non-physical disorders that interfere with developing into personhood, yet titles her book 'Within Our Reach.' Yes, greatly improving mental health care is within our reach, but many alarming statistics show that the 'reach' may be very far, and beyond our abilities as a society to get there any time soon. With a rather anarchic system of treating people in need of mental health care-whether it's minor such as a problem of 'adjustment' or serious, like bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, etc., there seems very little predictive ability to figure out just who will get better and who won't. Access is one problem, of course. But even with facilities and staff, and money, there doesn't seem to be a 'national will' to do anything about this serious problem as levels of depression, suicide and the rest increase. R. Carter focuses in part of stigma, and while it is not as bad as it was, it's still there. It also seems that we are not training enough mental health professionals. According to the book, the average age of an AMerican psychiatrist is 57. What's going on? Is it that the mental health professions don't pay enough? Or is it that people entering medicine, health care, etc., have the same attitudes as much of the rest of the population, i.e., "It's yukky to have patients with mental health problems." Carter cites numerous experts and policy makers (or should we say policy recommenders?) since there's lots of policy but not much listening to it, it seems. If it's true that only 1/3rd of children with mental health problems get treated for them; if there's a wide gap between quality mental health care among the affluent and the poor, if people still think "mental illness" is a word to be used in whispers, there's still a lot of reaching to do. R. Carter does note many well-known Americans from politicians to CEO's who have made their mental health problems known. This is very important. For a general assessment of the major issues, this is a good layperson's book. Thankfuly Rosylann Carter's name is on the book, which will encourage sales. Maybe Oprah will promulgate it. However, the title of the book should not be taken as an optimistic rave; rather a declarative statement: improvements are within our reach. But we have to reach!