The New York Times Magazine - USA (2022-06-05)

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8 6.5.22 Illustrations by Giacomo Gambineri

Photograph by Paolo Pellegrin/Magnum

The Thread

This article is a good example of how
naïveté and wishful thinking can result
in policy prescriptions that hurt the most
vulnerable. The author seems to want to
believe that, because individuals with men-
tal illness are suff ering through no fault of
their own, it is unconscionable to force
any sort of trade-off on them — that they
must be accepted as they are, by virtue of
being victims of their circumstances, and
that society must somehow be to blame for
whatever harm comes to them. Stories of
individuals whose impairments were mild
are particularly damaging — they soothe

Professionally, while I am all for giv-

ing people the right to choose whether or

not to take medication, and incorporating

valuable peer-support groups such as the

Hearing Voices Network, I fi nd that there

is no ‘‘cookie cutter’’ solution for behav-

ioral-health challenges on either side. I

feel that this article really glorifi es going

off medication as part of a panacea, when

this is not always the case. Mental-health

struggles are nuanced and complex, and

in my lifelong experience with this, treat-

ment should be as well.

Furthermore, I worry that people may

read this article and decide to fl ush their

own meds down the toilet. If Mazel-Carlton

did this with no side eff ects from going off

meds, that was luck. Many people really suf-

fer with dangerous side eff ects when doing

this, and should work with a doctor and

therapist/peer provider when weaning off.

Emily Grossman, New York

RE: KHARKIV

Th e writer James Verini and the photojour-

nalist Paolo Pellegrin made a 4,000-mile

journey through war-torn Ukraine for an

article about life in Kharkiv.

We have seen so many pictures of bombed

buildings with tangles of eviscerated plas-

ter and wire, but too rarely do we read

about the evisceration of daily life of a

people, and even more important, what

it’s like to live on in such shatter. Verini’s

account here is unremitting and unfailing,

and Pellegrin’s photos make the brutality

so personal. Survival in war is a delusion

and seeing that with a frank eye a mad-

ness. Yet here we are, and this reader is

grateful in a terrible way for the close-up.

David Cohea, Florida

Send your thoughts to [email protected].

‘Mental-health

struggles

are nuanced and

complex, and

in my lifelong

experience

with this,

treatment should

be as well .’

Readers respond to the 5.22.2022 issue.

RE: OPEN MINDS
Daniel Bergner wrote about a new men-
tal-health movement that provides support
for people trying to live without antipsychot-
ic medications.

I thank you for this informative piece on
new solutions for psychological disorders,
specifi cally those that focus on the torture of
hearing voices constantly in one’s head. My
brother suff ered from hallucinations, hear-
ing voices and constant paranoia for most
of his life. In the 1970s, there were very few
drugs available for his symptoms, which
changed from totally calm one moment to
trying to jump from a moving vehicle the
next. My parents took him to various men-
tal facilities, only to fi nd nothing to cure his
mental condition, which eventually ended
with him taking his life. I wish there were
safe medications and groups developed at
that time. It sounds like the Hearing Voices
Network might have given my brother the
confi dence and tools to reach out to oth-
ers who shared his same symptoms, and
maybe he would be here with me today.
Name Withheld

the anxieties of liberal-minded people

who want to believe that mental illness

is really no big deal and hence does not

require any sort of coercion or limiting of

freedoms, while erasing the existence of

people whose illnesses are so debilitating

that a lack of structure and medication will

likely kill them. To my mind, this article

puts ideology before people.

A, New York

Caroline Mazel-Carlton has tremendous

insight into her illness, and sharing it is

a gift. My brother has been living with

schizophrenia for about 36 years. He

doesn’t have Mazel-Carlton’s insight,

but for the past couple of years he has

been living in a group home that he likes,

which reduces his stress and improves

the quality of his life. He still hears voices,

but they are only slightly annoying. He’s

very social and says all his housemates are

his friends. He has made it into old age

and doesn’t have to worry about money

or health insurance. We are still in the

dark ages about treating and preventing

mental illness. I wish Mazel-Carlton all

the best that life has to off er and many

thanks for sharing her story.

Diane, New York

I am a person living in recovery from

bipolar disorder with psychotic features

for nearly 15 years, a mental-health

peer provider like Mazel-Carlton and

a training director at a mental-health

nonprofit in New York City. While I love

the peer-support aspect of this article,

I find the rest unbalanced. Medication,

along with therapy and daily medita-

tion, took me to a recovered state after

nearly being institutionalized perma-

nently for my struggles, and after 12

psychiatric hospitalizations.