Out of the Shadows: Confronting America's Mental Illness Crisis

"Powerful. . . . The crisis [Torrey] delineates should stir any halfway sensitive human being to anger."--The New York Times Book Review

"Brilliant and remarkably detailed. . . . Dr. Torrey, our clearest and most informed voice for the mentally ill, offers his own insightful plan for a way out . . . of a healthcare scandal that remains one of America's most enduring shames."--Phil Donahue.

"If President Clinton is looking for a worthy goal to accomplish in his second term, here's one: Rescue the homeless mentally ill. It can be done. . . . Dr. E. Fuller Torrey . . . provides a five-year road map in Out of the Shadows."--New York Daily News.

"An important book . . . timely and very well written."--The New England Journal of Medicine.

"Controversial ideas, forcefully presented."--Kirkus Reviews

"Moving and vivid. . . . Torrey's powerful prescription for change challenges conventional wisdom and political correctness. His searing case examples will haunt the reader."--Laurie Flynn Executive Director National Alliance for the Mentally Ill

E. Fuller Torrey excoriates the way the mentally ill are treated in this country. His polemic against the concept of "deinstitutionalization" takes us on a grim tour of the lives led by the mentally ill: untreated, homeless, jobless, and helpless against street violence. Torrey argues that the criteria for involuntary commitment should include the need for treatment.