Patrick Kennedy’s new book tells personal stories of mental health in America

NPR

May 5, 2024
By —Ali Rogin
By —Kaisha Young


For former congressman Patrick J. Kennedy, advocating for mental health care is part of his family’s legacy. His uncle, President John F. Kennedy, signed the bill that established the nation’s community-based mental health care system. Ali Rogin sat down with Patrick Kennedy to discuss his new book, which details the mental health struggles and triumphs of everyday Americans.

Read the Full Transcript


Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.

John Yang:

Former Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy, advocating for mental health care is part of his family's legacy. His uncle, President John F. Kennedy signed the bill that established the nation's community based mental health care system. Ali Rogin sat down with Patrick Kennedy to discuss his new book, which details the mental health struggles of everyday Americans.


Ali Rogin:

The U.S. has long been in a mental health crisis that experts say has only gotten worse in recent years. More than one in five adults deal with mental illness but there's still a stigma around openly talking about it.

Patrick J. Kennedy's new book, it's called "Profiles in Mental Health Courage." The title pays homage to his uncle's book which profiled American political leaders. This collection of profiles features the mental health journeys of people from around the country.

Patrick Kennedy, thank you for being here.

Patrick Kennedy, Author, "Profiles in Mental Health Courage": Good to be here.


Ali Rogin:

What made you want to write this book?


Patrick Kennedy:

Well, I remember when Simone Biles wasn't able to complete the Olympics competition and everybody was like, Why can't you get on that balance beam? And she said, I have to protect my mental health.

But really, we don't have a good understanding about what that means because we don't have anybody who tells their full story. I've told the story but frankly we all kind of whitewash it a little bit and make it pretty so that few people who are still in the middle of it don't see themselves reflected in any of the public narratives. Because let's be honest, these are messy, complex illnesses.

And we like finite, very linear descriptions. And for us as a nation, we know all the statistics are horrendous suicide going up, overdose going up. But what we don't have is a sense of what does this really mean like in real people's lives? How do they navigate trying to get insurance coverage? How do they navigate getting good coverage in terms of delivery of evidence based treatment, which many people don't receive?

And then how do they navigate personal relationships, because these are not illnesses in a vacuum. They involve the whole family. And often those stories get left out. We just hear from the first person narrative, this is what happened to me, as if their family was not part of it.

So, I interviewed the therapist, family members, friends, and it's interesting that that provides a much more realistic portrayal of what they're really going through, then the one we often like to tell.


Ali Rogin:

You address a lot of misconceptions in the book, what do you think are some of the biggest, most persistent misconceptions about mental health?


Patrick Kennedy:

Well, the beauty about these stories is that by the end of reading them, people will get a sense of the person and their illness. Part of the reason why people don't want to talk about these illnesses is they think it's such a reflection on their moral character, when in fact, when you read these, it's clear the illness has taken them hostage, that their behavior is a reflection of their brain illness.

And that's a piece that we really haven't fleshed out, because people still, you know, say that that's your moral failing that you've acted in such a way, when you read the stories, you get a very clear sense, well, no, this is this person. And then this is their illness, and those that are already in the middle that will feel less alone, because they'll read stories that they can identify with, we have a very diverse set of profiles, who also have a very diverse set of diagnoses.

But I think from all of it, you will see people need, you know, evidence based treatment for therapy, talk therapy, medicine, and social supports, housing, supportive employment. You can't just do one piece of this and expect the whole thing to work out.

Unfortunately, given our medical system and what we pay for, we often pay for just one leg of the stool, and no wonder it falls down. And no wonder we as a nation are wondering, we spend all this money on mental health. But what's it getting us? We're not paying for what we need to pay for. If we did, we would be getting results, not only because we would screen people earlier, which is what we do for cancer and cardiovascular disease and diabetes. We would be treating them earlier too, which would mean they'd have a better chance of recovering.

When people read these stories, they'll have the sense we need as a nation go further upstream, if we have a conversation earlier about this, because we're not so filled with shame, we're going to be able to help people earlier in the process of their suffering, because we're not going to say, oh, that's something I shouldn't talk about, because it's intruding on their personal territory, we'll have that conversation because we want to save each other's lives. And at the end of the day, more people end up surviving.


Ali Rogin:

One of the things you write about a lot in the book, in terms of your own story, and the others that you share is the connection between mental health and addiction. And so frequently, they're treated as two completely separate things. Why was that important to make that point throughout the book?


Patrick Kennedy:

Well, obviously, we've divvied up brain illnesses, as if they're all separate diagnoses when it's the brain, the brain, the brain. And obviously, you need to treat both kind of concurrently if you're going to get the best results.

And in the advocacy world, we need to stop the siloing. We all want the same things. And so we need to create a new political movement that's much more sophisticated and has the power that really the numbers reflect. We are the biggest special interest group or we could be if we were organized.

And as a former elected official, if I knew this many people in my district cared about this issue, which I can't get now there's no list serve, like there is for the environment, or for organized labor or any other issue. I can't know how many people in my district really will vote differently based upon whether I adhere to their stated set of priorities.

So in the back of this book, I add a QR code to our Alignment for Progress. The concept is we want to align the financial incentives so that we provide housing, supports, medication, talk therapy, and we get the best test results.

Our goal is 90 percent screened. 90 percent given evidence based treatment, and 90 percent having supportive recovery, that should be our goal as a country. Unfortunately, we don't have a vision that unites us. But we have to build on the stories in order to create that vision.


Ali Rogin:

Yeah. And these stories really illustrate that vision that you're talking about. Patrick Kennedy, author of the new book "Profiles in Mental Health Courage." Thank you so much for coming in.


Patrick Kennedy:

Thank you so much for having me.