Mental Illness

Lost to Drugs The street crisis in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood is being fueled by drugs and mental illness. Some of the city funded non-profits like REACH and Plymouth Housing also have a presence in this neighborhood. Critics say their clients are the ones running wild on the streets and causing most of the problems. Late Tuesday evening, Andrea Suarez of We Heart Seattle tried to help a woman undressing on the sidewalk. But she was lost in her drug-induced mania.

On April 28, Governor Kathy Hochul unveiled a $254 billion state budget for fiscal year 2026, which focuses heavily on improving the safety of New York City’s subway system. As part of this effort, the budget includes provisions to enforce laws and beef up police presence. But Governor Hochul’s budget also addresses a related issue: tackling homelessness and treating severe mental illness. The budget includes $25 million for “welcome centers” that will connect homeless and mentally ill people on the subway with essential services. An additional $16.5 million will be set aside for Assisted Outpatient Treatment, $2 million will go to staffing in the Office of Mental Health, and $160 million will create 100 inpatient psychiatric beds. Additionally, Kendra’s Law Read More ›

Nothing Has Changed Monday afternoon, first responders raced to Seattle’s Chinatown-ID for another drug induced mental health freak out. Last week, I warned city leaders about this encampment across the street from Summit Sierra High. It’s littered with drug supplies, feces, and abandoned tents. Nothing has changed.

Getting Close The mom of 26-year-old Danny Finnegan is in Seattle right now searching for her missing son. He was just spotted a few days ago in the University District. There is a $10K cash reward. Let’s bring Danny home. Spotted Outside University Village Surveillance video showing Danny pushing a shopping cart outside University Village shopping mall in Seattle. Look what he’s wearing.

After criticizing some scholarly articles and books, I have three books to recommend. First, here’s a tribute to 86-year-old psychiatrist E. Fuller Torrey, author of American Psychosis: How the Federal Government Destroyed the Mental Illness Treatment System (Oxford University Press, 2013). I first met Torrey in 1989 and heard about what was going wrong. Thirty-five years later, it’s even clearer that the federal panaceas have not panned out. Torrey shows how local and state charities and governments cared for mentally ill individuals, sometimes poorly but often adequately, until 1940, by which time state mental hospitals housed 423,445 individuals. During World War II half of the hospitals’ professional staff members were in the armed forces. Torrey: “The hospitals were grossly overcrowded Read More ›

People who live in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood say this homeless man goes on nightly rampages through their alleyways. Senior citizens living in nearby apartments say they can’t sleep because of all the commotion. Who is this guy? He needs an intervention.

Listen to Robert Marbut discuss how to solve the mental health crisis with radio host Ari Hoffman on KVI. Listen now to the August 29 episode.