Conservatorship

A heartbreakingly insightful ethnographic deep dive into the failure of mental health care in the United States that everyone refuses to pay for–and for which no public authority takes responsibility. Barnard strategically takes us through each dysfunctional interstice of California’s iconically mismanaged mental health system that manages to maximize costs, minimizes benefits and tortures everyone involved–especially people with psychosis spectrum disorders whose lives are cut short by the public/private bureaucratic quagmire that has been waging war on itself for the past half century. -- Philippe Bourgois author of<i>In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio</i> and co-author of <i>Righteous Dopefiend</i> Vivid case studies and probing interviews humanize this journey through the fraught terrain of involuntary care. Barnard pulls few punches in describing the more offensive stretches of the roadmap but avoids veering into unalloyed condemnation or praise. His thoughtful exploration yields reasons for hope that our better angels might prevail. -- Roderick Shaner, MD, former medical director of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health In California, the state has abdicated its authority over the conservatorship process by delegating state functions to a fragmented field of actors. Cutting through overly simplistic accounts of conservatorship, Barnard uses rich data and sharp theory to delve into the pitfalls of this abdication of authority. -- Josh Seim, author of <i>Bandage, Sort, and Hustle: Ambulance Crews on the Front Lines of Urban Suffering</i>