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On May 7th, Patricia Cliff, board member with the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI), threw the fifth annual Ken Book Awards Breakfast named after her son Kenneth Johnson, who died as a result of mental illness. Awards are given annually for outstanding books, which have "substantially contributed to the public's awareness and better understanding of mental illness as a neurobiological brain disease."

This year's winners were: William Anthony, Mikal Cohen, Marianne Farkas and Cheryl Gagne for Psychiatric Rehabilitation; Jean J. Beard and Peggy Gillespie (photography by Gigi Kaeser) for Nothing to Hide-Mental Illness in the Family; Harold S. Koplewicz, M.D. for More Than Moody-Recognizing and Treating Adolescent Depression; Rick Moody for The Black Veil-A Memoir with Digressions and; Robert Whitaker for Mad in America-Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill.

Within NAMI's New York City Metro chapter, is housed the Kenneth Johnson Memorial Research Library where all the books to ever receive a Ken Award are housed, plus much more, including magazines and videos. Books can be taken out by NAMI Metro members. To become a member, please call (212) 684-3365. Be sure to join the library's book and poetry club, which is open to members and non-members alike.

Heather Barr, attorney for the Urban Justice Center was keynote speaker. She is the chief attorney involved in the Brad H. case against New York City, which warrants providing mentally ill inmates with proper treatment services upon discharge as well as health insurance such as Medicaid to pay for them. In her speech she described the problem for the mentally ill in this country, which has the largest incarcerated population in the world.

According to the Department of Justice, 16% of inmates in the U.S. have mental illness. Thirty thousand people are treated for mental illness at Rikers Island per year, making it the second largest institution for the mentally ill in the U.S. Mentally Ill inmates are discharged from Rikers with only a weeks' worth of pills and a Metrocard.

Ms. Barr explained how "cruel and unusual" solitary confinement is used for too high a proportion of mentally ill inmates, depriving them of human contact in tight quarters without much light. She described the impact of such sensory deprivation as "devastating" to inmates' mental health. In closing, she said change will come from the fierce activism of family members.

Award presenters were among the most renowned mental health advocates locally and nationally: Ralph Aquilla, M.D., Anand Pandya, M.D., New York City Department of Mental Hygiene Commissioner Lloyd Sederer, M.D., author Jay Neugeboren, and cultural historian, professor and author Kendall Taylor, Ph.D. Each presenter had nothing but praise for the award winners they presented.

Award-winner Rick Moody, a mental health consumer, said, "It's possible for us…the really difficult cases…to accept treatment," a hopeful message for many of the family members in attendance.

I was surprised to learn that Robert Whitaker's book was to be awarded. I read his book and it didn't seem to fit the awards motto to award books that "substantially contributed to the public's awareness and better understanding of mental illness as a neurobiological brain disease." His book seemed to question whether mental illnesses are neurobiological in origin or just claimed to be so in order to push medications upon the mentally ill that, as the book described, may do more harm than good.

The final award presenter, Kendal Taylor, described Mr. Whitaker's book as "investigative journalism at its best," citing some of the books findings: 1) untreated schizophrenia has lower relapse rate than treated schizophrenia; 2) pharmaceutical drug trials are skewed when big money is at stake and; 3) the pharmaceutical companies and the psychiatric community are in collusion.

An insecure Mr. Whitaker, in the face of a skeptical audience comprised mostly of NAMI-indoctrinated family members, accepted his award. This was not the same confident man who attended the City Voices' sponsored roundtable discussion of his book in 2002. He surprised me by saying, "Honesty and better medicine is the best way to treat schizophrenia." Better medicine? In his book, he questioned the merits of schizophrenia medicines, even the "breakthrough" atypical antipsychotics.

Expectedly, he did cite how outcomes for schizophrenia are better in poor countries where only 16% of patients are treated with medications. Back on track, he said, "I don't believe nobody should be treated with drugs, but many people don't need drugs." He explained that a more effective treatment for recovery is kindness and humane treatment. Finally, he thanked NAMI for honoring a book that is "contrary to accepted wisdom."

Wrapping up the Awards Breakfast, and in response to the controversy in awarding Mr. Whitaker, Mrs. Cliff explained to NAMI members that the Kenneth Johnson Memorial Library is a place for "free speech."