Steele Ken - The day the voices stopped: a memoir of madness and hope

Ken Steele and I first met in 1981, when he was a homeless, psychotic man living in an alleyway in San Francisco. I have no real memory of that first encounterKen was just one of the hundreds of foul-smelling, unshaven, psychologically disorganized men and women I worked with day after day. Most were on the streets, in a desperate exile forced on them by overpowering voices and hallucinations. As a psychiatrist, I did what I could to help, but I faced the depressing reality that many of them would live out their lives in institutions or, worse, return to the streets.

Many years later I was in New York, helping to produce a video on rehabilitation: Ken was also involved in the project, and I was introduced to him again. He struck me as a remarkably intelligent and thoughtful man, so much so that I was alarmed to hear that he had spent decades hospitalized for schizophrenia. I actually suspected that he may have been misdiagnosed. The man before me was smart, funny and an engaging conversationalisthardly the traits one associates with schizophrenia.

Not long after that, Ken told me he knew me from the past. As he described how we had crossed paths in San Francisco, I was stunned that he had been one of the homeless men I had worked with. He generously thanked me for helping him. Its a rare gift for a psychiatrist to receive such thanks, and it was all the more meaningful coming from someone who had not only survived such profound personal tragedy, but had focused his life on understanding and easing the suffering of others.

American society is beginning to radically alter its view of people with mental illness, thanks in no small measure to Kens remarkable work as educator, activist and mentor. Kens intelligence and vision helped make the widely distributed newspaper New York City Voices, which he founded and served as editor-in-chief, a strong and articulate tool for empowering and educating the mental health community, especially those, like Ken, who suffer from mental illness themselves.

One of Kens most dramatic achievements was his creation of the Voter Empowerment Project, a call to arms for those whose mental illnesses had left them disenfranchised and alienated from the political spectrum. By registering 28,000 voters among the mentally ill, Ken assured that mental health issues would gain the attention of politicians and become a visible part of public policy and healthcare debates. Kens efforts have certainly paid off. In the midst of her senate campaign, Hillary Clinton contributed a Candidates Statement on Mental Health Issues to New York City Voices, in which she praised Kens intrepid determination, thanks to which, the voices of the mentally ill are now beginning to be heard first-hand. What few know is that she also called to solicit his input on mental health issues.

Along with his advocacy, Ken offered extraordinary support and wisdom on a personal level to other sufferers of mental illness and their families. He traveled the country lecturing families on the best ways to support their mentally ill loved ones, using his own painful history as an instructive example. Kens efforts as a counselor, support group leader, and advisor personally affected thousands of lives.

Ken Steeles personality and accomplishments are extraordinary, but I hope that soon his recovery will become one of the less remarkable aspects of his story. While the effect of the anti-psychotic medication that allowed Ken finally to live without his voices was in many ways miraculous, it is certainly not unique. Although relatively effective medications to treat schizophrenia have been available for several years, for many people these drugs had little, or no, effect. Recently, a new generation of atypical antipsychotics has offered new hope to millions of people around the world. In addition to offering improvement to those previously untouched by older medications, they also have fewer side effects than earlier drugs, making it more likely that those for whom they are prescribed will, in fact, take them. We are now seeing many Rip Van Winkle cases like Kens: people re-entering the world after decades of separation.

Kens portrayal of the fateful day the voices stopped is one of the most riveting and provocative scenes I have ever read. In this gripping and startling memoir, Ken Steele reveals his worldthe world of severe mental illnesswith an intimacy and power few of us would otherwise be privileged to share. Ken is a classic American hero battling adversity, but the impediments he overcomes are within himself. His strength and his foibles, his rage and his courage, and finally his tenacity and dedication force us to confront ourselves and our world in a new light and with a new empathy. This memorable book will enrich the lives of everyone who reads it.

Shortly after Kens death, Rita Seiden, his final therapist, who helped bring him from years of darkness into light and life, published a tribute to Ken in New York City Voices. She wrote: Everything about you was bigyour size, your intelligence, your personality, your drive to make something out of your life after all those wasted years of mental illness, your capacity to bully and exasperate, your ability to convince others that your vision needed to be fulfilled.

Ken, I hope that through this book, and with the support of those who loved and admired you, we can begin to fulfill your vision.

Stephen Mark Goldfinger, M.D.
January 2001
New York

HE IS WELL KNOWN throughout the mental health movement in this country for helping to lead the effort to rewrite how our society views people living with mental illness.... He publishes a major newspaper written by and for the consumers of mental health services. He created a highly successful voter empowerment program for the mentally ill. There are many individuals who directly attribute their first steps in recovery to having read about Ken, heard Ken on [the] radio, or seen him on television,... who have reached out to him and to whom he has responded. For these achievements, and more, the National Mental Health Association is privileged to present the Clifford W. Beers Award for 1999, our highest honor, to Ken Steele.