Adam Aurand spent nearly a decade of his life stuck in an endless “churn” of emergency rooms, psychiatric hospitals, jails, prison, and life on the streets in and around Seattle. He picked up diagnoses of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and schizoaffective disorder. He also used opioids and methamphetamine.

Each time he entered an institution for care or incarceration, he was released back into homelessness. And the cycle started again.

In 2023, his mother Heidi made a last-ditch effort to break the pattern. “I don’t know what the answer is, but I know that wasn’t the answer,” she said.

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On this week’s episode of Reveal, reporters from the Lost Patients podcast by KUOW and the Seattle Times try to answer a question: Why do America’s systems for treating serious mental illness break down in this way? 

Finding the answer took them to the present-day streets of Seattle, decades into America’s past, and into the minds of people who experience psychosis.

Adam Aurand spent nearly a decade of his life stuck in an endless “churn” of emergency rooms, psychiatric hospitals, jails, prison, and life on the streets in and around Seattle. He picked up diagnoses of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and schizoaffective disorder. He also used opioids and methamphetamine.

Each time he entered an institution for care or incarceration, he was released back into homelessness. And the cycle started again.

In 2023, his mother Heidi made a last-ditch effort to break the pattern. “I don’t know what the answer is, but I know that wasn’t the answer,” she said.

Subscribe to Mother Jones podcasts on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app.

On this week’s episode of Reveal, reporters from the Lost Patients podcast by KUOW and the Seattle Times try to answer a question: Why do America’s systems for treating serious mental illness break down in this way? 

Finding the answer took them to the present-day streets of Seattle, decades into America’s past, and into the minds of people who experience psychosis.