Mental Health Advocates versus Mental Illness Advocates

Excerpts from Speech to NAMI/NYS Convention

By DJ Jaffe

Exec. Dir. Mental Illness Policy Org.

November 15, 2013

I am supposed to talk on legislation here and in Washington, and I would be glad to talk about that. But before beginning I want to make clear that like most of you, I am not a mental health advocate. 

Like most of you, I am a mental illness advocate.  I think we need less mental health spending and more mental illness spending.  It is the most seriously ill not the worried-well, who disproportionately become homeless, commit crime, become violent, get arrested incarcerated or hospitalized. 360,000 are behind bars and 200,000 homeless because we are now focused on improving mental health, rather than treating serious mental illness.

My number one message is that we have to stop ignoring the most seriously ill. Send them to the front of the line for services rather than jails shelters prisons and morgues.  I’ll talk about how mental health advocates ignore the seriously ill, followed by how the debate between mental health and mental illness is being reflected in legislation in Washington and Albany.

Now before beginning, I admit the boundary between mental health and mental illness is debatable, but the extremities are clear. 100% of the population can have their mental health improved. 20% have some sort of illness that can be found in DSM, mainly minor illnesses like anxiety. And most of the illnesses in DSM are minor. But only 4.2% have a serious mental illness like schizophrenia, treatment resistant bipolar, major severe depression or another illness that prevents them from functioning.

Historically, people with serious mental illness were a priority because our budget was spent on the hospitalized. But mental health advocates have changed our focus. The federal government spends $130 billion mental health dollars, much on improving the mental health of all Americans-or as former NYS OMH Commissioner Michael Hogan argued, “to create hope filled environments where people can grow”

I say we stop ignoring the seriously mentally ill.

That distinction between mental health and mental illness is the main debate going on today around the country and is certainly at the core of the two bills Congress is now considering and was at the core of some bills being considered in New York like the SAFE Gun Control Legislation.  NAMI/NYS is one of the few groups doing both.  They have always done a stellar job at trying to improve the mental health of the 20% and they also advocate for the 4%. So if someone asks me, “Where do I stand” it is with NAMI/NYS. Although I should add, my comments today are mine, not theirs. 

Let me talk about how mental health advocates drive care away from the most seriously ill. 

Mental "health" advocates claim everyone is well enough to volunteer for treatment. That is simply not true. As Congressman Murphy-who is also a psychologist, mentioned last night, some have anosognosia: They are so sick, they don’t know they are sick because the brain is impaired so insight is lacking. When you see someone walking down the street screaming they are the Messiah it is not because they think they are the Messiah. They know it. Their illness tells them it is so.

We have to stop ignoring the seriously ill  

Other mental "health" advocates claim mental illness affects everyone and claim all mental illness is serious. They are wrong. All mental illness is not serious. Many people I worked with including myself, have had or have depression, anxiety, have trouble sleeping, take Zoloft or Prozac, or nothing and do quite well.  We don’t need funds diverted from the seriously ill to the highest functioning.

Mental "health" advocates claim everyone recovers. That is False. Some do not. They actually hide those who don’t recover. You won’t see the homeless and psychotic in their Mental Health Awareness Week PSAs because they want everyone to believe all mentally ill are high functioning. Trying to gain sympathy for mental illness by only showing the high functioning is like trying to end hunger in Africa, by only showing the well-fed.

We have to stop ignoring the seriously ill

There are two trade associations here in Albany that do some good work for the high functioning, but claim to speak for those with serious mental illness. They want OMH to close hospitals that serve the seriously ill and turn the money over to them.  That would be wrong. We are short 95000 hospital beds, nationwide and 4000 in NY, even if we had perfect community services.  When hospitals go down incarceration goes up. There are so few hospitals, today it’s harder to get into Bellevue than Harvard and once in you’ll be discharged sicker and quicker. Here in Albany last week Desmond Wyatt was released from the Capital District Psychiatric Center and killed his mother the next day.  His brother told police Desmond was hearing voices but that didn’t stop the hospital from releasing him.

We have to stop ignoring the seriously ill.

Mental health advocates work to convince the public that violence is not associated with mental illness. That may be true for the high functioning but violence is clearly associated with untreated serious mental illness. To convince the public mentally ill are not more violent, mental health advocates quote studies of the treated. Those studies prove treatment works, not that the untreated are not more violent than others. Or they quote studies of the 20% with any mental illness not the 4% with serious mental illness. Their studies are of those in the community and therefore exclude the violent: those in jails, in prisons, involuntarily committed, or have completed suicide.

They argue even talking about violence causes stigma. Talking about violence is a prerequisite to reducing it. It is violence by the small minority that tars the non-violent majority. Their failure to admit to violence is preventing us from implementing policies to reduce it.

We have to stop ignoring the seriously ill.

Current laws prevent people from getting treatment until after they become danger to self or others. That’s ludicrous. Laws should prevent violence not require it. Think seatbelts. But mental "health" advocates want civil commitment to be even more difficult. They argue involuntary treatment is bad without recognizing jail and prison are worse. They argue against medications and restraint and as the NY Times pointed out on Monday that is causing hospitals to become dangerous places. Patients can’t be restrained so hospitals call police. Mental health advocacy is causing seriously mentally ill patients into prisoners.

We have to stop ignoring the seriously ill.

Mental Health Advocates are working to stop Assisted Outpatient Treatment (Kendra’s Law). AOT is the most successful treatment for the small group of the most seriously ill who already accumulated multiple incidents of violence, arrest, incarceration, or needless hospitalization because of their refusal, actually their inability, to be well enough to volunteer for treatment. Kendra’s allows courts to order six months of mandated and monitored community treatment.  It is less restrictive than the alternatives: inpatient commitment and incarceration. It reduces arrest, suicide, hospitalization and violence among people with serious mental illness over 70% each and cut costs in half creating more funds for services for all.

Peer support may do something. But it is not proven to do anything like what Kendra’s Law does. But mental health advocates want to replace Kendra’s Law with peer support.

We have to stop ignoring the seriously ill

Mental "health"  advocates encourage government to spend more on prediction and prevention. As we heard in multiple sessions yesterday, we don’t know how to predict or prevent serious mental illness because we don’t know what causes it.  They argue we should focus our spending on children because half of all mental illness begins before age 14.  But the statement is only true if you include substance abuse. The study the claim is based on actually EXCLUDED serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar. Serious mental illness begins in late teens and early twenties and continues after that. That’s where we have to focus our attention.

Mental "health" advocates argue mental illness is associated with bad grades, poverty, single parent households, and their latest cause, bullying and cyberbullying so we should divert funds meant to help the seriously ill to improve grades, end poverty, improve marriages and address cyberbullying.  Those are worthy social services issues but are not mental illnesses. Spending mental health funds on those diverts attention from mental illness.   Mental "health" advocates claim trauma is a mental illness. Trauma is not a mental illness. PTSD is. It can be extreme or mild.

Stop Diverting the Money!

Mental  "health" advocates blame police when something goes wrong, and want more CIT training as do I. But police only step in when one condition has been met: The mental health system failed. And mental health advocates fail to recognize that as their diverting funds to the tangential rather than the consequential is largely responsible for the system failing. As mental 'health" advocates abandoned advocating for the seriously ill, criminal justice has stepped up: Largely thanks to Chief Biasotti, the International and NYS Associations of Chiefs of Police, Dept. of Justice, National Sheriffs Association, and others have become the leading voices on how to improve care for the seriously ill.

Now I’d like to turn to how this debate between mental health and serious mental illness is playing out in New York and Washington.

What is interesting to me, is that generally it is Republicans, not Democrats who are helping the seriously ill.  I am a left wing Democrat so it pains me to say, but my party is generally oblivious to the fact that throwing more money at mental health does not improve treatment for people with serious mental illness. Democrats have been captured by mental health advocates and therefore ignore unpleasant truths like not everyone recovers, sometimes hospitals are needed; and left untreated a small subset of the most seriously ill do become violent.  

For example, in NY, when Governor Cuomo said he was going to pass legislation requiring therapists to report potentially dangerous mentally ill to criminal justice so they could be banned from owning firearms, there was no way to stop it. But Republicans inserted provisions requiring the reports to go through county mental health directors rather than directly from therapist to criminal justice. Why? Because that was a way to force county mental health departments to become aware of seriously mentally ill who live in their counties. The hope was they would offer treatment not just take guns away.  Directors fought the provision, preferring to keep their heads in the sand.  They called it an ‘unfunded mandate’. Helping the seriously ill is not an unfunded mandate, it is their mandate.

Much of the rest of the speech was dedicated to explaining the provisions of the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act (HR 3717), why a competing bill doesn't help, and myths raised by mental health advocates about it. 

To improve care for people with serious mental illness money is not missing, leadership is. We have to stop listening to mental health advocates and start listening to mental illness advocates. We need to replace mission creep with mission control. As Police Chief Biasotti, testified to Congress,

We have two mental health systems today, serving two mutually exclusive populations: Community programs serve those who seek and accept treatment. Those who refuse, or are too sick to seek treatment voluntarily, become a law enforcement responsibility. …(M)ental health officials seem unwilling to recognize or take responsibility for this second more symptomatic group.”

We have to stop ignoring the seriously ill.

Thank you.

About Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT)

Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) is for a very small group of the most seriously mentally ill who already accumulated multiple incidents of hospitalization arrest or incarceration associated with their failing to stay in voluntary treatment. AOT allows judges, after full due process to require certain mentally ill to accept six months of mandated and monitored treatment as a condition for living in the community. It provides an off ramp before incarceration. As Linda Dunn said, Assisted Outpatient Treatment is like putting a fence by the edge of the cliff rather than an ambulance at the bottom. (Barnidge 2014)

The research on AOT is extensive and positive. (Mental Illness Policy Org 2013). Six months of mandated and monitored treatment has been shown to reduce homelessness 74%; hospitalization 77%; arrest 83%; incarceration 87%, physical harm to others 47%; property destruction 46%; suicide attempts 55%; and substance abuse (48%). By replacing expensive incarceration and hospitalization with less expensive community care Assisted Outpatient Treatment cuts costs to taxpayers in half. (Swanson, et al. 2013). AOT also reduces victimization. (V.A. Hiday 2002). These results are particularly outstanding because AOT is limited to the most seriously ill, often a very hard to treat population.

Affordable Care Act/ACA Fails Seriously Mentally Ill

Many 'mental health' advocates claim that the Affordable Care Act (ACA, a/k/a "Obamacare") combined with "mental health parity" will ensure people with mental health issues get care. The ability to keep a child on your insurance until age 26 will likely help many, since serious mental illness affects people in their late teens, early twenties. Maybe other provisions will help the higher functioning. But as the analysis below shows, overall, it makes things worse for the most seriously ill: those who need long term hospitalization.  Unfortunately, the impact of ACA on the most seriously mentally ill has been largely ignored by 'mental health' advocates.

Please send letter in Support of Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act

If you are part of any organization (state or local NAMI, MHA, Prison Reform, Consumer Group, etc) that wants to help persons with serious mental illness, please send a letter on your letterhead, to Rep. Tim Murphy urging passage of Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act (HR 3717). They want as many letters of support from organizations as possible.

You can see the NAMI/NYS letter below and use it as a model. You can see other letters (ex. NAMI National, American Psychiatric Assoc., etc) at http://murphy.house.gov/helpingfamiliesinmentalhealthcrisisact#Letters%20of%20Support

Here's what's in the new "Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis" Act

(Left-Representatives Leonard Lance of New Jersey,  Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a medical doctor, and Congressman Tim Murphy (Psychologist)  introduce the "Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act" HR 3717 12/12/13). 

Call your Representative and ask him/her to support HR 3717. To find your Rep phone number, enter your zip code at http://www.opencongress.org/people/zipcodelookup 

BACKGROUND

SPENDING AND SCOPE OF PROBLEM

In 2014, the U.S. will spend $203 billion on mental health. Due to mission-creep, the funds are now spent ‘improving mental health’ rather than treating those with serious mental illness. Moms who have children known to be seriously mentally ill are virtually powerless to see they receive care. While the public becomes aware of the failure of the mental health system after high-profile rare acts of violence, the everyday tragedies faced by people with serious mental illness and their families go unnoticed.

Obama Mental Illness Parity Regulations Fail to Help the Most Seriously Mentally ill

The Obama administration announced new regulations requiring private insurers to do what the federal government wont: provide health care coverage for mental illnesses equal to that provided for other physical illnesses. The new regulations will help many, but only few of the most seriously mentally ill. And while requiring private insurers to end discrimination against mental illness is to be lauded, it is unconscionable, dangerous and expensive to allow the federal government to continue its own discrimination.

President Obama should focus any incremental social service and health care programs on those who need it most, rather than the higher functioning.

Julius Graham, and Riverside Park Stabbings

Ray Kelly says the person Julius Graham, the homeless man who allegedly stabbed multiple individuals in Manhattan today (10/1/13) appears to be 'emotionally disturbed'. Following is info for those who want to understand why the NYS mental health system does such a poor job of preventing violence by persons with serious mental ilness. It is not lack of funding. It is lack of leadership.

NY has a “Tragedy Before Treatment” Mental Ilness Policy. We need a “Treatment Before Tragedy”  System.

In NY hearing voices and being delusional is, not enough to get someone treatment if they don’t recognize they are ill. For that to happen, they have to force the issue by bringing on a tragedy. Rather than prevent violence, NY laws require it.

 About 16% of all the people in Office of Mental Health psychiatric hospitals are forensic patients, who gained admission only after a tragedy occurred and a court process forced the state to admit them.

New York went from 600 beds per 100,000 population in the mid-1950s to fewer than 27 today. As a result, Rikers Island is New York’s largest psychiatric institution, holding more mentally ill people than all Office of Mental Health hospitals combined.

State mental health officials are proposing to close more psychiatric hospital beds, thereby making hospitalization even more difficult. They claim few of the existing beds are used, but that is only because the Office of Mental Health discharges patients “sicker and quicker” to artificially reduce the count. Experts say, to meet minimum standards, NYS needs 4300 more beds to serve those with serious mental illness. Here's what we need to do.

Obama's Mental Health Conference: Irrelevant at Best and Likely Harmful

President Obama and Vice President Biden are gathering the usual suspects for a mental health conference today focused on 'stigma'. While ostensibly in reaction to tragedies like Newtown, it ignores the elephant in the room:  people with serious mental illnesses.

Obama simply does not understand the difference between poor mental health and serious mental illness and the 'experts' he is relying on are happy to keep it that way. Everyone can have their mental health improved, but only 5-9% have serious mental illnesses. Obama keeps focusing on the former and ignoring the later.  Yet it is people with serious mental illness who are responsible for headline grabbing horrific acts of psychotic-feuled violence. It is people with serious mental illnesses, not low self-esteem who have increased incidence of homelessness, suicide, arrest, incarceration, and hospitalization.  It is people with serious mental illness who as a kind and compassionate society we should be helping.

After his last mental health conference in April, mental 'health' advocates convinced Obama to spend $140 million more to identify people with mental illness. As we wrote after that conference

Jared Loughner, who shot Gabrielle Giffords; James Holmes, who shot up a movie theater in Aurora, Colo.; John Hinckley Jr., who shot President Reagan; Aaron Bassler, who shot a former mayor of Fort Bragg, Calif.; Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, who mailed explosive packages around the country; Ian Stawicki, who shot five others and then himself in Seattle; Eduardo Sencion, who shot five National Guardsmen at a Nevada IHOP restaurant; Russell Weston, who shot two guards at the U.S. Capitol building; and Adam Lanza, who shot his mother, 26 others, and himself in Newtown, Conn. -- all were known to be ill before they became headlines. The problem wasn't lack of identification. It was lack of treatment.

If Obama wants to get serious about serious mental illness, he should invite criminal justice experts to the White House. The mental health system 'treats' the worried well and off loads the seriously ill to shelters, jails prisons and morgues.  There are now three times as many mentally ill incarcerated as hospitalized. Police, sheriffs, district attorneys, correction officers, parole officers, and forensic hospital workers  go where the mental health system won't: to the aide of people with serious mental illness. No sane mental illness policy can be contemplated without their perspective.

There are five steps President Obama can take to help people with serious mental illness, keep patients and public safer, and save money. They will not likely be discussed at today's conference because he has only included mental 'health', not mental illness experts in the dialogue.

1. Fund Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) laws so rather than requiring people with serious mental illness to become "danger to self or others" , we can prevent people from becoming danger to self or others. 
2. Change HIPPA privacy laws so parents of seriously mentally ill individuals can get the information they need to help their loved ones get care.
3. End federally sanctioned Medicaid discrimination against the seriously mentally ill incorporated in the "IMD Exclusion". It allows the federal government to refuse to reimburse for inpatient hospital care for persons with serious mental illness. While Obama is correctly adamant that private insurers end discrimination against the mentally ill, he has been silent on federal discrimination. 
4. Send those with serious mental illness to the front of the line for services rather than the back as is current practice.
5. Eliminate SAMHSA (the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration) which is funding nationwide activities designed to prevent the most seriously ill from receiving treatment. Any useful programs can be transferred to NIMH, CDC, and other agencies with better focus.

When I campaigned for Obama he promised to "listen to good ideas no matter where they come from." So he should listen to Representative Tim Murphy (R-PA), a former psychologist. He has done a brilliant job in Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearings of looking at what real solutions might be to prevent the arrest, incarceration, violence, suicide, homelessness, and hospitalization of the most seriously ill. As a Democrat who volunteered for Obama, I don't like admitting the best expert is a Republican, but I care about people with serious mental illness more than political persuasion.

I believe Obama wants to help. But if the definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over and expecting different results, then Obama qualifies. He should reach out to those who want to change the status quo, not those invested in maintaining it.  

Darrel Steinberg pseudo-support for Laura's Law

(Updated 9/3/13)

Urgent: Contact Governor Jerry Brown immediately (Sept. 2013) and urge him to sign SB 585 which will help clarify that Mental Health Services Act (Prop 63) funds may be used to fund Laura's Law.Phone: (916) 445-2841 Fax: (916) 558-3160 and use online contact form.

Background:

Laura's Law allows courts to order a small group of people who have serious mental illness and a history of dangerousness to stay in treatment as a condition of living in the community. It has reduced arrest, incarceration, hospitalization and length of hospitalization in the two counties that use Laura's Law.

Two Reasons Counties Haven't Implemented Laura's Law:

There are two reasons more counties don't implement Laura's Law. Three million dollars in Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) funds are going to Disability Rights California and they are using those funds to threaten to sue counties that use any MHSA funds to implement Laura's Law even though such expenditure is clearly allowed. Laura's Law requires county boards of supervisors to vote to implement Laura's Law and simultaneously certify that no voluntary programs will be cut to do it.

Steinberg initially promised to help:

 In reaction to widespread outrage that people were being denied access to MHSA funded programs

Mental Illness Awareness and Improvement Act (S-689) Not Written To Help Mentally Ill

Mental Illness Awareness and Improvement Act (S 689) may go to Senate this week. It will increase funding for "Mental Health First Aid", a program sometimes taught by consumers certified to teach it. It is well-intentioned. It will make legislators feel better, and the trade association representing mental health providers richer, but it won't help people with serious mental illness. Many sections focus on children, but serious mental illness doesn't start until late teens. It funds programs not proven to help and likely don't help. Here is our analysis, footnotes, Notes on the study of MHFA, and analysis of other sections.

Mental Health First Aid is Unproven yet Government Subsidized
Analysis by Mental Illness Policy Org (3/18/12)

SUMMARY

As part of his “Now is the Time” initiative in response to the shootings at Newtown, President Obama announced support for $15 million to Mental Health First Aid Program and a $20 million dollar bill was introduced.  (1, 2)  Mental Health First Aid is a commercially available training program created in Australia and now sold by non-profits elsewhere. The training program teaches people to identify the symptoms of mental illness in others and connect them to help. (3) It also licenses others to be trainers for a fee.

There is no evidence Mental Health First Aid has any impact on persons with mental illness.

RESEARCH DOES NOT SHOW ANY BENEFIT TO PERSONS WITH MENTAL ILLNESS

Thirty-six of the 55 studies on Mental Health First Aid were authored or co-authored by the founders and owners of the approach, Betty Kitchener or

Why the public won't listen to mental health advocates

While virtually the entire nation unites around the reasonable proposition that people with serious mental illnesses should not own assault weapons, one group takes umbrage: mental-health experts. In the wake of incidents such as the one at Newtown, the experts immediately issue press releases claiming that people with mental illness are no more violent than others, leading to the conclusion that people with serious mental illness should not be the target of gun-control efforts.

How can the chasm be so wide? Who is right? The public that believes mental illness is associated with violence, or the experts who claim it is not? The science of violence becomes clear when you look at the totality of mental illness violence studies versus any single study. The definitive answer is: It depends on who is mentally ill.

Are mentally ill more violent? Here's the definitive answer.

The stats on violence are clear when you look at the totality of violence studies, versus any single study. Studies are also often intentionally skewed and misrepresented. Here is the truth:

NYS OMH Commissioner Leaving: Good News for NYS

Last week we wrote on a NYS Inspector General Report proving the NYS Office of Mental Health (OMH) falsifies discharge plans of people with mental illness in order to kick them out of the hospital.

This week we are happy to report that in an article posted online NYS OMH Commissioner Michael Hogan made it clear he is leaving.

This is good news. NY needs a commissioner who will focus the department on serving the sickest people, rather than the largest number of people. It is the key change needed at OMH: Send those with the most serious mental illnesses to the front of the line, rather than the back, like Hogan did.

We previously wrote Huffington Post why Michael Hogan should be fired and in Albany Times Union on how eliminating OMH could improve services for the most seriously ill. We calculated how his refusal to support one program (Kendra's Law) was costing NYS $73 million. Huffington Post writer and medical director of the New York State Office of Mental Health estimated that inefficiency in OMH was costing up to $665 million. While OMH stopped focusing on the most seriously ill and started focusing on the least, the tragedies mounted as more persons with mental illness shot others, were shot by police, or killed themselves in an effort to escape the Hell that lack of care placed them in.

Hopefully, Governor Andrew Cuomo is replacing Mr. Hogan with a commissioner who will reverse his practices and return the focus to people with serious mental illness. It won't be easy. OMH is the biggest state agency giving out billions of dollars. That tends to gain you a lot of friends interested in preserving the status quo.

Numerous setbacks in care for seriously mentally ill

Sorry for not sending summer Mental Illness News. Here are recent developments in serious mental illness (not mental “health”).

 

Announcement: VIDEO FOOTAGE WANTED

We would like video of people with serious mental illness who are off medications and psychotic. If you have, please send. Try to get permission to use, but if you can't, we can blank out faces if needed. We want to educate the public about what serious untreated mental illness looks like. Footage may come from police interrogations, home video, trials, whatever. Most advocacy groups won’t allow public to see untreated serious mental illness. We want to change that because we believe a better understanding will lead to better laws and treatment.

 

LIBERTARIAN Thomas Szasz, progenitor of the ‘mental illness is a myth’ myth died. Szasz’s ideology that mental illness is a myth has permeated parts of government and prevented millions from receiving treatment. The NY Times obit revealed his prior connection to Scientology. Relatedly, we prepared a fact sheet comparing and contrasting Scientology (CCHR) and Mindfreedom. To their credit, the Libertarian Cato Institute ran our piece on How involuntary commitment & Treatment can increase civil liberties of mentally ill. Dr. Ronald Pies highlighted the pathology of schizophrenia and Rael Jean Issac, author of the most brilliant book on subject, Madness in the Streets took on Szasz directly.

 

CONSUMER NEWS

 

• In MICHIGAN, video emerged of Milton Hall, a man known to have mental illness and going untreated being shot and killed by police who felt threatened.
• FLORIDA police felt threatened by and killed mentally ill Ghulam Yahya Mujtaba.
• IN TEXAS, Thomas Cafall, a man with mental illness killed two at TEXAS A&M before being shot by police.
• IN COLORADO Mentally ill Kyle Miller, was shot by police after pointing a gun at officers.
• In ARIZONA Jared Loughner shot Gabrielle Giffords he is being given the involuntary treatment he needed, but could not receive before the shootings.

 

 

In light of the above, advocates argue for more police training. We believe if the mental health system were trained not to abandon people with serious mental illness and hide behind civil commitment laws the police would not need to be called.

 

It is nice to see consumer leaders emerging willing to stand up to the anti-treatment Szasian wing of the movement:

• Consumer blogger Natasha Tracy wrote on antipsychiatry consumers attacking those who disagree.
• Linda Saslow wrote a beautiful op-ed on being involuntarily committed.
• Erin Hawkes wrote “Forced Medication Saved My Life”.

 

 

FAMILY NEWS

 

Families are between a rock and a hard place: if they call the mental health system, they won’t help unless their child is well enough to accept help. When they deteriorate and the family is forced to call police, police can feel threatened and shoot. as two cases in CALIFORNIA demonstrated.

• Julian Kurita in NY received the minimum sentence, after his mom pleaded for the court for leniency when he was convicted of killing her husband, his father due to his schizophrenia.
• Jeneen Interlandi wrote a moving and highly visible piece in Sunday NY Times Magazine about civil commitment laws creating an inability to get her father treatment for his mental illness and the needless pain and suffering that caused. Hundreds of families commented.

 

POLITICS OF SERIOUS MENTAL ILLNESS:

 

• New stats show state psych bed shortage is getting even worse.
• New Pew Center report shows states are making it harder for people with mental illness to get meds.
• The Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act (ACA), but as we wrote it really doesn’t help seriously mentally ill who need hospital care.
• Sadly, Paolo del Vecchio, a non-MD, and a leader of the anti-treatment movement was made Director of SAMHSA. (On the plus side legislators discussed cutting SAMHSA’s budget as we have suggested).
• Marvin Ross wrote on transplant committees denying organ transplants to people with schizophrenia.
• When James Holmes killied 12 in a COLORADO movie theater we wrote on the inadequacy of legal system to handle persons with mental illness for National Review as did Dr. E. Fuller Torrey. Like most, James Holmes was known to the mental health system but was exercising his right to not accept treatment. Perhaps Pete Early said it best, in USA Today:

 

“The suspect's parents will be blamed, though our civil rights laws make it extremely difficult for family members to force anyone to see a doctor or seek medical treatment if he or she has a mental disorder and is acting oddly. By law, we protect the right of an individual to be "crazy." Yet, we become outraged when a Cho or a Loughner kill and maim.” Huffington Post blogger made a full-throated case for better assisted treatment laws.

 

 

CIVIL COMMITMENT NEWS:

 

• Thanks to our efforts the Department of Justice certified Assisted Outpatient Treatment as an “effective crime prevention strategy.”

• GEORGIA Legislators are looking into reforming their civil commitment laws.
• WEST VIRGINIA is contemplating reform of civil commitment laws and MIPO’s testimony was covered by the Charleston Gazette.
• TEXAS is starting to see the benefits of implementing Assisted Outpatient Treatment (a court order to stay in treatment while in the community).
• Thanks to advocates in TENNESSEE, Knoxville started a pilot AOT program in Knoxville.
• OHIO is giving discharged prisoners more medicines.
• The DELAWARE legislature started a group to evaluate civil commitment laws (although it is dominated by ‘mental health’ interests rather than those who have experience with people with serious mental illness (ex. corrections).
• In Arizona, Deborah Fabos started a FB group for and blog for AOT reform. Mary Lou Brncik criticized AZ’s policy of incarcerating mentally ill.

 

BAD STATE NEWS:

 

• ILLINOIS received a court go-ahead to close Tinley Park Mental Health Center which (gasp!) provides inpatient psychiatric services to severely mentally ill.
• Pierce County WASHINGTON jail saw OT costs soar because of incarcerating mentally ill.

 

MEDICAL BRIEFS:

 

New fact sheet shows ANOSOGNOSIA (lack of awareness that you are ill) prevents many seriously mentally ill from getting treatment. There was a tempest in a teapot when pop-media reporting spanking is associated with mental illness. Not true.

 

BEST QUOTES

 

”A mentally ill person in US can get a gun easier than healthcare for their illness.”

 

"With respect to severe mental illness, our county has a “can't do, can’t change, cant fund and can’t help attitude”

said Jim Bassler, who’s son Aron killed two and was hunted down by police and killed after the mental health system used civil commitment laws to deny him care.

PSYCHIATRISTS:

 

• Dr. George Dawson (a/k/a “Real Psychiatry”) and James Coyne (a/k/a “Skeptical Sleuth”) regularly tackle the internet memes, myths, pop-psychology and nonsense surrounding serious mental illness. Coyne wrote how the race towards early identification of ‘at-risk’ individuals (as opposed to treating those who are already ill) may be leading to oncologists being bribed by pharma to find 'mental illness' in Psychology Today.
• Dr. Sally Satel, Dr. Steve Sharfstein, and Dr. E. Fuller Torrey did a brilliant serious mental illness roundtable discussion that focused on Dr. Torrey’s succinct analysis of the failure of federal mental ‘health’ system. The roundtable focused on SAMHSA encouraging states to move away from medical treatment; the failure to use Assisted Outpatient Treatment; the lack of psychiatric hospital beds and many of the other issues important to Mental Illness Policy Org but ignored by mental ‘health’ community (NAMI, MHA, consumertocracy, etc.)

 

JUDGES, POLICE & CORRECTIONS

 

• Judge Leifman says, ““We never deinstitutionalized; we just transferred responsibility from a hospital system to the prison system,”
• GEORGIA prison chief wrote on why we should “Decriminalize Mental Illness”
• Michael Biasotti, President of NYS Association of Chiefs of Police encouraged NY legislators to close the cracks in Kendra’s Law.

 

NEW YORK

 

Mental Illness Policy Org was very active in NYS this summer and started a NY Specific site. We wrote too many op-eds and testimonies to present them all here.

 

NY FAILURE TO CLOSE CRACKS IN KENDRAS LAW:

 

In spite of our efforts the legislature did not close the cracks in Kendra’s Law as proposed by NYS Senator Catherine Young and Assembly Member Ailleen Gunther. Mentally ill individuals discharged from prisons, jails, and involuntary commitment will continue to go to the community without first determining if they could benefit from enrollment in Kendra’s Law. This was a victory for NY’s mental ‘health’ community and a defeat for those who care about people with serious mental illness. See numerous editorials and op-eds in NY Daily News, and op-eds in NY Post. We thank them for their support (although don’t agree with periodic use of juvenile and offensive language). Highlights include our own op-ed blaming NYS OMH Commissioner Michael Hogan and this by Michael Benjamin. The Daily News blamed NYS Assembly MH Committee Chair Felix Ortiz for acknowledging the dangers and Felix Ortiz for doing nothing, and Felix Ortiz for promising hearings he never even held. Other papers around the state (that no longer make the articles available online) also supported reform. Thanks to our efforts the Department of Justice certified Assisted Outpatient Treatment as an “effective crime prevention strategy.”

 

PATIENT’S RIGHTS IN NY

 

NYS is holding hearings on how to comply with Olmstead v. L.C. which held that services for persons with mental illness be provided in the “most integrated setting ". We testified greater use of Kendra’s Law can prevent people from going to incarceration. The commission did not hold any hearings in jails or prisons where those who live in the least integrated setting are.

 

NY MENTALLY ORDERED OUT OF GROUP HOMES

 

NYS OMH Commissioner Michael Hogan also issued instructions to kick seriously mentally ill people out of adult homes.

 

REPORT ON NYS MENTAL HEALTH COURTS issued

 

LYNN SHUSTER one of the best advocates for improved care for seriously mentally ill in NYS stepped down as leader of NAMI Buffalo. Her parting words,

 

“Never trust a bureaucrat. It's THEIR money (and power and prestige, it's just our loved one's lives. And we know which comes out on top. "Making nice" makes you feel good, but doesn't result in success. News reporters are our friends. Tell the truth, the REAL truth.... Maintain a sense of humor even in dark days--we all need to laugh. Persevere. Persevere some more.... “

 

 

CALIFORNIA

 

Mental Illness Policy Org was very active in California and started a site on Laura’s Law and a site on Problems with Proposition 63/Mental Health Services Act. We had numerous op-eds and letters published including this by Mary Ann Bernard

 

INSIDER DEALING IN CALIFORNIA MHSA/PROP 63:

 

Mental Ilness Policy Org researched and issued a report finding over $16 million of Prop 63 funds going to oversight committee commissioners own organizations and a salary of $681,758 for Rusty Selix.

 

CA MHSA FUNDS NOT REACHING MENTALLY ILL

 

Due to voters altruistically passing Prop 63, a 1% tax on millionaires to fund services (Mental Health Services Act) for people with “serious mental illness”, California is the only state with plenty of money to provide care for people with serious mental illness. But it is being diverted elsewhere. Taking off on the work of Carla Jacobs, Rose King, Teresa Pasquini, and many others in CA, Hannah Dreier at AP reported Calif mental health dollars bypassing mentally ill . This led to editorials, calls for an investigation, the consideration of an investigation, our criticism, and a coverup by those who approved the spending. (They failed to disclose that the programs do not serve people with mental illness as the legislation requires.)

 

How can you help in California?

 

Be a Whistle Blower. The auditor wants to hear about problems with MHSA. She needs your help. If you know MHSA Programs that do not serve people with serious mental illness, especially in Los Angeles, please send them to the auditor. Make them as specific as possible and include links, details that will allow verification. You know the California mental illness system better than the auditor, so send Ms. Howle the tips she needs:

Elaine M. Howle

California State Auditor

555 Capitol Mall

Suite 300

Sacramento, California 95814

Phone Number: (916) 445-0255

General Fax: (916) 327-0019

Executive Office Fax: (916) 323-0913

 

Email a copy of your information about programs that do not focus on serious mental illness to those trying to stop the diversion of MHSA funds.

 

 

LAURA’S LAW

 

CalMHSA gave (and MHSAOC approved) a $2,917,092 grant to Disability Rights California and $1,539,225 to California Network of Mental Health Clients which will be used to prevent counties from providing Laura’s Law to patients who could benefit from it. This supplements SAMHSA money flowing into CA also being used to prevent those who don’t know they are ill from receiving treatment.

 

• SACRAMENTO County Mental Health Board subcommittee supports implementing Laura's Law, but the full committee found an excuse not to pass this on to board of supervisors.
• MENDOCINO health director made false claims about Laura’s Law which led the Board of Supervisors to punt, which we answered.
• SAN FRANCISCO’s health director tried to position a voluntary program as a substitute for Laura’s Law. We answered. As did SF Chronicle which has done a tremendous job covering Laura’s Law. Also the Examiner.

 

Thank you for your financial support which makes our work possible. Together we will get more mental ‘health’ money going to people with ‘serious mental illness’.