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.

Rep. Tim Murphy Announces Important Mental Health Legislation

This is big news.

Rep Tim Murphy (R. PA) is a former child psychologist, and head of the Mental "Health" Caucus. In spite of that,  he totally gets serious mental "illness" in adults and what the important versus tangential issues are.  He is as good as a Wellstone or a Domenici, and better than a Kennedy (who tended to focus on mental 'health' versus mental 'illness')

Rep. Tim Murphy has held extensive hearings where he listened to others focused on the most seriously ill including Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, Sally Satel, Joe Bruce , Ed Kelly. He also received extensive input from consumers around the country who contacted him. He  announced the results of his hearings today and the legislation he intends proposing.  It includes preserving hospitals, AOT (a/k/a Kendra's Law), revising HIPPA Handcuffs ( so families can get the info they need to help mentally ill loved ones), reigning in SAMHSA's anti-treatment activities , increasing police training, increasing NIMH budget for serious mental illness, and other key issues. I am very excited. 

 I am no Washington Insider, so I have no knowledge if it will fly or not. But at least someone is focused on right issues, not just PC tangential ones. Please support these efforts. He is totally on the right track. His press release and link to the floor speech follows: (Read more)

Representative Tim Murphy Calls out SAMHSA For Failure to Help Seriously Mentally Ill

Opening Statement of the Honorable Tim Murphy Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Hearing on “Examining SAMHSA’s Role in Delivering Services to the Severely Mentally Ill”

May 22, 2013
(As Prepared for Delivery)

Since I became the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, shortly after the December 14, 2012, elementary school shootings in Newtown, we began looking into the federal programs and resources devoted to mental health and mental illness. We did so to ensure federal dollars devoted to mental health are reaching those individuals with serious mental illness and helping them obtain the most effective care.

One lesson we must immediately draw from the Newtown tragedy is that we need to make it our priority to get those with serious mental illnesses, who are not presently being treated, into sound, evidence- based treatments.

In 2009, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) estimates that about 11 million U.S. adults had serious mental illness, and 40 percent of these individuals did not receive treatment. While the vast majority of individuals with a mental health condition are nonviolent, Director of the National Institute for Mental Health, Dr. Thomas Insel, told this subcommittee at our March 5 public forum that effective treatments, which include medication adherence and evidence-based psychosocial therapy, can reduce the risk of violent behavior fifteen-fold in persons with serious mental illness.

Getting these individuals into treatment is a crucial first task and SAMHSA, as the federal agency whose mission includes reducing the impact of mental illness on America’s communities, should be playing a central role in this effort. But based on our work to date, SAMHSA has not made the treatment of the seriously mentally ill a priority. In fact, I’m afraid serious mental illness such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder may not be a concern at all to SAMHSA.