If John McCain or Barack Obama were to ever need to seek help from their home states through public mental health services, they wouldn't be pleased. Neither would Joe Biden or Sarah Palin.
So says the National Alliance on Mental Illness, which says that mental health care is an essential part of health care reform."
"It is an issue that every candidate for public office at every level needs to be addressing in this election," said Michael J. Fitzpatrick, executive director of NAMI.
In 2003, the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health reported that the nation's public mental health care system is "a system in shambles" in which mental health services are "fragmented, disconnected and often inadequate, frustrating the opportunity for recovery," according to NAMI.
In 2006, NAMI published "Grading the States: A Report on the Nation's Mental Health Care System for Serious Mental Illnesses." In the survey, the national average was D. The home states of the presidential and vice-presidential candidates hardly fared better.
Their scores: Alaska (D); Arizona (D+); Delaware (C-); and Illinois (F).
Mental health advocates say the effects of the Iraq war, as well as the Bush administration's approval of mental health parity as a component of the financial bailout legislation, could provide momentum for the next administration to take mental illnesses as seriously as physical illnesses.
"Mental illness doesn't discriminate between Republicans and Democrats," Fitzpatrick said. "It affects millions of Americans, including veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, families recovering from natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina, and families confronting home foreclosures or other financial upheavals."
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Mental health care doesn't necessarily extend to presidential candidates, either
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2 comments:
Given past history it is unlikely that the public mental health system will receive the resources necessary to fulfill its mission to foster Recovery & Wellness. The words are always there courtesy of commissions, reports and initiatives but too rarely do the words and deeds intersect.
It will serve us well to remember that America's suicide rate has increased since 1999 despite "The Surgeon General's Call to Action on Suicide" (1999), the "National Strategy for Suicide Prevention: Goals and Objectives for Action" (2001) and the the final report of the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health (2002). Words alone are never sufficient to address any issue and absent concerted, effective action they become, at best, empty representations which ultimately fail to deal with real needs.
The only thing we can be sure of is that more people will be reaching out when the supply of public mental health services remains largely constant. In New Jersey the number of persons receiving non-emergency services through the public mental health system increased from 174,000 in fiscal year 2001 to 230,000 in 2007. For many this has meant that care in its entirety is medication alone rather then the comprehensive, evidence based care so frequently promised. This tragically insures that many will fail to achieve the outcomes associated with the level of care they have been told to expect.
Where the members of the President's New Freedom Commission were united in their belief that our nation's mental health delivery system is in shambles can we reasonably expect sans additional resources that our nation's mental health system will regularly engender outcomes not reflecting this systemic weakness? Where the message is reach out, get help and get better don't those who heed this message deserve better?
Mental health will always be a concern that we all may face one day. The best support for it is our family and friends. Lets prepare for the worst, and hope for the best.
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