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The
impact of the much publicized anthrax contaminations
cannot compare to that of the "hidden, neglected
epidemic" of mental illness, the president of the
American Psychiatric Association said in his keynote
address to the NAMI-NYS annual educational conference.
Citing a report by the World Health Organization,
Dr. Richard Harding said five of the 10 most prevalent
diseases in the world are mental illnesses.
Observing
that "there is a troubled time coming," Dr. Richard
Harding urged NAMI members to not stint from continuing
the struggle for better mental health care. |
| Dr.
Richard Harding |
"When
people speak about belt tightening, you know that the
belt is being tightened around the necks of people with
mental illness and others with disabilities, and that's
something we're not going to put up with anymore," he
said.
"We've
been fighting for nondiscrimination for a long time, and
we have not been very successful in the past, but we're
starting to get some things moving. At the present time
we have people in the Senate in the House of this great
country who are putting their reputations and their careers
on the line for us. to get our patients a nondiscriminatory
coverage of their health insurance. and God bless them
for it, because politics is the allocation of scarce resources,
and things are going to get scarce. There is a troubled
time coming, not terrible, but it is going to be not as
fat as in the '90s, and we're going to have to be on our
toes and pushing hard if we're going to get the people
who happen to have a mental illness the kind of things
they need."
Dr.
Harding said politics is also the art of the possible,
and the Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act, approved
by the Senate approval and now in the House, is "something
we can get behind." He said both the American Psychiatric
Association and NAMI have worked for a stronger federal
parity bill.
"We
can't stop; we have to keep pushing," he said. "We can't
stop until Medicare co-payments for psychiatric treatment
is the same as any other medical condition. We can't stop
until citizens who happen to have a mental illness can
be treated simply because they are ill, rather than because
they are dangerous. We've got to have Rikers Island not
be the second largest warehouse of severely mentally ill
in the country.
"It
is trite to say that things changed on 9/11, but they
did. (But) we are going to have allies we never had before.
There are families and employers that are going to be
thinking similiarly. They're going to be looking for better
mental health coverage. I think we can use that to help
lift the boats across the board.
"
Noting that his son, an army officer whose unit is waiting
to be deployed, was taught the phrase "no excuses" in
West Point, Dr. Harding said the mental health community
should tolerate no excuses for not accomplishing what
can be done for those who have mental illness. He said
the '90s were the Decade of the Brain, and so much new
information has been discovered, it has been difficult
for clinicians to apply it all. He likened applying the
new research to "trying to take a drink from a fire hose,"
but he said this will be accomplished.
Noting
that the motto of West Point is "Duty, Honor, Country,"
he challenged his audience to arise to the occasion presented
them and to do their duty. We have a duty to not allow
the epidemic of mental illness to remain hidden. We have
a duty to support the politicians who put it on the line
for us and for our family members and for those with mental
illnesses. We have a duty to form new alliances. We have
to work together. Forget the past. We have a duty to resist
systems of care that undermine doctor/patient relationships
and give incentives to withholding care to patients. Please
don't worry about the past. Let's get our eyes on the
target. Let's get the best care and the best systems to
provide that care that we possibly can in this country
and we'll be the example for the world."
The
NAMI-NYS educational conference featured an outstanding
gathering of experts and leaders at the forefront of the
struggle against mental illness: research, treatment,
advocacy, education and reform. More than 300 people attended.
For
more on the conference, see NAMI-NYS
Honors Outstanding Efforts .
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