Joe Pantoliano on mental illness stigma April 27, 2009

thanks to Van for posting on this-I’ve been out of the loop and missed it although I am familiar with what Joe has been doing lately.

Joe Pantoliano (The Sopranos, Memento, The Matrix, The Goonies) started an organization called No Kidding, Me Too! He has a documentary coming out with the same title. I want to start off my saying, I commend him for this. Stigma is a real problem in America and throughout the world. We must bring an end to it!

This is Joe’s message at his website:
We are ready for the fight and we ask you to please join us in the revolution and help us educate souls all over the world to “Remove the Stigma!”

Mission
No Kidding, Me Too! is an organization whose purpose is to remove the stigma attached to brain dis-ease through education and the breaking down of societal barriers. Our goal is to empower those with brain dis-ease to admit their illness, seek treatment, and become even greater members of society.

The Goal
Make Brain Dis-ease cool and sexy. We want a normal conversation in America to be:

“I have bipolar disorder/schizophrenia/insert dis-ease”

“No Kidding, Me Too!”

Who Has The Stigma:
Those suffering from brain dis-eases including anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, specific phobias, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating, pyromania, kleptomania, compulsive gambling, addictions, paranoia, multiple personality disorder, gender identity disorder, Down’s syndrome, psychosomatic disorder, tic disorders, and others.

How Will NKMT Accomplish This?
h Create strategic partnerships with members of industry, academia, organizations and government to ensure a broad-based spectrum of support and input.
h Organize the creative talents of our industry professionals to generate messages for various media and use our celebrity status to ensure these messages are heard. The messages will be of empowerment and acceptance and can include topics as basic as giving job opportunities to those with a brain dis-ease.
h Coordinate, participate in and generate interest for national and regional educational events consistent with our goal.

He has an impressive list of Advisory Board members, some of whom I greatly admire in the industry Joey and I share: Robert Downey, Jr, Ed Begley, Jr, Jeff Bridges, Edie Falco, Marcia Gay Harden, Ang Lee, Robin Williams and many more.

At his website there are photos of Joey from the screening of the teaser at the Democratic National Convention with people like Tony Goldwyn, Dana Delaney, Bobby Kennedy, Melissa Etheridge and Tom Fontana.

Here’s the teaser to his documentary:

Under the resources section at his website-the very first resource listed is NAMI. ahem. I wonder if Joe has researched Big Pharma’s influence at NAMI? Is he aware that Sen. Grassley is investigating NAMI’s funding? I am a registered Democrat and I’m becoming increasingly frustrated with this party, a party who is ignoring the corruption of Big Pharma and anyone linked to Big Pharma mainly because of their involvement with them. They are looking out for themselves and those that financially support them instead of the PEOPLE. Senator Grassley is all alone and that is sad.

At Joe’s website he links to several articles, letters, humorous videos and some of this favorite quotes, here’s a sampling:

To Fight Stigmas, Start With Treatment

Call for New Home to Address Health Disparities for Mentally Ill

FDA Approves Depressant Drug For The Annoyingly Cheerful

some of Joey’s favorite quotes

The teaser for his documentary opens with the statement:
1 in 4 Americans suffer from mental illness
4 in 5 Americans are affected by it

And then throughout you see more statistics on the screen:
87 million Americans have been diagnosed with some form of mental illness
There are over 350,000 diagnosed cases of PTSD resulting from the Iraq war
18 of our American heroes are committing suicide every day

And statements like these:
There is a fine line between madness & creativity
Mental illness is the only DIS-EASE which you can be diagnosed with, and get yelled at for having

Joe went public with his illness after he was hired to do a film. (FYI: one of the first things required for actors and directors before they start filming is to see a doctor and production schedules a physical for insurance purposes) He had done this over 70 times but in this case he told the doctor the two medications he was currently taking, one for depression and one for heart disease. His lawyers were then informed that the production company/studio could not insure Joe because he was taking an antidepressant. They were told Joe could sign a waiver basically saying if he had a ‘breakdown’ he would be financially responsible for the loss of work or a shutdown. Joe’s real problem and awakening was simple: they were willing to cover his heart but not his brain. That is stigma. We all know it and it’s something I’ve been fighting and living with for countless years. It’s heartbreaking.

However, in a separate (lengthy) taped discussion with Joe he discusses a number of topics, mostly stigma, his films, politics & mental illness. He also talks about the fact the he quit drinking and has started practicing yoga, he exercises, etc. He believes in the theory that mental illness is genetic. I believe he mentioned his mother was diagnosed bipolar. Now, I haven’t seen his documentary but when his teaser states 87 million Americans suffer from a mental illness-I doubt (and I hope I’m incorrect) that he mentions why we have this false statistic. This number has increased drastically simply due to Big Pharma’s influence and a bunch of doctors started diagnosing people for a variety of reasons: more money in their pockets, get the patient in and out as quickly as possible, falsified data and studies…the list goes on and on. Instead of dealing with the true issue at hand, whether it be trauma or dysfunction, it seems Joe has partially bought into the quick fix system. And he’s using his celebrity status with people in the government in hopes that his message will be heard. That would be all fine and good except there are many flaws in his message. I agree with ending stigma but ‘his message’ goes much, much deeper than that.

In chapter 15 of the discussion linked above someone asked him if he’s tried alternative treatments like acupuncture and he states that he does practice yoga and meditation, he partakes in talk therapy, 12 step groups, etc. He seems to be all over the map and that is fine. It is his path. But it will truly disturb me if he does not mention Big Pharma’s influence within our modern psychiatric world (doctors, NAMI, etc) in his documentary, No Kidding, Me Too!

Nicholas Hughes commits suicide March 23, 2009

My swain just read me an article about this and I didn’t want to believe it. I’m a big fan of Sylvia Plath’s work and her suicide was so very tragic. and now we have learned her son, Nicholas, hanged himself on March 16th. Just terribly sad.

Mr Hughes, whose mother took her own life when he was one, hanged himself at his home in Alaska after battling against depression for some time, according to reports.

He was unmarried with no children of his own and had until recently been a professor of fisheries and ocean sciences at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the Times reports.

His sister Frieda is travelling to Alaska. She released this statement: “It is with profound sorrow that I must announce the death of my brother, Nicholas Hughes, who died by his own hand on Monday 16th March 2009 at his home in Alaska. He had been battling depression for some time.”

News of his death comes 46 years after Plath gassed herself in the kitchen of the family home while her children slept in a nearby room. Her suicide prompted intense public interest in the family, with some feminist groups laying the blame for her death at the feet of Ted Hughes, who had left Plath for Assia Wevill, the wife of another poet.

click here to continue reading.

ordinary people December 23, 2008

Today I was reminded of one of my favorite films, Ordinary People. It won 4 Oscars back in 1980. Best Picture, Best Director (Robert Redford), Best Supporting Actor (Timothy Hutton) and Best Screenplay. And yet it’s one of those films many people have not seen. I used to wonder why. and today I understand. It’s simple really and I’m surprised I never thought of it before. I grew up surrounded by many who put on the Cleaver family front. It was safe. comfortable. And this film is anything but. This film is raw and painful. beautiful and sad. honest and real. If you are someone who chooses to live behind the Cleaver fence or normal facade…this is a movie that forces you to remove walls and think. feel. empathize. go to “unsafe” places.

First, watch the trailer:

FDA suicidal warning on epilepsy drugs December 17, 2008

From Tuesday’s Reuters

so much for my thoughts on Lamictal being one of the only decent meds for bipolar….

Makers of epilepsy drugs must add a warning that the medicines carry a risk of suicidal thoughts or actions, U.S. health officials said on Tuesday.

The companies also must develop a patient-friendly guide explaining risks, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said.

Analysis of 199 clinical trials of 11 anti-epileptic drugs found twice the risk of suicidal behavior or thoughts with the drugs compared to a placebo, the FDA said.

The increase represented about one additional case of suicidal thinking or behavior for every 530 patients treated with one of the medicines, the FDA said.

“The risk of suicidal thoughts or behavior was generally consistent among the eleven drugs analyzed and was observed in patients who were treated for epilepsy, psychiatric disorders, and other conditions,” the agency said.

Epilepsy drugs include Pfizer Inc’s Lyrica and Neurontin, GlaxoSmithKline PLC’s Lamictal and Johnson & Johnson’s Topamax.

Glaxo believes the findings of the FDA analysis should be added to the labels of epilepsy drugs, company spokeswoman Sarah Alspach said, adding Glaxo would review the FDA action.

Topamax already includes information about suicidal behavior in its prescribing instructions, said Tricia Geoghegan, a spokeswoman for J&J unit Ortho-McNeil Neurologics Inc. “We will continue to work with the FDA to make sure any changes they request are in there,” she said.

A Pfizer spokesman had no immediate comment.

and now this… October 15, 2008

we knew these stories were coming…sadly, it’s only going to get worse…

from huffington post:

An out-of-work money manager in California loses a fortune and wipes out his family in a murder-suicide. A 90-year-old Ohio widow shoots herself in the chest as authorities arrive to evict her from the modest house she called home for 38 years.

In Massachusetts, a housewife who had hidden her family’s mounting financial crisis from her husband sends a note to the mortgage company warning: “By the time you foreclose on my house, I’ll be dead.” Then Carlene Balderrama shot herself to death, leaving an insurance policy and a suicide note on a table.

In Tennessee, a woman fatally shot herself last week as sheriff’s deputies went to evict her from her foreclosed home. Pamela Ross, 57, and her husband were fighting foreclosure on their home when sheriff’s deputies in Sevierville came to serve an eviction notice. They were across the street when they heard a gunshot and found Ross dead from a wound to the chest. The case was even more tragic because the couple had recently been granted an extra 10 days to appeal.

In Akron, Ohio, the 90-year-old widow who shot herself on Oct. 1 is recovering. A congressman told Addie Polk’s story on the House floor before lawmakers voted to approve a $700 billion financial rescue package. Mortgage finance company Fannie Mae dropped the foreclosure, forgave her mortgage and said she could remain in the home.

VA testing drugs on war veterans June 17, 2008

click here to read this incredibly sad and SHOCKING story. it is well-documented and everyone should read it. major kudos to the washington times and abc.

Mentally distressed veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are being recruited for government tests on pharmaceutical drugs linked to suicide and other violent side effects, an investigation by ABC News and “The Washington Times” has found.

James Elliott and his fiancee tell Brian Ross about his experience on Chantix. The report will air on “Good Morning America” and will also appear in “The Washington Times” on Tuesday.

In one of the human experiments, involving the anti-smoking drug Chantix, Veterans Administration doctors waited more than three months before warning veterans about the possible serious side effects, including suicide and neuropsychiatric behavior.

“Lab rat, guinea pig, disposable hero,” said former US Army sniper James Elliott in describing how he felt he was betrayed by the Veterans Administration.

while i’m away March 14, 2008

Once again, I’ll be taking a break. I’m starting a job next week and will be working those hideous 12-18 hour days until mid-May. and although I rarely blog these days I’m still following stories in the mental health (and beyond) world.

Here are few worth reading:

Antidepressants found in drinking water of 24 US cities

Mental health parity bills have now passed both houses of Congress. Here’s hoping the Senate and House can compromise. I prefer the House version for a variety of reasons you can find here at my blog. The White House opposed the House bill, saying it “would effectively mandate coverage of a broad range of diseases.” I can’t even begin to describe how this infuriates me! Not that it will help, but I urge everyone to email or write the President, letters to the editor and members of Congress—demand an end to this discrimination.

The famous UK study published in the journal PLoS Medicine finds antidepressants are barely more effective than placebos in treating most people with depression.

I have two friends that recently decided to quit smoking (one was successful and one was not) However, they were both prescribed Chantix-the one that quit successfully had few side effects. The one who is still smoking went a bit crazy on the drug. It was very frightening and I begged her to quit taking the pill. Before taking Chantix she rarely suffered from depression and never anxiety, one week into Chantix she experienced extreme agitation, anxiety and depression. Her lovely doctor then added Wellbutrin and Buspar for the anxiety and depression and Miraplex (for her restless leg syndrome) Next thing you know-she was on the edge. I urged her to find a new doctor, go off the pills and treat the side effects from the multiple pills with acupuncture. I’m happy to say with the help of acupuncture and vitamin supplements she’s doing much better. Studies have found Chantix causes suicidal thoughts amongst other things and it angers me our doctors are not only ignoring the data but prescribing more drugs to treat the side effects of Chantix. We live in a sad, pathetic, sick country these days.

It is no secret I am not a fan of antipsychotics after my experience with Seroquel. We are no longer a Prozac Nation-we are a Seroquel/Zyprexa Nation and that is frightening. However, it’s nice to see an alternative to the nasty drugs used to treat dementia in nursing homes. Lately antipsychotics have been heavily and ignorantly used to treat the elderly and now one nursing home in the Bronx is treating patients with aromatherapy, long soothing bubble baths and massages. Way to go! Click here for the story.

Antipsychotics cause brain damage? Read on…

Here’s a reason why we should boycott the Olympics.
(a warning to animal lovers-it’s incredibly sad)

I watched “In the Valley of Elah” recently and highly recommend it. Here’s the true story behind the film and what should have been a real wake up call to anyone who doubts our soldiers are in dire need of mental health care.

“ransom note” ads canceled December 20, 2007

Thousands emailed and the NYU Child Study Center responded-they pulled the ransom notes ad campaign. Sometimes our voices are heard…and not ignored.

From the New York Times:

The Child Study Center at New York University said on Wednesday that it would halt an advertising campaign aimed at raising awareness of children’s mental and neurological disorders after the effort drew a strongly negative reaction.

Disorders like autism, depression, bulimia and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder were the focus of the pro bono campaign.

The two-week-old campaign, created pro bono by the advertising agency BBDO, used the device of ransom notes to deliver ominous messages concerning disorders like autism, depression, bulimia and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

The note about autism, for example, read: “We have your son. We will make sure he will no longer be able to care for himself or interact socially as long as he lives.”

Advocates for children with autism and for other special-needs children said the ads reinforced negative stereotypes.

“While many individuals spoke to us about the need to continue the campaign, inadvertently we offended others,” said Dr. Harold S. Koplewicz, the Child Study Center’s founder and director, who estimated that he had received 3,000 e-mail messages and phone calls. Thirty percent of those praised the initiative, he said, and 70 percent expressed anger and hurt.

owen wilson, suicide, stigma September 21, 2007

Rarely a day passes that I don’t see evidence of the stigma which still exists with mental illness. I wish we could come up with a new label for mental illness. Maybe then we could start the process of forcing insurance companies to cover the illness like they would diabetes. Categorize it under an illness or disease of the brain and treat it as so. I can’t think of a label but I’m sure someone could. Society continues to associate the word mental with: insane, crazy or mad. Because of this, those with a mental illness are rarely taken seriously and are sometimes discarded, avoided or mocked. But most of all, they are sadly, misunderstood.

just say no November 6, 2006

“just say no”

the slogan was championed by nancy reagan. the campaign was part of the united states “war on drugs” and prevalent during the 1980s and early 1990s, discouraging children from engaging in recreational drug use.

today we are dealing with a different kind of drug. psychiatric drugs. and doctors are saying yes. over and over. pharmaceutical companies are pushing them. if a child or teenager is depressed or anxious, even though it is situational, they are prescribed a psychiatric drug. or two. or three. or in some cases, eleven. and sometimes they lead to death. like in this case:

(names have been changed here…)
when 13-year-old luisa began complaining of stomachaches, her mother, eva, did what a good mom does-drove her to the pediatrician. after an exam, the doctor agreed with luisa that her stomach pain was likely caused by anxiety. he precribed a psychiatric medicine, zoloft, commonly given to adults to ease depression. when her parents asked about side effects, the doctor reassured them the drug was mild. “if she needed something strong, i would have sent her to a psychiatrist,” he said.

over the next few weeks, luisa-previously a happy, social girl who got along well with her mother, according to oscar, her father- became combative with eva. she often got violent, threatening her mother physically. four weeks after she started with the medication, luisa hanged herself in her home. her parents later learned that zoloft and other so-called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors were well known within the research community to cause suicidal thinking and behavior in young people.

it disturbs me that i read this in the december issue of alternative medicine. the people who should be reading this article are most likely not subscribers to this magazine. people need to hear these stories. people need to question their doctors’ motives and quite possibly take it a step further. send a message to the pharma companies, the doctors, the insurance companies. they’re making millions, billions of dollars off these medications. the process of diagnosing and prescribing should be a lengthy one. and the diagnosis and prescriptions should come from a psychiatrist, not a pediatrician. not your family doctor. parents should just say no to a quickie diagnosis.

tragedies like these occur with startling frequency in this country. behind this we have a pharmaceutical industry that shovels money at state and federal officials and the psychiatric profession to buy their help in pushing high priced drugs for minors. the most frequently prescribed drugs can cause horrific side effects and in cases like luisa’s, death.

the articles goes on to question the mental health screeening program, TeenScreen. a 14-item questionnaire designed to be completed in about ten minutes. defenders praise the program as a godsend to families, helping prevent suicide and identifying youths needing help. critics say the program is a tool used to herd misdiagnosed teens into the clutches of Big Pharma. (the program yields 84% false positives…) i have to agree with the critics. most teens go through periods of depression, anxiety, etc…but it doesn’t mean we throw meds at them. this practice is dangerous. the article also discusses the dangers of the new line of meds-atypical antipsychotics.

i must be clear- i’m not anti-drugs. (although i am against prescribing antipsychotics for depression or bipolar, unless for short-term use). i’m medicated and most likely will be the rest of my life. BUT we must question these doctors. these pharmaceutical companies. i would guess more than half of the patients taking these medications DO NOT need them. especially the children. and teens. even scarier we don’t know the long-term side effects of these drugs. studies are proving that the antipsychotics have dangerous, if not deadly, side effects. if parents don’t want to “just say no”, they should at least be certain their child is mentally ill before filling the prescription. a silly questionnaire is not a diagnosis. and yet, for some reason, it is today. it saddens me. it angers me. it scares the hell out of me.

timothy’s law October 17, 2006

seven weeks before his thirteenth birthday, timothy o’clair completed suicide. the youngest of three children in his family, timothy hanged himself in his bedroom closet on march 16, 2001.

i do not remember much from my childhood (or recent years for that matter…) but certain memories will never be erased completely. i remember thirteen. i vaguely remember my thirteenth birthday party… my friend of 29 years recently told me i was extremely depressed that day, i remember my parents bought thirteen gifts. as i opened each gift and saw it wasn’t what i REALLY wanted…i was upset. many tears i think. anger. i imagine i glared at my parents as if the presents were wrapped by satan. i have no idea today what it was that i wanted…i think, a diamond ring. and i think…it was the last gift i opened. but it was too late…the day was a disaster and i made a scene in front of friends and family. and then the guilt and shame hit. i probably spent the rest of the day, crying, in my room…embarrassed. i spent many days like that in my room. a bright yellow room with rainbows, colorful posters on the wall and every toy a girl could dream of. and me, so very dark.

that year my parents drove me to a psychiatrist’s office ten miles away (there were no head docs in our small town and people whispered about people like me in that town…shhhh…she’s depressed.) i remember i was in the backseat of the silver plymouth turismo that would be mine in three years…on the floor behind the passenger seat, crying, screaming….no, i don’t want to go. i can’t imagine their pain…i know now my mother saw her mother, who had a mental illness, she saw her mother in my eyes. she heard her mother in my voice.

my parents heard (over and over…) “i want to die.” “i don’t want to be here.” “you would all be better off without me.”

they were trying to save me and i was pushing them away. i remember sitting at the doc’s office. i remember big headphones over my ears, sitting in a large brown leather chair, listening to soft, soothing voices, bird chirping and whatnot. i remember telling her i wanted to die but thinking i did not want to die. i was not suicidal. it only appeared that way. i was crying for help. i was screaming, someone please listen to me and understand me! someone please make this stop! killing myself was not an option. i secretly hoped (and believed) that the pain would eventually go away. and i always, as soon as the darkness lifted, got busy…busy seeking the beauty in life.

there were many days like my thirteenth birthday to follow. i remember banging my head against a wall on several occasions (those were the…please make it stop moments…) curling up on the bathroom floor or in the tub…locking myself in a room for hours, crying. always escaping but never going too far…always pushing but really wanting someone to hold me and tell me…it’s ok, i understand. you’ll get through this. after those moments, i remember my head feeling very heavy. but soon, the clouds parted and i could see the sun.

two years after my thirteenth birthday and a lifetime of living with a mental illness, i was raped. three years later i remembered that night. not every detail but enough to frighten anyone and enough to shut me down for many years. i asked a friend for details (she was there that night and found me in a bathtub, bleeding…wearing only a tshirt) the rape was so brutal that i actually erased that night as if it never happened. the day i remembered was a painful day. a very sad day. for years i felt worthless. i felt unworthy of anything good, anything beautiful, anything real. and yet, i kept going. i continued living. when i saw the sun, i embraced its warmth. and the sun embraced me.

i am thankful for that. i am lucky…lucky to see the sun. timothy o’clair did not. the darkness, the very real illness… destroyed him. and so i write about this because it’s healing. and i hope to open just one set of eyes. a mental illness is complicated, yes, but it is an illness. like any other illness. it is an illness of the brain. it should be treated like any other illness. people need to understand this in order for the stigma to be erased. we must understand this to prevent the countless suicides per day.

i also write about this because last night terrified me. sitting at the dining room table playing 80s trivial pursuit with my swain and two friends. of the many questions, i knew maybe one answer. the defining moment was a question for someone else—about the film “spaceballs” this is a film i probably saw twenty plus times in the 80s. i didn’t know the answer and even more so i couldn’t remember a thing about the film except that rick moranis and daphne zunica starred in it. during the game, when it was my time to read the questions, i couldn’t pronounce several words and i was uncomfortable the entire evening. and yet, i didn’t quit. and sat there paralyzed by my insecurities. i felt stupid and worthless. and with every minute that passed it got worse. the voices in my head telling me…they think you’re stupid. he is going to leave you because you are an idiot. i was cursing my small town education and the meds that slowly cripple my brain. i feel like a 33 year old woman with alzheimer’s disease on nights like last night. but…again, i am lucky…because i let those moments pass, with the help of others…i let them in…the compassionate ones….my swain, who even after i told him to leave me alone, telling him there was nothing he could say to make me feel better or smarter….his hand found my leg under the covers as my back was to him (tears streaming…) and his touch made the pain seem so small. my friend, that friend of 29 years, today on the phone, reminded me were are all unique. she helped me find the humor in the situation (telling me, next time you’re playing trivial pursuit do what i do….stop mid-game and start playing cards, solitaire or something…laugh at the situation…) because, yes, i do know…i know there are many qualities i have that others don’t have…those that are unique. those that make me…me. i know my heart is good. and kind. my intelligence lies elsewhere, and which wkrp actor was later cast in some commercial (i already forget which one…) is trivial. and i remember words…from a scene in basquiat… what my swain sees in me, what i know to be true:

he’s jealous of the moon
because you look at it
he’s jealous of the sun
because it warms you

we need more compassion (and compassionate people) in this world.

today i am angry, thinking about last night and the loss of so many memories…history, films, facts… thanks to, i believe, the medications. most insurance companies, governments and pharmaceutical companies ignore the mentally ill. i’ve been medicated my entire adult life, fifteen plus years. many medications. all approved by the fda but most we know very little about. we don’t know the long term side effects because there is little or no research.

but even in my anger, as i type, i have been listening to the amelie soundtrack. it’s the simple things in life. it’s seeking the beauty in life whenever possible. loving and being loved. understanding and feeling understood…compassion…it’s these things that keep me going.

timothy was admitted to a psychiatric hospital for a week and a day. after that time, the insurance company stopped paying for the hospitalization, and he was sent home. the medications worked temporarily. he would become violent, and it all came to a head the night he died. he refused to take his medications. he broke all the trophies he had received over the years, which he’d collected in his room. he dumped all his dresser drawers and the clothes in his closet on his bedroom floor. he told his brother he’d kill himself, as he had threatened suicide many times before. the family did not know how serious he was, as he had claimed this so many times in the past. while his father was working and his mother was out with his brother, timothy was in his room. when his mother returned home, she found that timothy hanged himself in his bedroom closet.

we need research. we need drugs that work. we need compassion. (i also believe patients need to take control, it’s their body and mind…)

and now we have timothy’s law…named after timothy o’clair, his parents believe his suicide was attributed to the discrimination that he faced at the hands of his their insurance company, discrimination that exists throughout every private insurance plan in new york state. in order to help prevent other families from having to live through this scenario, they have taken on a personal crusade to change the laws as they relate to the provision of mental health and substance abuse services in private insurance plans throughout new york.

yesterday in new york, after years of resistance, the republican-led senate unanimously passed legislation to require that insurers provide equal coverage for mental illness as for physical ailments. “if you have a cancer, if you have a serious heart condition, there is no question that you get treated from the ailment to getting better or going on with your life,” senate majority leader joseph bruno said. “with mental sickness, that has not been the case. some companies cover for limited periods. some companies cover more broadly and some companies for insurance cover nothing, none of it.”

the bill, which passed 55-0, provides for a minimum of 30 outpatient and 20 inpatient visits a year for mental illness, and the state would pick up the extra cost of premiums for businesses with fewer than 50 employers. large employers would have to provide additional coverage for adults and children. the law would not apply to companies or governments that are self-insured.

new york gov. george e. pataki, who has vetoed other mental-health laws this year, was noncommittal friday. “we’ll need to see what happens with that and then take a look,” said the republican, who is stepping down at the end of the year.

“mental illness is a common affliction, but many people can’t come to terms with it,” said timothy’s father, tom o’clair. the law would correct the disparity. “it will help eliminate the discrimination that is faced by those seeking treatment for a mental illness by evening co-pays, eliminating the arbitrarily set disparities in co-pays,” o’clair said. “because somebody has a mental illness doesn’t mean they should have to pay more for care. … because somebody has a mental illness doesn’t mean they should be treated any less than somebody with a physical illness.”

this is a step in the right direction. i can only hope we see big changes soon.

to read more on timothy’s law click here.

timothy o’clair (may 5, 1988- march 16, 2001)

andrea yates and the death penalty August 8, 2006

the other day i read an article on the death penalty, it kinda went like this:

“the death penalty in the united states may be hitting a roadblock: the hippocratic oath.condemned inmates in three states have successfully challenged lethal injection as cruel and unusual. for the first time, judges have sided with inmates in ruling that lethal injection has the potential to be unconstitutionally cruel – that without doctors present, the procedure could be inhumane.the problem is that few doctors are willing to do it. ultimately, this could put a halt to the use of lethal injections.”

it reminded me of the many mentally ill in prisons, some of whom sit on death row.  in 2004 it was estimated that about 70,000 inmates in u.s. prisons are psychotic. anywhere from 200,000 to 300,000 male and female prison inmates suffer from mental disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression. prisons hold three times more people with mental illness than do psychiatric hospitals, and u.s. prisoners have rates of mental illness that are up to four times greater than rates for the general population.

they sit in a cell, wasting away. some will be put to death. and very few care.

the article also reminded me of the andrea yates verdict. not guilty by reason of insanity. her lawyer, george parnham, called the verdict a “watershed for mental illness and the criminal justice system.”  especially in texas. yes, she drowned her five children. i cannot imagine. but this is a woman who previously attempted suicide and on one occassion, put a knife to her neck and begged her husband to let her die. a severely mentally ill woman. several hospital stays and medications, none of which worked, obviously. people forget this is an illness or they choose to believe it’s not an illness. they see a woman who tragically ended the lives of her five  young children. period. most do not look past that fact. it doesn’t matter that she was hallucinating, she thought satan was in her and she was trying to save her children from hell.

this is a woman who was valedictorian of her class, captain of the swim team and an officer in the national honor society. she loved her husband and her children. she attempted to live a “normal” life. at some point, things went terribly wrong. as the days and years passed, her mental illness consumed her. and eventually it destroyed her and everything she knew to be good and true. she still loves her children and i can only imagine how she wishes she could turn back time, she wishes she could hold her children…tell them everything will be ok, mommy is sick. and she needs help. she will live with the pain and guilt for the rest of her life. i wish her peace. and i wish for understanding…of this illness. and i am thankful that at least the jury looked past the deaths and opened their eyes to the simple truth. she did not have cancer. but she had an illness equal to cancer, albeit a complicated illness. the voices in her head won. plain and simple. and what good would it do sitting in a cell, without treatment, wasting away. or the death penalty, like so many wished for her. how fair is that? they should be treated for their illness and not disregarded because we don’t understand the illness.

should she be hospitalized for life? should the many that murder others be hospitalized for life? i don’t have the answer, i lean towards, yes. andrea yates will at least live out her days coming to terms with it all, probably miserable, but nonetheless alive. and cared for. and not dead. or wasting away, ignored.