Tuesday, September 02, 2003
Raising Doubts About Drugs "After two weeks, four mental health advocates are still on a hunger strike, protesting the widespread use of prescription drugs to treat mental illnesses and challenging psychiatrists to document their rationale for prescribing them..." - and the national press is starting to take notice, as evidenced by this August 29 story in the
Washington Post, which is also reprinted at
Common Dreams. A few days earlier
Activist strikes over psychiatrists' faith in drug therapy appeared in the Eugene (Oregon)
Register-Guard, profiling activist David Oaks, but news coverage in the mainstream press has generally been scarce, with the only coverage of the strike's early days appearing in local (California) sources. I learned of (and have kept up on) the hunger strike through the
e-mail alert service available through
Mind Freedom, the activist organization Oaks is closely affiliated with. At their web site, there's
a long page indexing a wide variety of materials related to the action, such as the strikers'
official statement of demands, the text of a
cover letter sent from hunger strikers to APA, NAMI & Office of Surgeon General,
biographies and photos of the participants, an
index of news stories and daily updates. There's also a
web site by the Law Project for Psychiatric Rights and an
index of links on "the debate" underlying the strike and reactions to it, including a number of documents not available through the
Mind Freedom site.
People with serious mental illness see this election as a matter of life or death (Canada) Canada Newswire story - " 'This election is about life or death for people with serious mental illness,' says Neil McGregor, President, Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), Ontario. 'Overburdened services, long waiting lists, and suicides because help isn't available are what people with mental illness and their families face after more than 10 years with no increase to the operating budgets of community mental health services.' Since 1992, demand for mental health services in Ontario has increased at a pace three times faster than demand for any other type of health care. Nineteen ninety-two was also the last year that community mental health programs received a core budget increase. The result? Seventy percent of people with mental illness don't get help. This is why CMHA, Ontario, together with the thirty-three CMHA branches across the province, wants mental health to be on the agenda for this election." See also the new section of the CMHA web site -
Ontario Election Centre: Make mental health front and centre during the election, which includes a document
How to Get Involved, an
election newsletter and other resources.
Mental health drug benefits up (Montana) Story in the
Helena Independent Record - "When lawmakers ended the 2003 Legislature in April, they thought the state could only afford to spend $250 a month on medication for each low-income Montanan suffering from mental illness. After accountants in the state's Addictive and Mental Disorders Division massaged some numbers, mentally ill poor people who qualify for the state's Mental Health Services Plan can now get up to $425 in prescription drug benefits per month. Some people with extreme needs can get more..."
Mental health advocates vie for local homeland security dollars (Colorado) KUSA-TV story - "Mental health advocates are asking Gov. Bill Owens to spend some of Colorado’s share of homeland security money on those who need it most. Earlier this week, the governor released $19 million to Colorado’s first responders. By law, the money is supposed to be earmarked for local security issues. The debate focuses on how one defines security. The Governor's Office believes the money should go to police, fire and hazardous materials teams, however, mental health advocates say spending money on the frontend, at community mental health centers, can prevent security problems in the future."
Community to expand mental health care (Indiana) Indianapolis Star story - "Community Health Network will expand its mental health services to help fill a void caused by cutbacks at other Indianapolis hospitals. The expansion will add 12 beds to the 100-bed psychiatric pavilion at Community Hospital North and increase space and staff to nearly double the numbers of adolescents treated for addictions and behavioral problems. Hospital officials said the expansion is needed, in part, to meet rising demand for mental health services following recent cutbacks in programs at St. Vincent Indianapolis Hospital and Winona Memorial Hospital that affected thousands of patients
Feds take over probe of mental health center (Georgia) Story in the
Augusta Chronicle - "The investigation into a local mental health center is now in the hands of the U.S. Attorney in Savannah, Georgia's state inspector general said. The Georgia Department of Human Resources' Office of Investigations uncovered potential wrongdoing at the Community Mental Health Center of East Central Georgia, James E. Sehorn said."
Mental health care for U.S. children poor Washington Times story - "Thousands of U.S. parents have given the state custody so their children can get mental health treatment but some are held in deplorable conditions. The General Accounting Office found about 12,700 children in 19 states were placed in child welfare or juvenile justice systems to receive mental health services. Federal officials said they had found deplorable conditions in many state institutions where children were supposed to receive mental health treatment..."
