Moving at “Glacier” Speed To Find New Drugs

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The National Alliance on Mental Illness recently gave its 2011 Scientific Research Award to Dr. Jeffrey A. Lieberman who has a long and impressive resume in researching schizophrenia. Among his many titles, Dr. Lieberman is chairman of Psychiatry at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and is Director of the New York State Psychiatric Institute. 

Before he accepted his award, Dr. Lieberman gave an hour long lecture about his research. I want to share some key points with you that he made about current medications commonly prescribed for mental illnesses.

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Neglect and Abuse in North Carolina Prisons!

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Levon Wilson,  a resident of Winston Salem, North Carolina, who had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, was arrested on August 31, 2010, on misdemeanor charges and sent to the state’s Central Prison to await trial. Five weeks later, he was dead.

An autopsy showed that Wilson had been transferred from the prison to Wake Med Hospital in Raleigh with “moderately high levels” of lithium in his bloodstream ten days before he died. Lithium is often prescribed to treat manic symptoms common with bipolar disorder. But taking too much lithium is deadly. Patients taking lithium must be monitored with blood tests because too much lithium can impair the kidneys and obstruct bowels. 

The autopsy revealed that Wilson had died from “complications of lithium therapy,” which led to him suffering impaired kidneys and bowel problems. Despite the obvious — that someone in the prison system had screwed up in dispensing lithium — a state doctor ruled that Wilson’s death was the result of  “natural” causes. No one was reprimanded. No one was fired.

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Capitol Hill Symposium Draws Advocates

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I took a day from writing yesterday to attend an all-day symposium in Washington D.C. that was entitled LOST: Dollars, People, Hope.  The keynote was given by Tipper Gore, a long time advocate. The thrust of her speech was that we needed to tie mental health to bigger issues that are important to all Americans if we want to stop Congress from cutting federal mental health funding.  Her first example was war.

Gore said that 18 veterans die each day by their own hands, an alarming statistic and an example of why we need a better mental health care system. If we just complain to politicians about mental health care cuts, she said, we probably will be met with deaf ears.  But if we explain that those cuts are going to penalize veterans who are suffering mental health problems because of their service to our country — then Congress will be more likely to authorize funding. 

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A YouTube Attack on SAMHSA

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 You might recall that Republican Presidential Candidate Rick Perry made headlines last week when he couldn’t remember during a presidential candidate debate the third federal agency that he wanted to eliminate if he makes it to Washington D.C..

Quick on the punch, Dr. E. Fuller Torrey has come up with a suggestion: the  Substance Abuse and  Mental Health Administration. The lightening rod psychiatrist  has turned to YouTube to make his pitch.

Why does Dr. Torrey want to shut down SAMHSA?  I suspect that one reason is because  several mental health groups that vehemently oppose Assisted Outpatient Treatment  laws, such as Kendra’s Law in New York,  are funded by SAMHSA grants and programs.  Meanwhile, Dr. Torrey’s group, the Treatment Advocacy Center, doesn’t accept federal funds.

What’s your view on Dr. Torrey’s campaign to eliminate SAMHSA? Does SAMHSA fund programs in your community that are helpful to persons with mental illnesses? I’d love to hear from the grassroots on this issue.

 

Hollywood Buys WITSEC for TV Drama

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My good friend, Gerald Shur, and I have received lots of inquires from Hollywood about  our nonfiction book, WITSEC: Inside the Federal Witness Protection Program since it was published ten years ago. For those of you who have not read it, Gerald is the Justice Department lawyer who came up with the idea of creating a government program that would protect mobsters and give them new identities in return for their testimony against their Mafia Godfathers.

 By the time Gerald retired in 1995, he had overseen the handling of such famous gangsters as Joseph Valachi, “Jimmy the Weasel” Fratianno and “Sammy the Bull” Gravano.  The witness protection program that he created helped shatter the mob’s code of silence.

Interested screenwriters and producers would call us and ask about WITSEC. But for a variety of reasons, we never sold the dramatic rights — until now.  The trade magazine, Publisher’s Weekly, announced the sale.

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Poor Taste in Brooklyn

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Unfortunately, Halloween spurs costumes and depictions of scary events that misalign and stigmatize persons struggling with mental disorders. Based on the number of Hollywood horror movies that promote this prejudice, no one should be surprised. Still, it is frustrating. And hurtful.

ABC’s smash hit, Dancing With The Stars, featured a dance routine last night where three of its male participants appeared in straight jackets, including one dancer in zombie makeup, escaping from behind bars. Thankfully there was no mention of the “insane.”

Perhaps the most blatant display this year of insensitivity appeared on the webpage,  A Brooklyn Limestone in Progress, whose owners are renovating a residence and charting their progress on the Internet.  Under the headline: Halloween Decor Reveal: Welcome to the Asylum, the owners pushed evey hurtful stereotype possible, including an especially offensive invitation to visit their house.

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