(I was surprised and flattered when Sec. Price mentioned yesterday how my book had influenced his thinking. His comment came 6 minutes into his opening remarks.)
(9-1-17) Serious mental illnesses remain a “silent epidemic” in our nation, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said yesterday in his opening remarks at the inaugural meeting of the Interdepartmental Serious Mental Illness Coordinating Committee (ISMICC). Regardless of your political leanings, Dr. Price’s passionate commitment to improving our federal mental health care system was inspiring.
I was equally impressed with how Assistant Secretary Dr. Elinore McCance-Katz chaired the first session. (I intend to post her comments next week if I can secure a copy.)
Dr. McCance-Katz made it clear that there will be a shift in priorities at SAMHSA under her leadership in keeping with the marching orders that were given to her by the 21st Century Cures Act, which contained a modified version of Rep. Tim Murphy’s (R.-Pa.) Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act.
While there was much discussion at yesterday’s meeting, it was too early for the group to reach any specific recommendations. The most lively debate came after D. J. Jaffe , author of Insane Consequences, called in by telephone during the public comment period to complain about a lack of mention at the meeting about violence. This happened during the last hour of the day long session. (If you will recall, Rep. Murphy decided to write his bill after the Newtown shootings.)
Dr. McCance-Katz and the Treatment Advocacy Center’s Executive Director John Snook both said that while the vast majority of individuals with mental illnesses are not dangerous and much more likely to harm themselves than others, a percentage of those with SMI’s that go untreated are, in fact, more violent. Dr. McCance-Katz added that to brush over that fact is “disingenuous.”
Those statements clearly made some committee members uncomfortable.
The only member of the public, who attended the meeting, was Amanda Woodward, who asked the committee to focus on persons with mental illnesses who are being inappropriately incarcerated. Her comments prompted TAC’s Snook to warn that our nation is at a tipping point. Money that could be spent on mental health is being diverted into building bigger jails with psych units, in effect, making jails the main providers for treatment of those with SMIs.
That spending on more and more jails is wrong.
In addition to speaking, Ms. Woodward, a Virginia nurse who has worked in jails, signed a letter presented to the committee by Families for Treatment of Serious Mental Illness, in response to committee member Elyn Saks’ recent article in Politico about giving patients more say about whether or not they will accept treatment. Saks argues in her thought provoking piece that offering a choice might, in fact, result in more individuals electing to undergo treatment while forced treatment drives them away.
I have reprinted the letter below.