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D. J. Jaffe’s name has been popping up in news articles lately, most often defending Rep. Tim Murphy’s mental health legislation. I noticed a quote from him earlier this week in a special report entitled THE COST OF NOT CARING: NO WHERE TO GO — The financial and human toll for neglecting the mentally ill published by USA Today medical writer, Liz Szabo, a reader of this blog.   D.J. is a familiar figure having been involved in the National Alliance on Mental Illness and the Treatment Advocacy Center before starting his own non-profit advocacy group called  Mental Illness Policy Org.

I bumped into him on Capitol Hill recently and suggested he write a guest blog for me, which he has kindly done. (I also extended invitations to advocates who share a different point of view than his but they have yet to respond.)

8 MYTHS ABOUT SERIOUS MENTAL ILLNESS by D.J. Jaffe

These  myths about serious mental illness in the United States are believed by many mental health advocates and cause Congress to waste money and fail to implement policies that can improve care and keep patients, the public and the police safer. 

1. All mental illness is serious.

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UPDATE: Since posting this blog earlier today, POLITICO has published its story about the two dueling bills and has confirmed much of what I first reported this morning in my earlier blog.  Here is POLITICO’s take on whether partisan politics is at play here. You will find a comparsion of the bills after the story.

Fears of slowed progress with new mental health bill

By PAIGE WINFIELD CUNNINGHAM

POLITICO  5/6/14 6:28 PM EDT

A new mental health bill proposed Tuesday by a group of House Democrats is stoking fears that it could hinder progress toward bipartisan reform.

While some advocates suggested the legislation could add to ideas already on the table from Republicans, others said they’re underwhelmed by the proposal and wonder why the Democrats felt a need to present it at all. And it was immediately blasted as a stripped-down, politically orchestrated effort by Rep. Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania, the GOP’s champion of a sweeping mental health reform bill.

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MENTAL HEALTH AMERICA AND BAZELON HOPE TO DERAIL REPUBLICAN PLAN

House Democrats will introduce a mental health bill later this week to challenge  the Helping Families In Mental Health Crisis Act introduced by Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) the only psychologist in Congress. Murphy was hoping to get his bill submitted for a vote next month on the House floor and had garnered some 70 cosponsors and editorial support  recently from The Washington Post.

Fears that Rep. Murphy’s bill was moving forward and might actually become law alarmed mental health groups that oppose the legislation. Mental Health America, the largest consumer mental health grassroots organizations, and the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, which is the non-profit organization that championed the fight for civil rights for persons with mental disorders decades ago and remains an influential legal watchdog for consumers, worked tirelessly behind the scenes against the bill. Gina Nikkel from the Foundation For Excellence in Mental Health Care, an upstart umbrella non-profit group initially launched by author Robert Whitaker and championed by Virgil Stucker of CooperRiiss, also criticized the bill.

Before resigning as president of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Executive Director Mike Fitzpatrick put NAMI on record as supporting Rep. Murphy’s legislation.  That move reportedly caused an uproar among NAMI board members, including complaints from NAMI’s growing consumer membership base who feared the new law would infringe on their civil rights. In a New York Times interview, NAMI Board Chairwoman Keris Myrick was quoted saying: ““I think almost everyone sees things in the bill that are long overdue, but also things they’re very concerned about.”

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This is the final segment of my interview with Mary Giliberti, the new executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. As explained in parts one and two, I submitted my questions in writing and she replied in emails because of a personal scheduling problem that prevented me from meeting with her during her first week in office. I want to publicly thank Director Giliberti for taking time to answer  my questions and I want to wish her the best, as a NAMI member, as she leads our organization forward.

Question: What do you see as the most important issue facing NAMI today?

Giliberti: We currently have systems that fail people with mental illness in healthcare, mental healthcare, education, housing, employment and criminal justice. We have too many people that are experiencing terrible outcomes and no one is held accountable. In fact, the incentives are often completely the opposite of what they should be.  

Within our community, we have to come together to make progress towards our broader, shared mission. We must work together to fight the real battle—a society that by-and-large does not understand mental illness and has neglected to identify it as the priority it should be. We have to be strong to be able to change this and make mental illness a priority. There is much more that unites us than divides us.

In the short run, I will strive to help NAMI move forward with a clearly articulated vision and a strategic plan with specific goals to guide our work. As part of that process, I will engage with NAMI members, our state and local NAMI Affiliate leaders, our national staff, thought leaders in the area of serious mental illness, major supporters and others touched by mental illness with the goal of introducing myself, learning from them and developing a common understanding of the path ahead.

In the longer term, I will know that we have been successful when NAMI becomes identified not just as an organization, but also as a movement.

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Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) introduced legislation today that would make significant changes in our nation’s mental health care system.

Spurred by the mass killings in Newtown, Murphy’s proposed bill,  The Mental Health Reform Act, would slow the current push in the mental health community toward self-determination at any and all costs toward a more paternalistic view.

For advocates such at Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, who played a key role behind the scenes in helping shape the legislation, passage would be a major victory. For the Bazelon Center For Mental Health Law and other consumer activists that have guided much of the government’s recent mental health thinking, it would be a set back.

Murphy, who is the only psychologist serving in Congress and has an inside working knowledge of our mental health care system’s successes and faults,  is proposing changes  based on testimony at several hearings that the Energy Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held during this year.  His bill targets 12 areas for major reform. Each is important and several are controversial.

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I am in the midst of a health crisis with my 94 year old mother and not in my office, but wanted to post this email from a reader. It is one of several that I have received this morning.