I urge every family member to read this and every consumer to understand our love as we walk beside you…all we want is to help fix this system FOR you. Mr. Kelley's death was 1 of 2 reasons I started T&L, the first was my loved one.
Please read:http://murphy.house.gov/uploads/EdwardKelleyTestimony5.29.14.pdf
By DANIELA ALTIMARI, dnaltimari@courant.com
The Hartford Courant, 11:37 AM EDT, March 16, 2014
Speaking to a crowd of about 100 people at a West Hartford synagogue last month, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy plowed through his usual set of talking points on jobs, the economy and the state budget.
Then, near the end of a question-and-answer session, someone in the audience asked about mental health policy and Malloy's brisk, business-like public persona abruptly dissolved.
"By the way," he said, pausing for a long beat, "One of my own sons suffers from mental health challenges. ... I have some expertise in this area personally."
Malloy has never been big on Oprah-style expressions of emotion. His image is that of a data-driven pragmatist who favors numbers over the politics of personal pain. After broaching the topic of his son's struggles, he quickly retreated back to the more comfortable terrain of government policy.
Yet the Democratic governor's decision to mention, ever so fleetingly, his son's condition signifies a new level of openness on a topic that once was considered none of the public's business.
In recent months, several politicians have spoken candidly about their family's private anguish. Creigh Deeds, a state senator from Virginia who was stabbed by his mentally ill son, appeared on "60 Minutes" to press for new mental health legislation.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio offered a public statement of support after his daughter, Chiara de Blasio, detailed her struggles with depression and substance abuse in a highly-polished YouTube video.
And Tom Foley, one of the Republicans hoping to replace Malloy in the governor's office, often alludes to a chronic mental health condition afflicting a member of his family.
Advocates for the mentally ill say a willingness to acknowledge such deeply personal matters marks an important milestone in the long quest to eliminate the stigma associated with mental illness.
"The thing about mental illness is, it's incredibly democratic," said Kate Mattias, executive director of the Connecticut chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. "And the wider the array of people who come out and say they, or someone in their family, is dealing with a mental health challenge, the more it moves the dial in normalizing it."
In 2009, when Malloy was still mayor of Stamford, his then-21-year-old son Ben was arrested in connection with an attempted robbery. At the time, Malloy and his wife, Cathy, released a statement saying their son suffered from an "emotional illness."
In an interview with the New York Times shortly after their son's arrest, the Malloys recounted their middle son's struggle with what they said was a form of depression. They noted other high-profile political families who have grappled with similar issues, including the Kennedys and the Gores.
It was Cathy Malloy who insisted on a public statement. "I think it's really important for us to say that this is what we're going through," she told the Times. "We understand that a lot of other people go through this.
Although one of Malloy's Democratic primary opponents urged him to drop out of the gubernatorial race immediately after the incident, the crisis was scarcely mentioned in the run-up to the 2010 general election.
But that was before the Newtown school shootings brought a new focus on the need to improve services for people with mental illness. In the aftermath of that tragedy, President Obama promised "a national conversation" on mental health.
Parents of children who have experienced a mental health crisis applaud Malloy for simply acknowledging his son's affliction.
"I know how hard it is and I commend him for being able to speak publicly about it," said Mary Jo Andrews of West Hartford. "In some ways, we've all bottled it up."
When Andrews' daughter, now 18, was admitted to a residential psychiatric program at age 12, Andrews and her husband initially weren't even sure they would tell their own siblings.
Andrews has since grown more comfortable talking about her daughter's condition. With her daughter's blessing, she joined a group of Connecticut mothers who appeared recently on "60 Minutes" to discuss the shortcomings of mental health care for children and young adults in the U.S. Creigh Deeds was featured on the same episode.
"It's very healthy to share these stories," Andrews said. "When our political leaders put a face on mental illness, they can be real leaders."
Personal Insight
Mental health remains a difficult topic.
Addressing a group of gun owners in January, Foley said Malloy and the legislature should have done more to help those struggling with mental illness instead of passing a host of new gun control laws.
"I know from personal experience how little support there is here and elsewhere for families with mental health challenges," Foley said at the time. "I would have focused on that."
That's as far as his public comments went. For Foley, who has packaged himself as a can-do businessman, displays of emotion have no place on the campaign trail. The issue never came up in his unsuccessful 2010 run for governor; he only mentions it now in the context of the post-Sandy Hook discussion on gun control.
"I don't really talk about it a lot," Foley said in a recent interview. "I consider it a private matter. I don't want it to become a campaign issue."
When policy issues surrounding mental health care are raised, he cites his family's experience in passing. "I'll only mention I understand because I have this personal experience," he said.
Foley's sister, three years his senior,
was diagnosed with manic depression, now known as bipolar disorder, Foley said. The family placed her in the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kan., one of the nation's premier in-patient psychiatric treatment centers.
Their mother died in 1976. "My father did what he could but he was in his 80s and then he was gone too," Foley said.
So primary responsibility for his sister fell to Foley. "I don't want to imply that she didn't have good days. Twenty years ago, more than half her days were good," Foley said. "She's a lovely person. She and I are very close."
Foley said he brings up his sister's experience not to "brag" about his role as her caregiver and supporter but because it has provided him with insight into the problems faced by people with mental illness and their families.
"I almost universally find people are at a loss when they need residential care for a young or middle-aged person," Foley said.
Foley said he knows that residential treatment is not the right choice for every patient and he is not advocating for a return of state-run institutions. But, he said, the complex patchwork of services that has replaced institutional care has many holes.
"A lot of the supports have gone away," Foley said. "States had institutions. Those institutions were abandoned in the 1970s for a lot of good reasons, but nothing grew up to replace them."
Foley said his family's experience points to a need for more resources and more education. "A lot of families just don't know what they're dealing with," he said. To help them, Foley proposed a public awareness campaign on the signs and symptoms of mental illness.
Malloy's 2014 legislative agenda includes funding for expanded mental health services for young adults and mandatory mental health crisis intervention training for all Connecticut police officers.
Malloy also is proposing $2.2 million in new funding for 110 supportive housing units for people with mental illness. "That is one of the biggest things that can help people with mental illness stay in the community instead of being hospitalized," said Kate Mattias of National Alliance on Mental Illness.
And the governor's budget calls for spending $250,000 on an anti-stigma campaign with billboards and public service announcements to promote an "accepting environment" that encourages people with mental illnesses not to be ashamed to seek treatment.
That's a point Malloy emphasized in his comments to the members of the synagogue a few weeks back.
"We talk about mental health in all of the wrong terminology," he said. "So much so that we scare people from actually seeking help. That's a problem.
"A big part of what we all have to do is … admit who we are and what we are, and who our family is and what our family is, and who our friends are and what our friends have gone through," Malloy said. "Once we do that, I think it's one of those paradigm shifts again."
Copyright © 2014, The Hartford Courant
courant.com/news/politics/hc-mental-health-candidates-gov-20140308,0,4131097.story
Daniela Giordano Public Policy Director for NAMI CT was a guest blogger for the Connecticut Health Foundation on Mental Health Parity, link: http://www.cthealth.org/blog/treat-us-equally-mental-health-parity/
1/3 or 200,000 of the 600,000 homeless who live on the street are mental ill. Many benefited by very strong family support systems and insurance that offered some availability to services before they became homeless. Those now living on the streets weren't able to care for themselves before they became homeless, how are they expected to now?
Are the streets the answer? Is that acceptable to our society? No medication leads to self-medication which we know doesn't work very well.
Some of the most amazing programs in the country offer services to those on the street. These volunteers, social workers, doctor and nurses patrol the streets looking for those they can help, they give them a meal, their meds and check them over, they look in their eyes and they talk with them..
Shelters are not the answer. We know that too.
The homeless who are mentally ill and live in big cities get weekly news coverage for crimes they commit. The public becomes afraid, again, of every form of mental illness which only adds to the stigma, preventing people from asking for help while the media gets a daily ratings bump. Shame on them.
We, as caregivers, are more often than not blamed when tragedy strikes. With all the media coverage we're often left with soundbites and the perpetuation of stigma yet no real solutions offered. The questions they want to focus on are: Where is the family? How could they let this happen? What kind of people are they? They judge, then they look the other way. They think we have a say with our loved ones and the broken system we and they navigate…
Critical Intervention Training
(CIT) is vitally important, as a first step. It will take years for us to fix the broken system and until then police are our first line.
A CIT trained office told me the quagmire officers face. 'When they approach a call they are to get control of the scene and the perp as soon as possible. They expect compliance, anything that isn't compliance is defiance. So failing arms, talking, noises, tics, running, screaming, an inability to stop moving...crying and or acting out escalate the issue and the stress of all involved. ' Never good.
When I told him my story and how my loved one wants to be looked in the eye, told it will be ok, that you are there to help…
The officer said 'but we're not trained to do that…' in the academy.
I beleive when you know better you do better. CIT training should be taught in every police academy because as another officer told me:
'We go on these calls and don't know what the hell to do and are as jacked as they are. We don't know what to do? Arrest them? Send them to the hospital (which we often can't do) so the caregiver can get a respite and reorganize, get them to a shelter (if there is a bed) and often the caregiver gets mad at us for yelling at the person, arresting them or cuffing them. What are we supposed to do??''
The Critical Intervention Training is such a fantastic community tool and deserves to be part of every police academy training in our country. I'm impressed by each officer that I've met that is CIT trained.
I'll leave you with a few links to consider as you look at the issues our society faces with respect to community based services, funding, CIT training and homelessness:
Please read Kelly Thomas' story. Not the politics of it, just the story as a caregiver. I'm haunted by this man and his father. I want to meet this father and hold him. He loved his son, his son's last words haunt me.
link
http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/18/us/philadelphia-subway-attack/index.html?iphoneemail
http://www.psmag.com/blogs/news-blog/hospitals-save-money-with-homeless-outreach-3676/
I attended the first of this two evening discussion. The participants were MH professionals, advocates, policy makers, parents, consumers, clubhouse members, teachers, siblings... At the next meeting we'll offer solutions to help facilitate an ongoing dialog on overall wellness throughout our nation, with Mental Health being an integral component.
What I want to see? "I want to see a "..." instead of a '.' after a diagnosis. The diagnosis is the beginning of living, not an end." K. Tierney
One in four adults experiences mental illness in a given year, and about 20 percent of youth ages 13 to 18 experience severe mental disorders in a given year.
Those statistics from the National Alliance on Mental Illness are startling, but shouldn't surprise anyone. Mental illness is as prevalent in the United States as any other disease.
Further, NAMI estimates that 2.6 million adults live with schizophrenia and 6.1 million have bipolar disorder. Also, 14.8 million people suffer from major depression and 42 million people live with anxiety disorders.
With so many people suffering from some form of mental illness, it is an issue that should not be taken lightly or ignored. In fact, odds seem fairly great that a majority of American families have at least one family member who suffers from a mental illness. It has affected my own family over the generations.
In an effort to get a grasp on the prevalence of mental illness -- or as President Barack Obama has said, to bring it "out of the shadows" -- the federal government has initiated a nationwide dialogue.
In the month following the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, where 20 schoolchildren and six adults were killed, Obama called for "a national conversation to increase understanding about mental health." U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan are working together to bring about meaningful discussion on the grassroots level.
Mental illness is probably one of the most misunderstood maladies in the country.
At a national conference in June, Obama said, "Too many Americans who struggle with mental health illnesses are still suffering in silence rather than seeking help, and we need to see to it that men and women who would never hesitate to go see a doctor if they had a broken arm or came down with the flu, that they have that same attitude when it comes to their mental health."
A part of the initiative is called "Creating Community Solutions," in which participants learn about mental health issues from each other and develop plans to improve mental health in their communities, according to the National Dialogue on Mental Health.
Included in that endeavor are "Community Conversations," in which small groups of people discuss and learn and hopefully find new ideas and ways to improve the mental health of people in their cities and towns, according to the Southwest Regional Mental Health Board, based out of Norwalk. Among the primary goals is to "identify challenges that face residents and especially youth. Some groups also will focus on the issues concerning senior citizens, families with special needs and the LGBTQ population.
Sessions already have begun throughout Fairfield County and will continue for several more weeks. A meeting and "Healthy Minds, Healthy Communities" conversation took place earlier this week in Fairfield, but another is scheduled for 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 13, at First Church Congregational, 148 Beach Road. For a complete list of meeting dates, times and places, consultwww.healthymindsct.org.
Patricia A. Hines is a Fairfield writer, and her "Hines Sight" appears every other Friday. She can be reached at hinessight@hotmail.com. She also can be followed @patricia_hines on Twitter.
Books are now on sale at our Amazon Store, click here.
When you look at the list there are several titles that are great for children to read to build a greater understanding of those who have different challenges than maybe they face, Wonder and Out Of My Mind are two such books.
The Soul's Plan is a wonderful book that I turn to often to put my challenges as a caregiver into perspective and find a measure of peace when it seems hard to find.
When I first came out as a caregiver I needed to dive into a 'darker place' to understand and identify in a deep way with the struggle. Now I reread these same books to see the progress that many of our peer advocates, clients, professionals and loved ones have fought for! These books include: The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic, Gracefully Insane: Life and Death Inside America's Premier Mental Hospital & Danvers State: Memoirs of A Nurse In The Asylum.
A Year By The Sea was just a beautiful read of a woman's journey...I hope you enjoy it!
Some memoirs that may help give a better understanding of our loves ones battles: The Memory Place, The Day The Voices Stopped, All That is Bitter & Sweet: A Memoir & Will Love 4 Crumbs.
Stop Walking on Eggshells is a fantastic and affirming read on setting boundaries.
The Reason I Jump is on my nightstand, highly recommended and I can't wait to dive in!
Enjoy!!
This article in Science Daily discussed how Brains scans are being used to determine whether medications or therapy will offer the best treatment outcomes for patients with depression. This is another GREAT tool! One frustration has been the trail and error/fail-first approach to meds.
Connecticut Post Article on Insurance Executives Compensation.
Do you access health care services? Have your co-pays & premiums gone up while services have declined? Have any of your service providers gone private pay due to low insurance payouts for their professional services. Do you pay out of pocket for ALL of your loved ones behavioral & mental health services? Then the above article is a must read.
See our Facebook Page for Commentary on this issue.Time Magazine, Special Edition: The Science of You.
Read MoreWallingford's Dry Dock Founder asked about my Hospital Checklist and how to use it after hearing me testify to the Public Health Committee two weeks ago. After testifying in Middletown in front of another Legislative Committee I met one of our new State Representatives, he's sharing it with several of his constituents who are faced with the same HIPPA issues many families do when they are 'taking their loved ones home'.
I urge you to share, edit & use the checklist found here Hospital Checklist tab.
CT Legislative Bills to Watch * Contact your Legislators * Let them know your position on the issues that matter to you & your loved ones. If you don’t let them know, they can’t help you. * 5 calls or emails are all that is needed to change a vote * (edited)
What to write or say:
My Testimony can be found by clicking the following link ( advocacy tab above). Feel free to take the information that makes sense to you, add your name, the town you live in, whether you oppose or support the bill and either email or call your Legislator. If you don’t use your voice for your loved one, nothing will change. Your voice is important and matters.
What Are the BIG Bills being considered this session that affect you?
*857 STEP OR ‘FAIL-FIRST’ THERAPY Oppose, Strongly
*169 AUSTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER INS COVERAGE Support
6388 CONCERNING INTERMEDIATE CARE FACILITIES FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES. Support
6546 PHYSICAL THERAPY COVERAGE (MY TESTIMONY WILL CENTER ON BEHAVIORAL AND MENTAL HEALTH SHOULD BE COVERED IF THIS IS.) Oppose as written, support with Mental Behavioral Health Therapies Included
*6517 PARITY COMPLIANCE & OVERSIGHT. Support
*6001 RESIDENTIAL COMMUNITIES FOR YOUNG ADULTS WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES. Support
1023 NON-PROFIT REVENUE RETENTION (pls READ TESTIMONY, VERY IMPORTANT BILL) Support
262 REPORTING OF PATIENTS WHO POSE A RISK TO SELF OR OTHERS Oppose
**374 IN SCHOOL BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SCREENINGS Oppose- Strongly as written and probably with changes.
1029 HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE FOR AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS Support
6612 MENTAL HEALTH PARITY & OVERSIGHT Support, Strongly
1087 RESPITE (SHOULD INCLUDE DEVELOPMENTAL, BEHAVIORAL & MENTAL HEALTH) Oppose as written, Support with changes to include M/BH
Legislator Contact Info:
Senator John McKinney John.mcKinney@cga.ct.gov
Representative Tony Hwang Tony@tonyhwang.com
Representative Brenda Kupchick Brenda.Kupchick@cga.ct.gov
Representative Kim Fawcett Kim.Fawcett@cga.ct.gov
How to find what Bills are being heard that week or more info on the ones listed?
Go to www.cga.ct.gov
Type in the Bill numbers at the top of the page for the full bill, more info, etc.
Why Bother? Am I heard?
Remember even if a hearing happened the vote hasn’t. Your legislators need to hear from you.
The gun lobby is flooding email boxes at the Legislature. Mental and Behavioral Health Advocates ARE NOT! The feeling is that all is fine so what needs to be fixed. The reality is that as caregivers we have NO TIME. This is my way of making it as easy as possible for you to be heard.
Please visit www.turtles-lemonade.com for:
Hospital Checklist: For when your loved one is released. Now being used by several non-profits, Legislators and caregivers throughout the state.
Testimony: To get comfortable with the process.
Links: To important info and agencies.
Daily Blogs: On topics that affect our loved ones and us as caregivers.
Support: Through the information provided, group and individual work.
~
Handout #2 Turtles & Lemonade, Legislative Issues and what they mean to us this year.
What is Parity?
If you don’t accept the concept of insurance parity, you accept the premise that a person with stage 4 cancer whether 13 or 65, in excruciating pain goes to an emergency room to get care; and as soon as their pain is managed, whether that is in 4 hours, or after three days when the insurance company stops paying, pain free or not, they’re sent home with a prescription only? No follow-up, no support, nothing, until the next time they are in so much pain they need to come back. That could be hours, days, weeks, or months later. But make no mistake about it, until that person passes away they will be back and they will be in the ER with crisis level pain and all of the associated costs; real costs by insurance, family, personal, employment loss, etc.
You would probably say that this is unacceptable for any reasonable person.
Now substitute mental illness for cancer in the above scenario. That is the EXACT practice that we have in this country. I’m testifying to that fact today.
That is not parity. That isn’t managed care. It is cruelty and certainly not what we expect to get when paying our premiums.
We would never accept a medications-only approach for our loved ones with cancer, without exploring the options and services available for the most successful outcome and quality of life available to them.
Insurance companies pressure the medical community to ignore proven successful best practices for quality of life and recovery when it comes to mental health services and maintenance.
Mental Illness/Behavioral Health Issues are no different from cancer, or heart disease or diabetes. Society may not think that, or like that, but that is a fact.
Many caregivers feel that the goal of insurance companies with respect to Behavioral/Mental Health are to give them a prescription to mask the problem or manage symptoms, send them on their way, and hope they don’t return which means they’ve passed due to negligent care. That is the exact opposite of our goal and our loved one’s goal. It is our feeling that the Insurance Industry’s position is that by using this model our loved ones sooner or later will no longer be a drain on their profits. What other demographic would we, as a society, accept this for?
As with cancer, early detection and managed care work. It is the most cost effective model for insurance companies, patients and society.
Enforce the insurance parity laws currently on the books in CT. Begin true oversight. Add substantial penalties and no loopholes. Caregivers need to be able to trigger these penalties for our loved ones who are unable to for themselves. If you chose to do nothing you need be content with the insurance companies wish for these services to ONLY be offered by the government. Yet, remember that puts the burden for healthcare, support, housing, food, unemployment and SSI on to you.
We need these new oversight laws before the Legislature this session passed in order to put insurance companies on notice that they’re being watched and will be held accountable. We need teeth behind our parity laws with respect to behavior/mental health services. (CT OHA & Insurance Commission currently are where to report your issues). Insurance companies have benefitted by the inability of those who suffer from chronic mental illness/severe developmental disabilities/behavioral issues to properly fill out insurance paperwork, advocate and be tenacious enough to break through their cumbersome system in order to access covered or available services and HIPPA laws which prevent caregivers from helping them.
We pay insurance premiums expecting to get what we pay for, yet rarely do when it comes to behavioral health. Yet, if we don’t pay our premium we don’t get covered care. Why are insurance companies that aren’t providing covered care still allowed to be serving the public that PAYS for their service?
Step-Therapy
When an insurance company changes a brand name med to a generic. The change is not by a Doctor. This saves the company money and has dire consequences when applied to any med that deals with the brain. These meds are supposed to be prohibited from this practice. That isn’t the case though.
Would this happen if insurance companies knew there was true oversight and more than a slap on their hand…if reported? Why are our CT non-profits held to a higher standard?
The true costs of providing proper mental health care coverage will decrease not increase insurance costs, reducing overall health care cost to all. Providing proper coverage will also reduce the need and associated costs of emergency hospitalizations.
Great Resources
This Legislative Session in Connecticut has been wonderfully heartening.
All of our Legislators are listening and want to hear your voice. Five calls can change a vote. One story can change a committee's vote.
The questions being asked are deep, purposeful and insightful.
Each day brings a new opportunity to open a mind and help all of our loved ones.
I'll be testifying on Bills 1023 & 6545 on 3.5.2013 & Bills 5740, 374, 5992 & 262 Friday. Please go to cga.ct.gov to see the Bills, all are very important. One is for Mandatory Behavioral Health screening for ALL Children. So far there are no answers as to who will screen, who the results are reported to and why and where services will be provided. All personal and professional industry testimony to date has illustrated that there are too few service providers, too few who are affordable to families and there are long waiting list for public services. In addition the funding for the in school mental health centers was cut last month. That is only one of the 6 Bills...
And, Bill 1029 Hearing 3.7.2013
AN ACT CONCERNING HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE FOR AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS.
To retain health insurance coverage for the treatment of autism spectrum disorders as currently defined.
Thank you--please use your voice.
(Direct link to Fact sheet N°220, September 2010, written for the W.H.O. is below.)
"Strategies and interventions
Mental health promotion involves actions to create living conditions and environments that support mental health and allow people to adopt and maintain healthy lifestyles. These include a range of actions to increase the chances of more people experiencing better mental health.
A climate that respects and protects basic civil, political, socio-economic and cultural rights is fundamental to mental health promotion. Without the security and freedom provided by these rights, it is very difficult to maintain a high level of mental health.
National mental health policies should not be solely concerned with mental disorders, but should also recognize and address the broader issues which promote mental health. This includes mainstreaming mental health promotion into policies and programmes in government and business sectors including education, labour, justice, transport, environment, housing, and welfare, as well as the health sector.
Promoting mental health depends largely on intersectoral strategies. Specific ways to promote mental health include:" (Please click link for remainder of Fact Sheet.)
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs220/en/
(original post 1.17.13, repost 2.20.13)
Testimony: CT State Legislature
Sandy Hook Hearings on Mental Health Services 1.29.13
I’m a Mental Health Advocate & lifelong caregiver of a mentally ill loved one. I represent caregivers, my loved one and my business Turtles & Lemonade.
Thank you for holding this hearing and listening to our voices. I feel the voice of the caregiver is the most important one to have at the table when discussing access, the successes and failures of Mental Health Services. We navigate the public, private and insurance system year-in-and-year-out.
I ask you to look at the bottom line issues & the true costs of offering parity in Mental Health Services, parity certainly isn’t easy to define. The numbers speak for themselves: Connecticut lost between $31-17 billion dollars in income tax revenue from caregivers over the last 15 years. Over this same time period insurance companies have steadily reduced coverage for Mental Health Services, have posted unprecedented profits and health insurance premiums have increased 131% in the last decade. The insurance company practice of having administrators not doctors recommend what is best for our loved ones is unacceptable. This practice reduces their costs, while reducing Connecticut tax revenue and my personal income.
As a caregiver I’ve had to fight for covered hospitalizations, secure exceptions for services denied my loved one, research and find ways to access public services to add to the sparse services and therapy available for my insured loved one, pay copays and bus fares while building my loved one up who is unable to advocate and speak for herself while trying to work, take care of my family and volunteer.
We need a zip-line to services when someone with chronic mental illness reaches out. Neither the private nor the public system can expect a person with chronic mental illness to properly fill out disability insurance paperwork, advocate and be tenacious enough to break through a cumbersome system in order to access covered or available services.
Information on services and support need to be advertised and publicized to caregivers more so than the chronically mentally ill. As an informed consumer until I came out of the closet as a caregiver I too had little information on many of the valuable support services available for my loved one.
I urge you read the Connecticut Office of the Health Advocates January 5th, 2013 report & the Blue Ribbon Commission report of 2003. These reports were very difficult for me to read as the obstacles and problems I live and navigate daily were clearly spelled out 10 yrs. ago and have cost Connecticut and my family quite a bit.
Please look at the true costs to properly insure Mental Health Services. Examine the real costs to our State when care for our mentally ill loved ones is pushed onto non-professional caregivers. Providing proper mental healthcare coverage will decrease not increase insurance costs, reducing overall health care cost to all. Providing proper coverage will reduce the need and associated costs of emergency hospitalizations whose costs are often passed onto the state through Medicaid reimbursement or to our hospital systems who can’t recoup these costs.
The bottom line to the State in lost income tax revenue is real. We need to look at not only the $31-17 billion dollar loss to our State but the cost to our Nation. Nationwide the cost of lost wages, pension contributions and Social Security taxes over the same time period with respect to caregivers is 3 TRILLION dollars. (Per MetLife study.)
Thank you and your commission for holding this hearing. I urge you to stay the course, reach out and help us move an inch in the right direction for our loved ones.
Legislators, caregivers, mental health professionals and insurance companies need to come together and fix this economic problem.
As our nation continues to debate Mental Health Services few are speaking in public about the perception that Mental illness is a character flaw. Mental Illness' are serious chronic medical conditions, like diabetes and heart disease. Is a diabetic a weak person that can't control their pancreas and its production of insulin? If you're born to a family that has a genetic disposition to create cholesterol resulting in heart disease are you too weak of mind to control your endocrine system? To follow that logic a person who suffers from Mental Illness is too weak to control the chemicals and neurotransmitters in thier brain; the most unexplored organ in the body. Why is there no parity of coverage and care? What is parity of care when discussing Mental Health?
Mental illnesses are serious medical illnesses. They cannot be overcome through "will power" and are not related to a person's "character" or intelligence. Mental illness falls along a continuum of severity. Even though mental illness is widespread in the population, the main burden of illness is concentrated in a much smaller proportion-about 6 percent, or 1 in 17 Americans-who live with a serious mental illness. The National Institute of Mental Health reports that One in four adults-approximately 57.7 million Americans-experience a mental health disorder in a given year.
http://www.nami.org/template.cfm?section=about_mental_illness
When you know better do better.
The following was on Facebook with no credit or source. See below for blog my post.)
“What Drug Date Where Additional
School Shooting Prozac WITHDRAWAL 2008-02-15 Illinois ** 6 Dead: 15 Wounded: Perpetrator Was in Withdrawal from Med & Acting Erratically School Shooting Prozac Antidepressant 2005-03-24 Minnesota **10 Dead: 7 Wounded: Dosage Increased One Week before Rampage School Shooting Paxil [Seroxat] Antidepressant 2001-03-10 Pennsylvania **14 Year Old GIRL Shoots & Wounds Classmate at Catholic School School Shooting Zoloft Antidepressant & ADHD Med 2011-07-11 Alabama **14 Year Old Kills Fellow Middle School Student School Shooting Zoloft Antidepressant 1995-10-12 South Carolina **15 Year Old Shoots Two Teachers, Killing One: Then Kills Himself School Shooting Med For Depression 2009-03-13 Germany **16 Dead Including Shooter: Antidepressant Use: Shooter in Treatment For Depression School Hostage Situation Med For Depression 2010-12-15 France **17 Year Old with Sword Holds 20 Children & Teacher Hostage School Shooting Plot Med For Depression WITHDRAWAL 2008-08-28 Texas **18 Year Old Plots a Columbine School Attack School Shooting Anafranil Antidepressant 1988-05-20 Illinois **29 Year Old WOMAN Kills One Child: Wounds Five: Kills Self School Shooting Luvox/Zoloft Antidepressants 1999-04-20 Colorado **COLUMBINE: 15 Dead: 24 Wounded School Stabbings Antidepressants 2001-06-09 Japan **Eight Dead: 15 Wounded: Assailant Had Taken 10 Times his Normal Dose of Depression Med School Shooting Prozac Antidepressant WITHDRAWAL 1998-05-21 Oregon **Four Dead: Twenty Injured School Stabbing Med For Depression 2011-10-25 Washington **Girl, 15, Stabs Two Girls in School Restroom: 1 Is In Critical Condition School Shooting Antidepressant 2006-09-30 Colorado **Man Assaults Girls: Kills One & Self School Machete Attack Med for Depression 2001-09-26 Pennsylvania **Man Attacks 11 Children & 3 Teachers at Elementary School School Shooting Related Luvox 1993-07-23 Florida **Man Commits Murder During Clinical Trial for Luvox: Same Drug as in COLUMBINE: Never Reported School Hostage Situation Cymbalta Antidepressant WITHDRAWAL 2009-11-09 New York **Man With Gun Inside School Holds Principal Hostage School Shooting Antidepressants 1992-09-20 Texas **Man, Angry Over Daughter's Report Card, Shoots 14 Rounds inside Elementary School School Shooting SSRI 2010-02-19 Finland **On Sept. 23, 2008 a Finnish Student Shot & Killed 9 Students Before Killing Himself School Shooting Threat Med for Depression* 2004-10-19 New Jersey **Over-Medicated Teen Brings Loaded Handguns to School School Shooting Antidepressant? 2007-04-18 Virginia **Possible SSRI Use: 33 Dead at Virginia Tech School Shooting Antidepressant? 2002-01-17 Virginia **Possible SSRI Withdrawal Mania: 3 Dead at Law School School Incident/Bizarre Zoloft* 2010-08-22 Australia **School Counselor Exhibits Bizarre Behavior: Became Manic On Zoloft School/Assault Antidepressant 2009-11-04 California **School Custodian Assaults Student & Principal: Had Manic Reaction From Depression Med School Shooting Prozac Antidepressant 1992-01-30 Michigan **School Teacher Shoots & Kills His Superintendent at School School Shooting Threats Celexa Antidepressant 2010-01-25 Virginia **Senior in High School Theatens to Kill 4 Classmates: Facebook Involved: Bail Denied School Violence/Murder Antidepressants* 1998-05-04 New York **Sheriff's Deputy Shoots his Wife in an Elementary School School Knifing/Murder Meds For Depression & ADHD 2010-04-28 Massachusetts **Sixteen Year Old Kills 15 Year Old in High School Bathroom in Sept. 2009 School Stabbing Wellbutrin 2006-12-04 Indiana **Stabbing by 17 Year Old At High School: Charged with Attempted Murder School Threat Antidepressants 2007-04-23 Mississippi **Student Arrested for Making School Threat Over Internet School Suspension Lexapro Antidepressant 2007-07-28 Arkansas **Student Has 11 Incidents with Police During his 16 Months on Lexapro School Shooting Antidepressant WITHDRAWAL 2007-11-07 Finland **Student Kills 8: Wounds 10: Kills Self: High School in Finland School Shooting Paxil [Seroxat] Antidepressant 2004-02-09 New York **Student Shoots Teacher in Leg at School School Threat Prozac Antidepressant 2008-01-25 Washington **Student Takes Loaded Shotgun & 3 Rifles to School Parking Lot: Plans Suicide School Shooting Plot Med For Depression 1998-12-01 Wisconsin **Teen Accused of Plotting to Gun Down Students at School School/Assault Zoloft Antidepressant 2006-02-15 Tennessee **Teen Attacks Teacher at School School Shooting Threat Antidepressant 1999-04-16 Idaho **Teen Fires Gun in School School Hostage Situation Paxil & Effexor Antidepressants 2001-04-15 Washington **Teen Holds Classmates Hostage with a Gun School Hostage Situation Antidepressant WITHDRAWAL 2006-11-28 North Carolina **Teen Holds Teacher & Student Hostage with Gun School Knife Attack Med for Depression 2006-12-06 Indiana **Teen Knife Attacks Fellow Student School Massacre Plot Prozac Withdrawal 2011-02-23 Virginia **Teen Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison For Columbine Style Plot School Shooting Celexa & Effexor Antidepressants 2001-04-19 California **Teen Shoots at Classmates in School School Shooting Celexa Antidepressant 2006-08-30 North Carolina **Teen Shoots at Two Students: Kills his Father: Celexa Found Among his Personal Effects School Shooting Meds For Depression & ADHD 2011-03-18 South Carolina ** Teen Shoots School Official: Pipe Bombs Found in Backpack School Shooting Threat Antidepressant 2003-05-31 Michigan **Teen Threatens School Shooting: Charge is Terrorism School Stand-Off Zoloft Antidepressant 1998-04-13 Idaho **Teen [14 Years Old] in School Holds Police At Bay: Fires Shots School Shooting Antidepressant WITHDRAWAL 2007-10-12 Ohio **Teen [14 Years Old] School Shooter Possibly on Antidepressants or In Withdrawal School Threat Antidepressants 2008-03-20 Indiana **Teen [16 Years Old] Brings Gun to School: There Is a Lockdown SchoolSuicide/Lockdown Med For Depression 2008-02-20 Idaho”
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Pharmaceuticals have played a huge role in increasing the quality of life for many who suffer from mental illness. This blog post will address the argument being bantered about this week and implied above: The argument that Mental Illness is the problem, not guns. I'm a supporter of the Second Amendment so the argument of Mental Health Reform vs. Gun Ownership has no correlation to me. It's an attempt to put Mental Health on the hot seat to divert attention from conversations on guns. They are both on the hot seat now because they were two of many pieces to the Newtown puzzle. I'm happy the conversations are happening but saddened for the reason...
I'm sure the point of the Facebook post above was one thing while to me it's something altogether different. My take-away is the fact that Pharmaceutical Companies and their Lobbyists have played a huge role in dismantling Mental Health Services in the US. They've convinced Insurance Companies that it's cheaper to pay for a three-day hospital stay and have patients leave with an RX but with no support services. When in fact it isn't (see blog post on the W.H.O.). The Insurance Industry joined the Pharmaceutical Lobby to dismantle Mental Health Service funding and Insurance Companies responsibilities to policyholders.
Was the premise of the dismantling approach to try a RX if there was no clear-cut diagnosis? Try every drug there is, keep trying, hopefully something will work. This approach shows no regard for the effects of the strong meds on the mind, often growing teen minds and all the hormones that come into play. What are these 'trials' doing to the brain? How long will it take for the RX to level out in the body and work? What are the side effects (see Hospital Checklist tab above)? Do the caregivers have the training and ability to watch their loved ones 24/7 until the proper med is found and works? Do they just keep trying until something works or the person snaps if it doesn’t?
If an industry or two push Doctors to prescribe meds and free up Hospital beds they should have some responsibility, right? Cause & Effect. Yet, the resulting snap isn’t their problem nor their responsibility, its societies.
The US Pharmaceutical Industry alone made $300-$400 billion dollars in 2010 and they make nothing from support services. Their largest customer is the Insurance Industry. US consumers also pay the most for each medicine we purchase, with or without insurance. Why? We pay for the R&D too.
I'd like to see these two industries help us help our loved ones by taking a portion of their profits to fund local support services. There's no downside to giving back to their customers, is there?
Quite a different takeaway.
Get involved. Ask your elected officials to look at the real issues and problems (see Advocate/Lobby tab above).
See also: List of mental disorders as defined by the DSM and ICD
There are many different categories of mental disorder, and many different facets of human behavior and personality that can become disordered.[7][8][9][10][11]
Anxiety or fear that interferes with normal functioning may be classified as an anxiety disorder.[12] Commonly recognized categories include specific phobias, generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Other affective (emotion/mood) processes can also become disordered. Mood disorder involving unusually intense and sustained sadness, melancholia, or despair is known as major depression (also known as unipolar or clinical depression). Milder but still prolonged depression can be diagnosed as dysthymia. Bipolar disorder (also known as manic depression) involves abnormally "high" or pressured mood states, known as mania or hypomania, alternating with normal or depressed mood. The extent to which unipolar and bipolar mood phenomena represent distinct categories of disorder, or mix and merge along a dimension or spectrum of mood, is subject to some scientific debate.[13]
Patterns of belief, language use and perception of reality can become disordered (e.g., delusions, thought disorder, hallucinations). Psychotic disorders in this domain include schizophrenia, and delusional disorder. Schizoaffective disorder is a category used for individuals showing aspects of both schizophrenia and affective disorders. Schizotypy is a category used for individuals showing some of the characteristics associated with schizophrenia but without meeting cutoff criteria.
Personality—the fundamental characteristics of a person that influence thoughts and behaviors across situations and time—may be considered disordered if judged to be abnormally rigid and maladaptive. Although treated separately by some, the commonly used categorical schemes include them as mental disorders, albeit on a separate "axis II" in the case of the DSM-IV. A number of different personality disorders are listed, including those sometimes classed as "eccentric", such as paranoid, schizoid and schizotypal personality disorders; types that have described as "dramatic" or "emotional", such asantisocial, borderline, histrionic or narcissistic personality disorders; and those sometimes classed as fear-related, such as anxious-avoidant, dependent, or obsessive-compulsive personality disorders. The personality disorders in general are defined as emerging in childhood, or at least by adolescence or early adulthood. The ICD also has a category for enduring personality change after a catastrophic experience or psychiatric illness. If an inability to sufficiently adjust to life circumstances begins within three months of a particular event or situation, and ends within six months after the stressor stops or is eliminated, it may instead be classed as an adjustment disorder. There is an emerging consensus that so-called "personality disorders", like personality traits in general, actually incorporate a mixture of acute dysfunctional behaviors that may resolve in short periods, and maladaptive temperamental traits that are more enduring.[14] Furthermore, there are also non-categorical schemes that rate all individuals via a profile of different dimensions of personality without a symptom-based cutoff from normal personality variation, for example through schemes based on dimensional models.[15]
Eating disorders involve disproportionate concern in matters of food and weight.[12] Categories of disorder in this area include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, exercise bulimia or binge eating disorder.
Sleep disorders such as insomnia involve disruption to normal sleep patterns, or a feeling of tiredness despite sleep appearing normal.
Sexual and gender identity disorders may be diagnosed, including dyspareunia, gender identity disorder and ego-dystonic homosexuality. Various kinds of paraphilia are considered mental disorders (sexual arousal to objects, situations, or individuals that are considered abnormal or harmful to the person or others).
People who are abnormally unable to resist certain urges or impulses that could be harmful to themselves or others, may be classed as having an impulse control disorder, including various kinds of tic disorders such as Tourette's syndrome, and disorders such as kleptomania (stealing) or pyromania (fire-setting). Various behavioral addictions, such as gambling addiction, may be classed as a disorder. Obsessive-compulsive disorder can sometimes involve an inability to resist certain acts but is classed separately as being primarily an anxiety disorder.
The use of drugs (legal or illegal, including alcohol), when it persists despite significant problems related to its use, may be defined as a mental disorder. The DSM incorporates such conditions under the umbrella category of substance use disorders, which includes substance dependence and substance abuse. The DSM does not currently use the common term drug addiction, and the ICD simply refers to "harmful use". Disordered substance use may be due to a pattern of compulsive and repetitive use of the drug that results in tolerance to its effects and withdrawal symptoms when use is reduced or stopped.
People who suffer severe disturbances of their self-identity, memory and general awareness of themselves and their surroundings may be classed as having a dissociative identity disorder, such asdepersonalization disorder or Dissociative Identity Disorder itself (which has also been called multiple personality disorder, or "split personality"). Other memory or cognitive disorders include amnesia or various kinds of old age dementia.
A range of developmental disorders that initially occur in childhood may be diagnosed, for example autism spectrum disorders, oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which may continue into adulthood.
Conduct disorder, if continuing into adulthood, may be diagnosed as antisocial personality disorder (dissocial personality disorder in the ICD). Popularist labels such as psychopath (or sociopath) do not appear in the DSM or ICD but are linked by some to these diagnoses.
Somatoform disorders may be diagnosed when there are problems that appear to originate in the body that are thought to be manifestations of a mental disorder. This includes somatization disorder andconversion disorder. There are also disorders of how a person perceives their body, such as body dysmorphic disorder. Neurasthenia is an old diagnosis involving somatic complaints as well as fatigue and low spirits/depression, which is officially recognized by the ICD-10 but no longer by the DSM-IV.[16]
Factitious disorders, such as Munchausen syndrome, are diagnosed where symptoms are thought to be experienced (deliberately produced) and/or reported (feigned) for personal gain.
There are attempts to introduce a category of relational disorder, where the diagnosis is of a relationship rather than on any one individual in that relationship. The relationship may be between children and their parents, between couples, or others. There already exists, under the category of psychosis, a diagnosis of shared psychotic disorder where two or more individuals share a particular delusion because of their close relationship with each other.
There are a number of uncommon psychiatric syndromes, which are often named after the person who first described them, such as Capgras syndrome, De Clerambault syndrome, Othello syndrome,Ganser syndrome, Cotard delusion, and Ekbom syndrome, and additional disorders such as the Couvade syndrome and Geschwind syndrome.[17]
Various new types of mental disorder diagnosis are occasionally proposed. Among those controversially considered by the official committees of the diagnostic manuals include self-defeating personality disorder, sadistic personality disorder, passive-aggressive personality disorder and premenstrual dysphoric disorder.
END
*1999 Psychiatry Online, American Journal of Psychiatry, full article found here: http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/article.aspx?articleid+173643
This certainly has proved true over the last 14 years. The reduction in care by insurance companies and the availability of cost effective private services has dwindled to an unacceptable low. The financial burden is passed along to caregiving family members who have little or no say over their loved ones care. Most care in the Northeast is private pay; Therapy, DBT, CBT, etc...
I urge you to read the World Health Organizations report on the burdens and costs of Mental Health Issues that was published in 2001: http://who.int/whr/2001/chapter2/en/index3.html
Studies show that providing proper insured care for our mentally ill loved ones lowers health care costs for all. It doesn't raise them. It also lowers the costs to society by not placing the burden of continued crisis hospitalization costs on the very hospitals that care for our uninsured loved ones. Effective Social Services are in place but funding has been drastically cut.
On December 8, 1990 the State of Connecticut closed two facilities with the promise that the money would go to local level mental health support services and to the New Department of Behavioral Health. In fact, even during the economic boom of the 1990's these services continued to see cuts. As insurance companies profits rose, Mental Health Services were cut. Since the recession we've seen more and more of our loved ones in shelters, on the streets, unemployed and left without insurance and services. This is unacceptable.
Remember 1:4 Americans are diagnosed each year with a Mental Illness and 1:4 Americans are caregivers of someone with a Mental Illness.
We need to be at the table. Our voices need to be heard.
Stigma. Our mentally ill loved ones deal with it every single day of their lives. It's discrimination, a fear based form of shame by those who don't understand.
The only shame one should carry is how we each treat those less fortunate than us. The mentally ill certainly didn't chose to have an illness of the brain. They have enough to worry about, stigma isn't something that we need to add to their burden.
I've looked into my loved ones eyes and felt the pain that the 'words' and actions of others caused. It's difficult for our loved ones to be around people judging them all the time.
Open one person's eyes to the plight of mental illness and you begin to change the world.
