I just posted this comment on the CBS This Morning Facebook page in response to their program today about mental health:
Thank you for beginning this conversation on CBS. I look forward to more of your programs about mental health/mental illness. I've been a mental health advocate for over 25 years. In my on-the-ground experience, our mental illness issues are getting worse, not better.
My son, Patrick, died in a hospital psych ward where I thought he'd be safe. I've written about this in my book, Sooner Than Tomorrow - A Mother's Diary About Mental Illness, Family, and Everyday Life (April 2019) available on Amazon. I didn't know, as I was writing, that I'd captured the last year of my son's life. He was making regular comments on Facebook which I discovered after he died. I added his comments to my own.
"I could write more about the last few weeks of Pat's life, my frustration and anger with our mental illness system (there is none), the drastic need for change -- sooner than tomorrow. I'd make a case for effective, compassionate care for our seriously mentally ill. I'd point out tragedies that could have been prevented and the urgent need for beds and housing. I'd challenge outrageous HIPAA laws that prevent moms and dads like me from giving and receiving lifesaving information. I'd talk about our missing and homeless children and mothers and fathers. I'd tell stories about our sons and daughters in jails and prisons and solitary confinement without treatment and on and on... My writing would turn into a tirade, and that rant is for another time. Not here. Not on sacred ground (from my book)."
With over 80 serious mental Illness (SMI) advocates from across the country, I quarterbacked our Grassroots 2020 5-Part SMI Plan. We've given it to all the presidential candidates. We want to hear them talking about SMI in their campaign appearances and we want to see their plans for addressing this issue on their websites. Not alcohol abuse. Not opioid addiction. Serious Mental Illness.
I post stories from moms and dads and individuals from across the country on my blog www.soonerthantomororow.com A Safe Place to Talk About Mental Illness in Our Families.
You've begun a serious conversation about mental health/illness. I hope you dig deep into all its many facets. Serious mental illness is a humanitarian crisis and our country's shame.
P.S. I agree with Jane Pauley. I don't like the word "stigma." I prefer "discrimination." And one of the points in our 5-part plan, the first one, is to "Reclassify Mental Illness From A Behavioral Condition To What It is, A Neurological Medical Condition." If you'd like a copy of the 5-Part Plan to send to your local, state, and federal representatives, send me an email and I'll send the documents to you. dede@soonerthantomorrow.com