“The Human Body Is One”
The troubling effects of separating physical and mental health
We all need to ask ourselves this question. “Why is the mental health system broken?”
I recently came across an interesting Facebook post shared in the TAC Family Support Group containing thought-provoking quotes from a mental healthcare reform advocate in Maine named Joe Pickering Jr. and the quotes felt especially relevant as another legislative season kicked off last week.
During a recent National Shattering Silence Coalition press conference, Pickering said:
We all need to ask ourselves this question. “Why is the mental health system broken?”
He then went on to state two major reasons.
One. He pointed out that the federal and state laws and policies which help form and monitor our mental health system are based on outdated thinking. Our society in the broadest sense continues to use words, terms, and labels that can create discrimination against those who have certain conditions of the brain such as schizophrenia, bipolar, severe depression, and substance abuse disorders.
Two. These conditions are slotted into the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) but receive less funding for services and research in contrast to conditions like Alzheimer’s Disease. Our federal government believes that by denying funds to these conditions via the Institutions for Mental Disease Exclusion Law it “saves” billions in the federal budget, but overlook the fact that schizophrenia in the early 2000s cost the U.S. economy more than all cancers combined. And in 2019 alone, schizophrenia’s economic impact was greater than Alzheimer’s Disease.
Furthermore, Pickering noted that we do a tremendous disservice to ourselves and those we advocate for when we continue to use the terms “physical” and “mental/behavioral” health separately. We need to see the human body is one integrated, interactive, interspersed system from head to toe.
That, in fact, the human body is one.
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
Last week the Iowa legislature opened the new session, and while not much happens the first week, NAMI-Iowa has outlined priorities for 2025:
1. Leftover from last year: Iowa’s Behavioral Health Service System will be divided into new Administrative Service Organizations (ASOs) in 2025, which is a result of House File 2673, signed into law on May 15, 2024. Implementing these changes will be a continuous and important process for the behavioral/ mental health sector in the coming months, ahead of the go-live on July 1, 2025. NAMI-Iowa and partners are monitoring and following developments closely.
2. Mental health workforce, which may include recruitment and retention programs, as well as placements for rural health providers.
3. School-based resources: advocating for the needs of students and staff within school systems (something I covered last year.)
4. Increased access to inpatient and outpatient services, especially for children. Governor Reynolds has spoken approvingly of expanding “beds” for youths during this session.
Additional proposed bills in the works I’m excited about:
1. A bill to recognize serious mental health deterioration and help facilitate intervention to get earlier hospitalization.
2. A bill to enforce hospitals to make more responsible discharges for patients with mental illnesses.
3. A bill to allow a tax credit for someone who purchases a gun safe. (I love this bill as a means to encourage more safe and responsible gun ownership without getting into pissing matches about gun ownership rights.)
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Outstanding, Kali. Oustanding!