[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S.J. Res. 61 Referred in House (RFH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. J. RES. 61


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 8, 1993;

       Referred to the Committee on Post Office and Civil Service

_______________________________________________________________________

                            JOINT RESOLUTION


 
To designate the week of October 3, 1993, through Octo- ber 9, 1993, as 
                   ``Mental Illness Awareness Week''.

Whereas mental illness is a problem of grave concern and consequence in the 
        United States and it is widely, but unnecessarily, feared and 
        misunderstood;
Whereas on an annual basis 40,000,000 adults in the United States suffer from 
        clearly diagnosable mental disorders, including mental illness, alcohol 
        abuse, and drug abuse, which create significant disabilities with 
        respect to employment, school attendance, and independent living;
Whereas more than 11,200,000 United States citizens are diagnosed with 
        schizophrenia, manic depressive disorder, and major depression, and 
        these individuals are often disabled for long periods of time;
Whereas 33 percent of homeless persons suffer serious, chronic forms of mental 
        illness;
Whereas mental illness, alcohol abuse, and drug abuse affect almost 22 percent 
        of adults in the United States in any 1-year period;
Whereas mental illness interferes with the development and maturation of at 
        least 12,000,000 of our children;
Whereas a majority of the 30,000 American citizens who commit suicide each year 
        suffer from a mental or an addictive disorder;
Whereas our growing population of elderly persons faces many obstacles to care 
        for mental disorders;
Whereas 20 to 25 percent of persons with AIDS will develop AIDS-related 
        cognitive dysfunction and as many as two-thirds of persons with AIDS 
        will show neuropsychiatric symptoms before they die;
Whereas mental illness, alcohol abuse, and drug abuse result in staggering costs 
        to society, estimated to be in excess of $273,000,000 each year in 
        direct treatment and support and indirect costs to society, including 
        lost productivity;
Whereas the Federal research budget committed to the National Institute of 
        Mental Health, the National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse, 
        and the National Institute of Drug Abuse represents only about 1 percent 
        of the direct treatment and support costs of caring for persons with 
        mental disorders, alcohol addiction, and drug addiction;
Whereas mental illnesses are increasingly treatable disorders with excellent 
        prospects for amelioration when properly recognized;
Whereas persons with mental illness and their families have begun to join self-
        help groups seeking to combat the unfair stigma of mental illness, to 
        support greater national investment in research, and to advocate an 
        adequate continuum of care from hospital to community;
Whereas in recent years there have been unprecedented major research 
        developments bringing new methods and technology to the sophisticated 
        and objective study of the functioning of the brain and its linkages to 
        both normal and abnormal behavior;
Whereas research in recent decades has led to a wide array of new and more 
        effective modalities of treatment (somatic, psychosocial, and service 
        delivery) for some of the most incapacitating forms of mental illness, 
        including schizophrenia, major affective disorders, phobias, and phobic 
        disorders;
Whereas appropriate treatment of mental illness has been demonstrated to be 
        cost-effective in terms of restored productivity, reduced use of other 
        health services, and lessened social dependence; and
Whereas recent and unparalleled growth in scientific knowledge about mental 
        illness has generated the current emergence of a new threshold of 
        opportunity for future research advances and fruitful application to 
        specific clinical problems: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That the week of October 3, 
1993, through October 9, 1993, is designated as ``Mental Illness 
Awareness Week''. The President is authorized and requested to issue a 
proclamation calling upon the people of the United States to observe 
such week with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.

            Passed the Senate May 27 (legislative day, April 19), 1993.

            Attest:

                                             WALTER J. STEWART,

                                                             Secretary.