[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 143-144]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      MENTAL HEALTH REFORMS NEEDED

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen). The Chair recognizes the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Murphy) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, sadly, each day we read 
sensationalized headlines that boggle the mind, but here is the rest of 
the story. In New York, headlines read a 30-year-old man has been 
charged with killing his father who founded a hedge fund because his 
allowance had been cut.
  The rest of the story? He had been in a mental health decline for 
years. A friend told the press, clearly their son had serious mental 
illness. There were stories about strange things that he had been doing 
in the past few years, really erratic behavior. Another newspaper 
reports the man was off his medication.
  In Florida, headlines read a 22-year-old man cut off his mother's 
head with an ax last week because of her nagging about daily chores.
  The rest of the story? This man had been diagnosed with schizophrenia 
and had been involuntarily held under the State's civil commitment law 
but released. Despite his illness and past commitments, he was no 
longer in treatment because Florida, like most States, requires a 
person to be imminently homicidal or suicidal for treatment.
  In Pennsylvania a former marine killed his ex-wife and five of her 
family members last month because of ``family issues.''
  The rest of the story? The marine had been evaluated and cleared of 
having suicidal or homicidal tendencies by a Department of Veterans 
Affairs psychiatrist just days before, a decision we now see was wrong.
  Each week there are half a dozen new reports that demand more than a 
sensationalized headline because the rest of the story tells the real 
story. Severe mental illness is a brain disease; it is not an attitude 
or a lifestyle choice. Psychosis, schizophrenia, and other serious 
mental illnesses involve disruption in typical brain functioning which 
translates into a very specific set of disturbing behaviors. This is 
not a condemnation of the mentally ill nor a criticism of those who 
have severe brain disorders.
  Hallucinations, voices, visions, and paranoia lead to actions that 
aren't grounded in reasoned choices. For those who don't have a brain 
disease it is hard to understand, and it is unnerving to think about, 
but when we understand that behaviors are symptomatic of what is 
occurring in the brain, we can address them without judgment, just like 
other medical diseases and other lifesaving treatments.
  The distorted reasoning why an individual acts out in a violent 
manner or takes the lives of innocent victims on a mass scale are 
complex and not as simple as a response to a mother's nagging. Sadly, 
in all cases I mentioned today, the families knew there was something 
wrong with their mentally ill loved one but they were ignored and 
frustrated or turned away by a broken system of State and Federal laws 
that create walls and barriers instead of access to care.
  Parents know there is a problem, and even when they have the 
resources to get a child help, the family efforts are thwarted by this 
broken system, and they are not getting effective, evidence-based 
treatment. And communities rarely have the appropriate programs, 
resources, and doctors to deal with the most severe cases.
  In the face of this growing crisis, we must approach serious mental 
illness as a medical emergency that engages a community and medical 
response to help people and families trapped in this system that is 
misguided, in denial, and disconnected.
  We can change this tragic pattern, and that is why I will be 
reintroducing the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act.

                              {time}  1015

  My legislation makes sure the most severely mentally ill have access 
to treatment. It fixes the shortage of psychiatric beds. It clarifies 
and simplifies HIPAA privacy laws. It reforms Federal programs to focus 
on programs that research shows work, not feel-good fads. It helps 
patients who aren't able to understand their need for treatment get 
meaningful care.
  We know that, for example, 50 percent of people with schizophrenia 
suffer from something called anosognosia--they are not even aware that 
they have problems--and this leads to noncompliance with treatment and 
helps to explain why 40 percent of Americans with serious mental 
illness don't get any treatment.
  Anosognosia occurs most frequently when schizophrenia or a bipolar 
disorder affects portions of the frontal lobe, resulting in impaired 
executive function. The patients are neurologically unable to 
comprehend that their delusions or hallucinations are not real.
  This is different than denial; this is a change in the wiring of the 
brain. We need to understand and respect that. The Helping Families in 
Mental Health Crisis Act also ensures there is accountability for how 
public health dollars are being spent.
  We owe it to the 10 million Americans with a serious mental illness 
and the 5 million who are not with treatment to take meaningful action 
to fix the chaotic patchwork of programs and laws that make it 
impossible to get meaningful medical care until it is too late to do 
anything beyond mourning.

[[Page 144]]

  Each day, I receive countless letters and telephone calls from 
parents across the country who must courageously battle a broken system 
when trying to help a loved one in mental health crisis. I admire their 
courage, their compassion, and their passion. Let their struggles be 
our motivation to take action of our own now.
  As I said, I will soon be reintroducing my Helping Families in Mental 
Health Crisis Act, and I welcome all Members interested in joining me 
in this quest to work together as we reintroduce this to make sure we 
get treatment before tragedy.

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