Treatment for Mental Illness

Shawn Hubler is right on target (“It’s Our Attitude That’s Crazy,” Jan. 9). “Mental illness is a deeply uncomfortable subject for people,” she writes, and the resulting stigma keeps those who suffer with it from seeking help.

Prejudice against mental illness is pervasive, and the media reflect it. In October, our Community Mental Health Center held its first sold-out event. We honored Tipper Gore; celebrities participated. The media ignored our repeated invitations to cover it. In her eloquent speech accepting our organization’s 1997 Leadership Award, Mrs. Gore said, “The brain gets sick just like the heart and circulatory system . . . and mental illness should be seen as a treatable disease like any other.”

If having mental illness is more acceptable, more people will seek treatment--and new and effective treatments are now available.

J. ROBERT JOHNSTON

Exec. Dir., Didi Hirsch Community

Mental Health Center, Los Angeles

* What are commonly called severe mental illnesses are in fact biological brain diseases. With medications, the success rate of treatment is equal to or exceeds that of other major chronic illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes. Yet, over 90% of health insurance policies offer discriminatory benefits. Fifteen states have passed laws requiring nondiscriminatory benefits for these illnesses.

California currently has a bill, AB 1100 (Helen Thomson, D-Davis; Don Perata, D-Alameda), that would require nondiscriminatory health insurance for the seven known biological mental illnesses and serious emotional disturbances of childhood. This bill has passed the Assembly and committees of the Senate and will go to the Senate floor. Its passage could eliminate untold suffering of individuals and families, all for minimal cost.

LORI HOLMAN, 1st VP

Legislative Chairperson

California Alliance for the

Mentally Ill, Piedmont, Calif.