‘Infinite Mind’ to survey mental-health cutbacks

Singer-songwriter Aimee Mann and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter are among the guests discussing cuts nationwide in mental-health funding on a special edition Sunday of “The Infinite Mind,” public radio’s weekly program on mental health.

The show, which will air from 10 to 11 p.m. on KPCC-FM (89.3), is dubbed “State of Mind: America 2003” and is the program’s second annual review on the status of mental health in the United States.

This year, host Dr. Fred Goodwin and his guests examine the crisis unfolding in funding for public mental-health care. With states nationwide facing budget crises, mental-health advocates fear local governments will cut services for those whom Carter called “some of their most vulnerable citizens.”

“I’m especially concerned about the effects budget cuts will have on historically underserved populations, especially children and racial and ethnic minority groups,” Carter said.

The program was recorded last week at the Carter Center in Atlanta and also features former Surgeon General David Satcher; Meri Nana-Ama Danquah, author of the memoir about depression “Willow Weep for Me”; and Dr. David Pollack, medical director for mental health services for the Oregon Department of Human Services.

According to the show’s producers, Oregon ran out of funding for psychiatric medications, Maine slashed $14 million in mental health services for children, Connecticut terminated health care for 30,000 people and California has eliminated a plan for 2003-04 to provide mentally ill adults with community housing, jobs, health care and other assistance.