“Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) and Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) reintroduced the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, H.R. 2646,” reported Behavioral Healthcare. “The revamped bill builds on the previous bipartisan version that was introduced in 2013, and aims to improve access, shore up the workforce, drive evidence-based care, and provide alternatives to institutionalization.”
Behavioral Healthcare noted that “points of contention” about the bill include, “How the bill creates a new federal position of ‘Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders’ within the Department of Health & Human Services to supplant SAMHSA,” and “Provisions that require states to have laws that promote the greater use of assisted outpatient therapy (AOT) in order to recieve block-grant funds.”
Murphy’s official website has issued a press release summarizing some key aspects of the bill.
BREAKING: Murphy reintroduces key mental health legislation (Behavioral Healthcare, June 4, 2015)
Reps Murphy and Johnson Reintroduce the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act (Congressman Tim Murphy website press release, June 4, 2015)
Evidenced Based Care would be great. Will this be the evidence found by Harding, Wunderink and Harrow about how the long term use of psychotropics is associated with less recovery? Will this evidence base include the fantastic results obtained by Healing Homes in Sweden and Open Dialogue in Finland? Will this evidence base be based on research free of the corrupting influence of Big Pharma sponsored research? Will this include the evidence base for the value of peer support and respites? Finally, will this evidence base include the evidence about how important self determination, shared decision making and having a voice is in recovering from emotional suffering, suffering that frequently has it’s roots in histories of trauma, neglect and other adverse life experiences?
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Truth in Psychiatry, Well said. Your comment would make a great petition that deserves millions of signatures sent right back to Murphy and company through the media somehow . In solidarity , Fred
Looks like the therapeutic state marching in goose step blitzkrieg mode. How to stop them ?
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This is the unfortunate power of rhetoric; Evidence Based Care falsely implies that the therapy is proven to work best. Psychiatrists similarly worked their rhetoric with “biological psychiatry” to imply that there is a real biological foundation to their advocacy of “mental disorders.” We need to challenge the current psychology paradigm with more accurate terms like “Big Pharma Based Care” and “Pseudo-scientific Psychiatry.”
Best wishes, Steve
PS- Emotional suffering is always (rather than “frequently”) caused by adverse life experiences.
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I guess you’re right, if you consider a closed head injury, contracting lyme disease, or developing a thyroid disorder an “adverse life event.” Because these conditions often cause “emotional” suffering. Please read my comment (below) about psychology.
Duane
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Yeah, great comment, Truth. I always point out that if only “evidence-based therapy” were done, almost none of what is done now would happen. The evidence shows shock and drugs are damaging and unhelpful, so by all means, let’s stick to what is “evidence -based.” I never could quite understand why this phrase is used by psychiatry, and I think our response to it should be very much like what Truth In Psychiatry has given.
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Please excuse the redundancy, but for all those folks out there who want to replace psychiatry with psychology… Rep. Murphy is a psychologist.
From the link above:
“Murphy is a psychologist who has often criticized SAMHSA as ineffective, saying it is only focusing on “soft” outcomes and general wellness for the masses rather than practical help for those with serious mental illness. “It’s as if SAMHSA doesn’t believe serious mental illness exists,” Murphy said at a hearing in 2013.”
Duane
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Want to replace psychiatry with psychology (therapy/counseling)…
With full trust in psychology? Be careful what you ask for!
Duane
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If you are “poor” or a minority; you will end up in jail or prison. If you’re probably white or middle to upper class, you’ll end up in the “mental illness.” All are efforts to deny our true selves as given to us by the grace of God. All because somehow; we have lost our love and compassion in our culture that continues to treat people as less than human; even less than the “animals” we love so dearly.
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