Posted by baseball55 on February 24, 2014, at 0:04:38 [reposted on February 24, 2014, at 16:51:46 | original URL]
In reply to Re: THE root cause of TRD is » baseball55, posted by LostBoyinNC45 on February 23, 2014, at 22:09:06
I'd be willing to bet you are either more a caretaker or a doctor who helps to treat these people, than a patient yourself, based upon your writing.
You'd bet wrong.
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> If 95% of sufferers of these illnesses voted consistent and also emailed their elected officials once or twice a year about these issues, severe mental illness would be much higher priority than it is. Its as simple as that.
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>The problem with that is that the mentally ill are not a homogenous group who are easily organized around a specific issue and who self-identify as advocates of that issue. When I was severely depressed, for example, I barely registered politics. My nephew suffers from schizophrenia and is barely able to stay out of the hospital.And, even if he or I were/had been in better shape, it's still unclear what legislation we would be pursuing. Do you have ideas here? I don't. More research funding for NIMH? My delegation already supports this. More funding for community mental health? My delegation supports this as well.
Beyond these issues, it's not clear what the federal government can/should do that will end TRD. Your position that TRD would end if the mentally ill would organize themselves is like saying that cancer would end if cancer victims organized themselves - well, they have (or rather their loved ones have) and it's helped increase funding for research. It hasn't eliminated cancer.
Also, despite your disdain for advocacy groups, cancer survivors and family/friends generally lobby based on recommendations from the ACS. JUst as NRA members lobby based on recommendations from the NRA.
I rely on NAMI, realizing that NAMI is poorly funded compared to other lobbying groups. The mentally ill and their allies are probably too overwhelmed by mental illness and its fallout and stigma to organize themselves the way those affected by cancer do.
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> Eric
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> > Maybe we should move this to politics, before vitriol spill into the med board. Excuse me. But I always vote and always contribute to NAMI and follow their campaigns. So I am way above the curve here. But, for whom to you vote? I really want to know? The NRA candidate who wants to defund government? Or...? And I bet that legislators are really, really responsive to the rare email they receive that asks them to fund mental health.
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> > In MA, I have the luxury of knowing that my legislators actually care about this issue. I leave it to NAMiI to vet candidates. To vet candidates and lobby on my own would be more than a full-time job. That's why we have lobbying, advocacy groups like NAMI. I donate to NAMI. I read their literature. I know the state NAMI director and ask her about candidates.
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> > The idea that politics is all individual - I study A, vote for A, call A's office, etc -- is not workable. That's why we have advocacy organizations. I rely on them to do the homework and vote their slates.
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poster:baseball55
thread:1061206
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20120327/msgs/1061230.html