Bob Dole writes in support of the David Jayne Amendment, which would amend the Medicare Homebound Restriction to enable people with severe disabilities to participate in community life without losing access to Medicare home health services.

Politics surrounds just about everything, and the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health is no exception. We in the disability rights community need to be alert to the political opportunities it offers.

Residential treatment centers are modern society's answer to what to do with homeless young people.

Nathaniel Lehrman, MD, comments on some of the problems of modern psychiatry in his reply to Larry Goldman's review of Robert Whitaker's book, Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill.

Massachusetts’s state Mental Health Commissioner states why outpatient commitment laws are wrong, and what we should be doing instead.

Advocate or Activist - Vicky Fox Smith explores the difference and the urgency of her activism.

Therapy opportunities in mental health facilities such as IMDs.

The Supreme Court's interpretation of the ADA is a Catch-22.

Money & Madness: the DSM-IV has no biological basis or indicator for diagnosis, so Parity legislation is ripe for abuse.

The failure to test the effects in children of routinely prescribed drugs has resulted in at least one death. How many kids will die before drug companies take steps to ensure their safety?

Top Ten Myths of Mental Illness - rewritten by a survivor of psychiatric abuse.

Many have strong feelings about the jury's decision to sentence John Battaglia to death for the murders of his daughters, despite his defense that he suffers from bipolar.

Mental Health Parity legislation should not equate serious illness such as schizophrenia with minor problems such as caffeine intoxication.

John Nash's recovery was done without antipsychotic medications.  Robert Whitaker comments that drugs can even hinder recovery.

The stigma of mental illness prevents people from getting all the support they need from friends, says the Mental Health Foundation.

The trend towards evidenced based practices - what is it & will it help recovery for those diagnosed with mental disabilities?

Psychiatric interventions may cause more harm than help - letter to the editor of the Washington Monthly criticizes E. Fuller Torrey's recent column, "Hippie Healthcare Policy."

Client Stigma: As a Patients' Rights Advocate I talk to people whose lives are profoundly and adversely affected by the stigma of mental illness daily.

Andrea Yates: Father's bizarre, domineering actions played a role in children's deaths.

Spirituality, Meaning and Recovery from Serious Brain Disorder.

Words that Can Help - Often encouragement is the best way of helping.

Welcome World - A psychiatric medication detox and rehab center.

FightForKids website protests widespread ADD and ADHD diagnosis of children and the resulting drug based treatment plans.

Recovery from schizophrenia is not rare.

Insane Psychiatry: A Profession Run Amok.

State of the Union for disabled people in America.

Factors helping recovery.

The Yates jury apparently believed the five biggest myths about mental illness.

NAMI National Director and NAMI Texas President issue a statement on the Andrea Yates Sentencing.

What hurts families of individuals with brain disorders, by Joyce Burland, Ph.D., Director NAMI Family-to-Family Education Program.

Recovery from schizophrenia is possible, but has not often been well supported.

Dan Fisher and the National Empowerment Center state that recovery can often lead to a life without antipsychotic drugs.

Health plans still discriminate against mental illness.

A few decades back, people with mental illnesses were kept in locked hospital wards whether they were dangerous or not. No longer. These days, they're kept in locked prison cells.

Unraveling the DNA Myth - Barry Commoner Feb. 2002 Harpers.

This column by Michael Volkman in last Sunday's Albany Times Union (Jan 27, 2002) decrying the Supreme Court's recent ruling limiting the scope of the ADA also lauds the passage of the Medicaid Buy-In. Volkman is certainly one who a right to celebrate on the Buy-In...he was one of 8 who was arrested in summer 2000 outside the Executive Chamber in an act of civil disobedience aimed at raising support for the Buy-In.

New York Times:  Parity Prioritizes 'Minds Over Money  

Washington Post: Second Opinion on Parity Legislation.

Will the public demand change as the influence of the pharmacological industry on psychiatry becomes more obvious?  Bruce Levine thinks so in his new book:  Commonsense Rebellion.

More on the movie: A Beautiful Mind.

Learning from a troubled genius - one person's experience meeting John Nash, the nobel prize winning schizophrenic - his story is told in the recent movie and book "A Beautiful Mind".

Wrong prescription - Ads seeking customers for behavior-altering medications may benefit corporate bottom lines more than families.

The debate continues....family members continuing to fight against what they believe is unfair blaming of the family, ("Freudians Are Wrong. It's Not All in the Family". or the person diagnosed with a mental illness and seeking instead a social contract to build a system focused on recovery..... and consumer/survivor leaders assailing an overly biologically based medical approach that over-relies on drugs and seeking instead a system and society that is re-trained to promote hope and healing and to prioritize a focus on recovery. (e.g. Dan Fisher's article).  We hope that both families and consumer/survivors can find common ground protesting the delay in Medicaid protections (see below).

Should mental health legislation be more restrictive?

Today parents have to be educated consumers, but kids should be off-limits as targets of convenience for the drug industry.

Los Angeles Times editorial in support of AB 925, the new assembly bill that provides for Medi-Cal coverage instead of SSI for the disabled.

We believe that voluntary treatment is by far better for most people with mental illness. Assisted treatment should only be used when there is no other option - Treatment Advocacy Center E-News July 20, 2001.

Sweet Words that Hurt, The Make-Believe World of User Participation, Rights and Voice by Michael McCubbin, Ph.D. 

"I escaped, maybe. Not unscathed. I felt myself imprisoned." -- How far should the medical profession go when faced with a possibly suicidal patient?

Some say that the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill in the '80s has gone too far and back fired, while others say that community treatment with the right funding will work.  

Comments on the Texas Tragedy and the need for Mental Illness awareness. Andrea Yates’ crime shocked the nation. Was her treatment a big part of the problem?

Absence of Federal protections against harm from retrospective industry backed research creates an unethical research scenario. 

As a result of the evidence it has heard in its first session in Berlin over the weekend of June 30/July 1, 2001, the Russell Tribunal is convinced that the serious abuse of human rights in the name of psychiatry is widespread but largely unrecognized.

More on the debate over forced psychiatric care and families' struggles to control their loved ones. (From USAToday - Health)

The Mentally Ill in America: A People in Bondage by Tom Barresi.

I've Been Fighting for the Civil Rights of All; Forever! 

Some common misconceptions on hospital care for the mentally disabled.

Stigma - The Most Unjust Assessment One Person Can Make About Another, Before Even Meeting That Person! 

Becoming a Mental Health Reformer by Tom Barresi - an effective Mental Health Advocate/Reformer, must be fully capable of working unsupervised, and totally alone, he can't allow his confidence to be "shaken", by anyone.

Letter to California Senators from Tom Barresi, explains in simple terms what the mental health movement is about.

Another letter by Tom Barresi to California Senators suggests the value of supporting initiatives to provide internet voting capability. 

Glued Pages and Sticky Questions - Concerns about censorship by the NAMI California Board of Directors of The Journal, and their stopping the publishing of this excellent publication. (Feb. 2001)

Click here for Dan Weisburd's email to NAMI Sacramento regarding his original Sept. 5, 2000 letter to NAMI California. (March, 2001)

Update:  Dan Weisburd DEMAND Notice released March 8, 2001. Dan Weisburd demands a retraction and apology from the NAMI California Board of Directors. (March 8, 2001)

"IT IS CENSORSHIP! I WILL NEVER KOWTOW TO A DICTATORSHIP!" article by Dan E. Weisburd Editor of The JOURNAL.  

CIT What is it? - Why we need it here in Santa Cruz. (Feb., 2001)

Assisted Care - Patient Bill of Rights - The right to have preserved and safeguarded his or her personal property..  

That was THEN..., This is NOW! - Changes in the perception and support structures for those affected by serious brain disorders between 1979 and now. (April, 2001)

AB1800 - Why forced psychiatry is not the right approach, comments by Senator John Burton. (Feb., 2001)

Local Santa Cruz Candidate Positions - The NAMI-SCC legislative committee sent out a questionnaire and position paper to the candidates from the 2nd district supervisory race, 15th congressional district, and the district attorney race (Santa Cruz County, California).  Responses were received from Jim Cunneen, Candidate for the 15th  Congressional District, Ron Ruiz, candidate for District Attorney, Christine McGuire and Ellen Pirie, candidates for 2nd District Supervisor. (Oct., 2000)