Dear John,
Despite the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)’s vision that all mental illnesses should be prevented or cured, the NIMH has a shameful history of ignoring those with the most severe mental illnesses.
The NIMH’s 2020-2025 strategic plan signals its intention to continue down the same path, despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on individuals with severe mental illness.
This is unacceptable.
As Treatment Advocacy Center founder Dr. E. Fuller Torrey noted in our Fall 2020 edition of Catalyst, there was an increased number of individuals with symptoms of schizophrenia following the influenza pandemic of 1918. Yet, the NIMH’s five-year strategic plan makes little mention of prioritizing research into the role of infections or immune system activation in the development of severe mental illness.
The NIMH must prioritize research into severe mental illness, including the long-term effects of COVID-19 infections and psychiatric conditions like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
In a letter we sent today to the National Advisory Mental Health Council (NAMHC) in advance of their February 2, 2021 meeting, we strongly urged the Council to provide proper oversight and ensure that NIMH prioritizes projects that will help people with severe mental illness.
Here’s what you can do: Submit your own public comment to NAMHC via [email protected] with the subject line “NIMH Must Prioritize SMI Research.”
Feel free to use our letter as a guide, but we encourage you to also share your story of how the decisions of NIMH affect you and your loved ones.
But hurry, the meeting is Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021.
Remember, you don’t need to be a research scientist to make your voice heard; you just need to care about severe mental illness reform and want our government to do the same.
The NAMHC meeting will be livestreamed and open to the public on February 2, 2021 from 12:00-3:15 p.m. EST.
Thank you.
Treatment Advocacy Center
