On December 17th, the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) hosted one in a series of teleconferences.  Actually, it is the 40th in a series that goes back to June, 2003.  The series is a project of the Center for Mental Health Services of SAMHSA and presented by the SAMHSA Resource Center to Promote Acceptance, Dignity and Social Inclusion Associated with Mental Health (ADS Center).

After trudging through the thicket of titles of the various sponsoring agencies, one begins to sense that the federal government spends a lot of dollars in the “feel good” department.   Concepts such as acceptance and dignity are fine and valid.  But shouldn’t SAMHSA and its affiliates be spending scarce government resources more productively?  We can think of a myriad of ways.  Here is just one: fund direct treatment services for those most in need.

The topic of last week’s teleconference was “The History of the Mental Health Consumer Movement.”  Presenters offered parallels to other social justice movements of the late 20th Century.  One presenter listed certain core principles, to which we add our commentary in parentheses:

• Against “forced treatment” (Yes, even when a person has no insight into their mental illness, a well-managed, court-ordered regimen is “forced.”)
• Against inhumane treatment—medications, lobotomy, seclusion and restraints, and ECT (Is it us, or does “medications” seem out of place on a list of old-school, arguably inhumane treatment methods?)
  
• Against sanism (After all, what is “normal”?)
• Anti-medical model, usually described as “anti-psychiatry” (How sanist!)
• Emerging concept of consumer/survivor-run alternatives to mental health system (Apparently, only those who have experienced mental illness personally can offer humane treatment.  Reverse sanism?)
• Involvement in every aspect of mental health system (See above.  Holders of advanced degrees need not apply)

Memo to SAMSHA and the teleconference presenters: Medical science is not the problem, it’s the solution.  If you’re serious about wanting people with severe mental illness to “feel good,” focus your energies and resources on delivering treatment and finding cures.