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Tipper Gore, wife of Vice President Al Gore, and Steven S. Mirin, M.D., APA medical director, were among those who launched a new mental illness antistigma campaign last month in front of the U.S. Capitol.
The centerpiece of the ceremony was certainly unusual - a Washington, D.C., Metrobus sitting curbside. Gore, joined by New York artist Max Ferguson, removed a plastic covering from the side of the bus to reveal a large poster with the message "Mental illness should not be faced alone" superimposed on an urban landscape painting (Psychiatric News, January 2).
The poster is appearing on 4,000 transit buses in more than 60 metropolitan areas in the United States, Great Britain, and the Republic of Ireland through March under the sponsorship of TDI, a New York-based transit advertising company. TDI had invited APA to join in the company’s effort to raise public awareness of mental illness and to participate in the unveiling ceremony.
"I am very pleased to join with TDI and the American Psychiatric Association in announcing this unique public service campaign to raise public awareness about mental illness," said Gore at the unveiling.
"Your decision to focus on mental illness in this year’s campaign could not have come at a better time. Public attitudes toward these devastating illnesses are changing, thanks to advances in research and the development of new and highly effective treatments," she continued. "Decision makers are paying attention. In 1996, with strong support from the Clinton Administration, the Congress passed legislation that for the first time would end some forms of insurance discrimination against people with mental illness."
While critics claim that mental illness parity is not affordable, she noted that the country can’t afford to ignore the treatment needs of the mentally ill. "Mental illnesses are the same as any other illness. . . .Recent actuarial studies show that with appropriate medical management, we can provide good mental health care without significant increases in premiums."
Mirin thanked Gore for her support and hard work on behalf of people with mental illness and attributed recent public policy advances regarding mental illness in part to her advocacy work. He also complemented TDI for its choice of campaign theme this year.
"I am certain that Mr. Ferguson’s powerful visual statement. . .will cause millions of people to consider the difficult lives of people with mental illness - people who often are shut off from the joys and mainstream of life by continuing stigma and discrimination and the isolation of their illness."
Mirin pointed out that the TDI campaign was the first of two events this year aimed at combating the stigma of mental illness. "The second will take place in May, when federal agencies led by Dr. Nelba Chavez and Dr. Bernie Arons and supported by APA and 18 other mental health organizations will sponsor ‘Walk the Walk for Lives Touched by Mental Illness.’ We expect to attract over 5,000 people to this event, and we are pleased that Mrs. Gore will be the honorary cochair with Rosalynn Carter and Donna Shalala, Secretary of Health and Human Services." - C.F.B.