S&PAA
Submitted by David E. Geiger, MEE, PE (RET.)
You can do something now to help the mentally ill. Send the letter to your House Representative and pass it on to your friends and colleagues.
Thank you. -DG
Use this easy online form to tell Congress that people with schizophrenia count.
Millions of people in the United States are living with or impacted by schizophrenia. But efforts to determine the actual number of people living with this severe brain illness have been hampered by the lack of data on the uncounted people in places such as hospitals, homeless shelters, jails, nursing homes, and on the street.
The Cost of Mental Illness Act of 2022, introduced on April 7, is designed to produce pioneering, fact-based data that will support improved public policies and better care for people living with schizophrenia.
The bipartisan bill, introduced by U.S. Reps. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA) and David Trone (D-MD), authorizes a study of the costs of serious mental illness on U.S. families, hospitals, nursing homes, and the penal system, as well as a national survey to determine the actual number of people living with this severe brain disease.
Without accurate data, it is difficult to design solutions that will reduce the crushing cost burden of schizophrenia and improve the lives of people living with this disease. All people with schizophrenia deserve to be counted, and this bill provides the funding to do that.
We need your help to urge members of the U.S. House of Representatives to sign on and support this groundbreaking bill.
Click here and use our template which helps you find your U.S. Representative and download a letter you can personalize and send.
This legislation is an important step toward giving people living with schizophrenia the dignity of being acknowledged and treated properly. When we raise visibility of the prevalence and burden of this brain disease, we move closer to our vision of earlier diagnosis and successful treatment.
Click here for more details about the Cost of Mental Illness Act of 2022.
About schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a spectrum of serious neuropsychiatric brain diseases in which people experience periods during which they interpret reality abnormally. Symptoms of schizophrenia may include a combination of hallucinations, delusions, cognitive impairments, anosognosia (lack of awareness of their illness), and disordered thinking and behavior that impairs daily life.
Schizophrenia is thought to be a progressive neurodevelopmental disorder, with the earliest signs appearing during adolescence as the brain is developing. Eventual diagnosis typically occurs during young adulthood. While approximately half of those with schizophrenia improve or achieve remission, others remain untreated or experience periods without treatment. It is estimated that about 50% of people with schizophrenia do not take their prescribed medications, most commonly because of anosognosia. Lack of treatment leads to severe negative health outcomes, including a life expectancy shortened by an average of 28.5 years.
To learn more about S&PAA's strategic initiatives, click here
Schizophrenia & Psychosis Action Alliance
2308 Mount Vernon Ave. · Suite 207 · Alexandria · Virginia · 22301-1328
To read more articles, access David Geiger’s blog at www.davidegeiger.com
Read Goodreads reviews of In the Matter of Edwin Potter at www.davidegeiger.com
IMOEP YouTube and other videos at www.davidegeiger.com/videos
IMOEP is available at Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes & Noble, and www.davidegeiger.com
“Not for the easily upset person, this story is a must for anyone familiar with this topic. This book gave me the gift of better understanding what my uncle, and many people like him, had to deal with and why some of them didn't make it. It is the most genuine story I have read. One that truly parallels and illustrates the life of someone who is sick and struggling to maintain a resemblance of day-to-day life. It also made me understand better the need for change in both the criminal justice system, healthcare system, as well as society and how they go about treating/dealing with the mentally ill.”
–Daisy Bright, 5/5 stars on Goodreads
David Geiger is a licensed and retired professional electrical engineer who spent 7 years in psychiatric hospitals and over 40 years since 1979 in the courts as a result of his schizophrenia. He began writing about mental illness and criminal justice reform in May 1998. He writes about his illness in his book In the Matter of Edwin Potter as well as those who have the illness and are caught up in the criminal legal system.