Mental Health

Former Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) is drawing criticism Monday for comments he made on Twitter about the death of a Navy Seal killed this weekend at a gun range.

Chris Kyle's death seems to confirm that "he who lives by the sword dies by the sword." Treating PTSD at a firing range doesn't make sense

— Ron Paul (@RonPaul) February 4, 2013

Chris Kyle, a veteran of five combat tours in Iraq, was thought to be the deadliest sniper in American military history, killing 160 people. He and another veteran were shot to death at a shooting range Saturday by a former Marine who was thought to be suffering from combat-related mental health issues.

From reports, Kyle was helping Eddie Routh, his alleged shooter, treat his condition with so-called Prolonged Exposure Therapy. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, suffers of post-traumatic stress disorder "practice approaching situations that are safe but which [they] may have been avoiding because they are related to the trauma."

"We want to make sure after people have played the game, that they’re going to be OK,” Obama said.

President Obama should address the country when his administration finally implements a law requiring insurers to cover mental health services, former Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-Mass.) said Friday.

Kennedy joined Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and actor Bradley Cooper at a press conference to make the case that reducing the stigma associated with mental illness is just as important as a policy approach to mental health.

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Obama expressed concern about head injuries and said the sport would change to “try to reduce some of the violence.”

The risk of violent behavior drops 15-fold for people who receive treatment for psychosis as opposed to those who do not, the U.S. mental health chief said Thursday.

Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), spoke at a Senate hearing prompted by the deadly mass shooting last month in Newtown, Conn.

While he hesitated to say that treatment for the alleged gunman, Adam Lanza, would have prevented the shooting, Insel said that early intervention for the severely mentally ill is "absolutely vital" for public safety. 

The Senate will add its voice to debates over mental health in the United States with a key hearing Thursday at the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. Chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) announced that the event will focus on ways to expand access to mental-health services for people in need. Prevention and early intervention strategies will also receive top billing.

Questions about gun violence and mental health in the U.S. hit Washington following last month's deadly shooting in Newtown, Conn. As the Obama administration urges new gun-control measures, officials have also recommended a hard look at the provision of mental healthcare in the United States and its relationship to the criminal justice system. Lawmakers have introduced bills to expand mental health services, and the House Democratic Gun Violence Prevention Task Force hosted a briefing and panel discussion on the topic Tuesday.

Thursday's hearing will include testimony from Pamela Hyde, administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health at the National Institutes of Health; and a panel of other experts. 

Orszag on cost control: Peter Orszag, the former director of the White House budget office, has a few ideas for curbing healthcare spending. Among them: "require any patient admitted to a hospital to fill out an advance directive about their end-of-life care preferences." The services that some people choose to skip at the end of life are extremely expensive, Orszag notes: skipping them could save Medicare a lot of money. 

President Obama's proposals to reduce gun violence sparked new debate on how to strengthen the U.S. mental health system. After inauguration festivities conclude, Congress will pick up the baton with several hearings this week.

The House Democratic Gun Violence Prevention Task Force will host a briefing and panel discussion Tuesday afternoon designed to look comprehensively at the U.S. mental health system. Staff members said the event would focus on issues of funding, research, prevention and intervention.

Pamela Hyde, administrator of the Substance and Mental Health Services Administration; Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health; and several other leaders are scheduled to participate. 

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee will look at the state of the U.S. mental healthcare system in a hearing next week.

The event will continue debate on how to improve treatment for the mentally ill in light of recent mass shootings.

President Obama unveiled his plan to reduce gun violence on Wednesday, which called for rules implementing mental health parity and federal research on gun violence. 

California Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg (D) will be in Washington next week urging federal officials to follow the state's lead and devote billions in new funding to mental healthcare.

Steinberg was behind California's landmark Proposition 63, a tax that raises $1 billion annually for mental health programs. He said the Obama administration should consider $10 billion in new funding to overhaul how the United States cares for the mentally ill.

"We believe that $10 billion investment nationally would save untold numbers of lives and help untold numbers of people," Steinberg told reporters in Sacramento.