The rights and resources of people with mental illnesses have taken
theirlong-overdue place in American politics. The Surgeon General's
office issued its first Report on Mental Health (there have been 22 on
smoking) and the White House hosted its first-ever conference on mental
health, both under the guidance of the vice president's wife, Tipper
Gore. At the state and national level, grassroots advocacy to increase
funding and support--and decrease prejudice--for the mentally ill is
gaining momentum. And as the presidential campaign evolves, voters now
have every reason to expect the candidates to take these issues
seriously.
At the same time, questions of mental health and character are
being applied increasingly to our leaders. In this age of scripted,
media-savvy campaigns, how can we decode the political language and
political expressions of our candidates to make sure we're getting the
leader we want? Political psychology can help. Here, PSYCHOLOGY TODAY
presents the politics of mental health, and the mental health of politics
(or politicians, anyway).
The Politics of Policy
In February, when the National Mental Health Association (NMHA) put
out its report card on the presidential candidates' health plans, Vice
President Albert Gore got an A-, while Governor George Bush received an
F+.
It seemed that anyone voting on the basis of mental health policy
had a clear choice. During his vice presidency, Al Gore and wife Tipper
had become the gold standard for mental health advocates. The couple had
emerged as leaders in the fight against mental illness stigma, and had
promoted legislation that would increase resources and protection for the
mentally ill.
In 1996, Tipper Gore came forward with the story of her own
mother's serious depression (and periodic hospitalization) in her book
Picture This: A Visual Diary. Three years later, she disclosed her own
clinical depression, brought on when the couple's 6-year-old son was hit
by a car. President Clinton appointed her Mental Health Policy Advisor,
and she helped bring forth the first-ever Surgeon General's Report on
Mental Illness. And in June 1999, she and the vice president created the
first-ever White House conference on mental illness, where they were
joined by the president and first lady in a day of discussions that
culminated in the announcement that all federal employees would
heretofore receive insurance coverage for mental illnesses on par with
other illnesses. Whatever else might be said, the vice president had
mental illness on his radar screen.
"Having Al Gore and Tipper, who are good parents and respectable
people, talk about mental health issues has made my job so much easier,"
says Kim McPherson, policy advocate for the Mental Health Association in
Bush's home state of Texas. The public relations benefits are
immeasurable, she says, when the spokespeople could easily be the couple
next door.
The NMHA's report card, however, is already outdated, and it turns
out Governor Bush may deserve a higher mark. While mental health
advocates in Texas who have worked with Bush don't call him a leader on
these issues, they do credit him with some major shifts in state
legislation, policy and funding that have benefited the disabled
community,
"He definitely isn't in the forward movement, carrying the banner,"
comments Joe Lovelace, advocacy coordinator for the National Alliance for
the Mentally Ill-Texas. "But he's also not an extreme right-winger who
believes that mental illness is nothing more than a character
flaw."
When George Bush was president, he signed a proclamation declaring
the 1990s the "Decade of the Brain." What has his son done to promote
that? In 1997, George W. signed the Texas parity law, becoming the first
Republican governor to do so. In 1999, responding to state-funded
research proving the efficacy of new-generation medications for severe
mental illness, he recommended allocating tens of millions of state
dollars. When the negotiating was done, $70 million in additional funding
was added to provide new-generation medications and community support
organizations for the poor.
Texas' Health and Human Services Commissioner Don Gilbert, a Bush
appointee, also praises the governor for decentralizing supports for the
mentally ill, a move aimed at handing over care to local organizations,
which may know better than state offices what's needed in their regions.
When Bush took office, Gilbert recounts, nearly half the counties in
Texas had services provided directly by the state. By year's end, he told
PSYCHOLOGY TODAY, all these supports will be offered by local
organizations, supervised by the state.
On the other hand, advocates for the mentally ill say Governor
Bush's actions have not been entirely to their liking. According to NAMI,
even with the new appropriations, Texas ranks 43rd in the 50 states for
per capita spending on mental health services; Texas State Representative
Garnet Coleman has been frustrated by recent efforts to get more funding
for people with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia; and in 1999, Bush
authorized his attorney general to file a friend of the court brief in
the Olmstead case in the Supreme Court that could chip away at
protections for the disabled and the mentally ill in the Americans With
Disabilities Act.
Tags:
mental health,
mental health association,
mental health policy,
mental illness,
mental illness stigma,
national mental health,
national mental health association,
personality,
Political psychology,
politics,
public policy,
tipper gore,
vice presidency,
visual diary,
wife tipper
