Mental health

Bills improve mental health and rehabilitative services and simplify government processes for military personnel and their families

April 4, 2008 - RICHMOND – Virginia Governor Timothy M. Kaine today ceremonially signed several General Assembly bills providing support and assistance to military personnel, veterans and their families, demonstrating Virginia’s continued bipartisan support for active duty service members, Guardsmen and Reservists, veterans and their families.

Virginia Governor Kaine signs bills to improve mental health and rehabilitative services for military personnel: Photo courtesy Virginia Governor's office    » read more »

April 2, 2008 -- TALLAHASSEE – Florida Governor Charlie Crist today launched the inaugural meeting of the Governor’s Task Force on Autism Spectrum Disorders with a press conference at the Capitol to observe World Autism Awareness Day. Established by executive order in March, the task force was created to recommend a unified and coordinated agenda for addressing autism in Florida and to advance public policy for the research, screening, education and the treatment of autism.

“Our children deserve the best possible means for success, and I understand the toll autism can take on a family,” Governor Crist said. “The task force will explore how we can help families navigate the system to locate and coordinate care and develop a strategy to increase early diagnosis.”    » read more »

Budget provision provides resources to speed correction of military records and upgrade discharges

March 14, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senators Barack Obama (D-IL) and Kit Bond (R-MO) today praised the Senate's passage of their amendment to the FY 2009 Budget Resolution to expedite the military's review of cases in which service members may have been improperly diagnosed with a personality disorder and subsequently discharged.    » read more »

Illinois Warriors Assistance Program includes Traumatic Brain Injury screening and 24-hour toll-free helpline at 1-866-554-IWAP (4927) for Veterans suffering from symptoms associated with PTSD

March 4, 2008 -- CHICAGO – Illinois Governor Rod R. Blagojevich today proclaimed March Brain Injury Awareness Month in Illinois to increase public awareness and understanding of brain injuries and to urge the state’s Veterans to get screened for a possible traumatic brain injury (TBI) through the new Illinois Warrior Assistance Program.    » read more »

February 13, 2008 -- “I am deeply concerned by the findings in this report. It is simply unacceptable that 10th Mountain Division soldiers who have recently returned from Iraq have to wait for up to two months for mental health care appointments.

Not only has the Department of Defense failed to provide Fort Drum and other military installations with adequate mental health care resources, but there is also a persistent stigma within the military that discourages our servicemembers from seeking and receiving the mental health care that many of them need.    » read more »

11 February 2008, Washington (By Mary Morningstar) -- Britney Spears was released from UCLA Medical Center's psychiatric ward on February 6.

People magazine reports that a court representative determined there was "no just cause" to keep the troubled singer detained.    » read more »

05 February 2008 -- A new study shows that mid-life depression is not just a Western phenomenon. In fact, it is almost universal. But the good news is, it does not last forever.

Researchers at Dartmouth College in the United States and the University of Warwick in Britain, scoured 35 years of data on more than two million people around the world and found a consistent pattern of happiness.    » read more »

January 29, 2008 -- New York Governor Eliot Spitzer today announced the signing of legislation that will enhance the care and treatment of prisoners with serious mental illness by limiting the instances in which these inmates can be placed in segregated confinement.    » read more »

01/28/2008 - Army Col. (Dr.) Loree Sutton is a woman on a mission.

The military psychiatrist has, for the last month, ricocheted across the Capital Beltway landscape and beyond, setting up a Defense Department office that will, for the first time, bring together the best of the best relating to psychological health and brain injury treatment.    » read more »

Last November, Harkin's veteran suicide prevention law - named after Iowan Josh Omvig - became law

January 25, 2008 -- Washington, D.C. – As recently released data shows growing numbers of suicide among soldiers serving in Afghanistan and Iraq and seeing his Joshua Omvig veteran suicide prevention bill made law, U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) announced today that he will introduce legislation next week to prevent suicide among active duty members of the military.    » read more »

Moratorium on Personality Disorder Discharges; Bond, Boxer, Obama, McCaskill Demand Fair Treatment of Combat Vets

December 21, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Kit Bond (R-MO), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Barack Obama (D-IL), and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) are urging President Bush to create a Special Review Board for discharged troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and to place a moratorium on the military’s use of Personality Disorder Discharges.    » read more »

WASHINGTON, Dec. 20, 2007 – A Congressionally-appointed group of military and health care experts today released its findings after a year-long diagnosis of the military’s health care system.    » read more »

December 19, 2007 -- Washington, D.C. - Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement this evening after the House passed Senate amendments to H.R. 2640, the National Instant Criminal Background System (NICS) Improvement Amendments Act of 2007, which will now go to the President for his signature:

“The tragic shooting at Virginia Tech in April starkly demonstrated that serious gaps exist in the transmittal of background records, allowing thousands of people who are barred from acquiring guns to escape proper background checks.    » read more »

20 December 2007 -- The deadly rampage in April on the campus of Virginia Tech left 32 people, and the gunman, dead. Among the victims was freshman Austin Cloyd, who was an active volunteer with the poor. As Faiza Elmasry tells us, this fall, Austin's parents have involved other Virginia Tech students in the volunteer program to carry on their daughter's legacy.    » read more »

Legislation Includes Wounded Warrior Provisions, Contracting Reforms, and Improved Mental Health Support for Veterans

December 17, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) lauded the Senate's passage of the Conference Report to the Defense Authorization bill (H.R.1585), which makes important investments in the nation’s defense and improves support for our uniformed service personnel, veterans and their families.    » read more »