Failure™ Magazine

Healing the Broken Mind

Transforming America’s failed mental health system.

Written by Jason Zasky   Filed under Life, Science & Technology

What do you say to critics who claim that the U.S. population is over-medicated on antidepressants and other psychiatric drugs?
I agree. There is a great tendency for us to over-medicate. And one reason is that if you’re a psychiatrist and you’ve got a half-hour to meet with a new patient, and after that, 15 minutes a month, about all you can do is make sure they have enough meds so their symptoms don’t burst through. The trouble is that people go out over-medicated and the side effects get really irritating, so they discontinue care and become non-compliant. It’s a self-defeating system.

How do you feel about journalists who have gone undercover in mental institutions, like Norah Vincent, who wrote the book “Voluntary Madness,” for example?
I’m all for it. To be honest, when I was Commissioner one of my fantasies was to somehow have myself committed [laughs]. I never could figure out a way to do that.

But I’m all for sharing the data that shows what is going on inside the mental health system. Whether that’s length of stay or the amount of medication given for various diagnoses, the more data that is available, the better off everyone will be. Right now there is a great tendency—not only in the mental health system, but in the health system as well—for hospitals and other providers of care to keep information close to the vest.

Earlier you talked about needing a perfect storm to overcome resistance to health care reform. Do you believe now is the time?
With the Obama administration saying now is the time for health care reform, we have a unique opportunity to get it right. For health care to succeed, mental health care needs to succeed too, because it’s a significant subset of health care. The timing is right for there to be genuine, transformative mental health care reform on a national level as part of health care reform.

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