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Posted on April 6, 2010

Arlington, Va. — The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) today released a three-month sample of headlines from national and state media on America's mental health crisis in the face of massive state budget cuts.

"Many newspapers, television stations and radio networks around the country are covering the crisis," said NAMI Executive Director Michael J. Fitzpatrick. "Some are taking editorial stands."

"We want every editor, producer, state capitol reporter and health reporter at every level simply to pause and ask themselves: Are they covering their state's mental health crisis and all its implications?"

"Here are samples of what colleagues elsewhere are doing."

"Mental health cuts end up costing all of us more through lost jobs and careers, broken families, more homelessness, higher insurance costs, more welfare and much more expensive costs for hospital emergency rooms, nursing homes, schools, police and courts, jails and prisons," said Fitzpatrick.

"State legislatures are still making decisions in many parts of the country."

NAMI provides background for both advocates and the news media through its State Advocacy 2010 Web site, including a table comparing the number of adults with serious mental illness in each state with the number who receive state mental health services. The site also provides estimates for the number of children who live with serious mental health conditions in each state.