NAMI News

There are literally tens of thousands of people with mental illnesses in this country who lead highly productive lives and many more who could if they had access to treatment through adequate insurance coverage.

 NAMI members will arrive by the busload Thursday, June 6th from New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and other states for a noon rally on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol. The date is a coincidence, but for about 1000 people with mental illnesses, family members and friends, the event indeed is a bit like D-Day.

In 1997, the book struck a nerve with hundreds of thousands of Americans and led to Robert Neugeboren's deinstitutionalization. Five years later, as President George W. Bush launches a Commission on Mental Health to recommend changes in the nation's treatment system for mental illness, Imagining Robert: My Brother, Madness and Survival, is making rounds again as a one-hour documentary.

The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) will honor 46 psychiatrists with its 2002 NAMI Exemplary Psychiatrists Awards during the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in Philadelphia, PA on May 22, 2002.

Today in New Mexico, President George W. Bush stepped forward and joined NAMI as the nation's voice on mental illness. 

As many Americans know, it is incredibly painful to watch someone you love struggle with an illness that affects their mind and their feelings and their relationships with others. We heard stories today in a roundtable discussion about that -- what the struggle means for family.

On Sunday, April 21, 2002, CBS News' 60 Minutes broadcast a segment, "Dr. Torrey's War," spotlighting sweeping criticism of the National Institute of Mental Health's (NIMH's) scientific research priorities offered by Dr. E. Fuller E. Torrey, a leading expert on schizophrenia.

You may have already read the award-winning biography by Sylvia Nasar or seen the Oscar-winning movie produced by Ron Howard. But now it's time to watch the PBS documentary as part of the American Experience history series: A Brilliant Madness: The Story of John Nash.

Two weeks ago, the movie A Beautiful Mind won the Oscar for "Best Picture." Today, the Los Angeles Times won the Pulitzer Prize in Editorial Writing for its leadership in addressing issues affecting people with mental illness.

Barring any unexpected world crisis, NAMI national board member Moe Armstrong and Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, author of Surviving Schizophrenia, are scheduled to be interviewed on ABC's NIGHTLINE on Friday, March 22nd about the movie A Beautiful Mind.