Feb 6, 2016 2 min read

I am writing in agreement and support of U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy’s Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act. According to the National Alliance of Mental Illness, “approximately 1 in 5 adults in the U.S. – 43.8 million, or 18.5 percent – experiences mental illness in a given year.” Striking statistics show that one-half to one-third of the mentally ill are incarcerated instead of receiving the help they so desperately need.

The federal government spends $130 billion annually on mental health. Yet, over the last 20 years, the rates of violence, suicide, homelessness, victimization, and incarceration among the mentally ill have increased. Murphy’s bill will bring strong attention to the issue and provide adequate resources for the treatment of mental health. By providing more inpatient hospital beds, increasing treatment centers, and bring telepsychiatry to physicians and pediatricians in rural areas, costly emergency room visits will decrease and overall patient satisfaction will improve.

As a practicing registered nurse, I see patients with mental illness enduring long stays in the emergency room waiting for a bed, which causes overcrowding and harmful consequences.

We must help protect our society, which continues to be exposed to the dangerous actions of mentally ill individuals who receive inadequate mental health treatment.

Stephanie Bozic

Canonsburg