Mental health stigma still pervasive, says Patrick Kennedy

April 06--EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Progress has been made toward broad public understanding that mental illness and addiction are diseases, not something someone chooses, but significant obstacles remain. And insurance companies still go to lengths to avoid providing the same coverage of diseases like cancer.

So declared one of the nation's foremost authorities on the issue: former Rhode Island congressman and current advocate Patrick J. Kennedy, who lives with bipolar disorder and has experienced addiction. One of Kennedy's greatest legislative achievements was the 2008 passage of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, which only recently is being implemented.

"It's all about the stigma, the shame, that pervades this," Kennedy said. "Because if this were any other illness, it would not have taken nearly a decade after the law was passed for actually getting the rules and regulations."

Kennedy spoke Tuesday evening at Metacomet Country Club during ceremonies marking the 100th anniversary of the Mental Health Association of Rhode Island and the 85th anniversary of the dedication of Bradley Hospital, one of America's premier psychiatric hospitals for children and adolescents. More than 100 attended.

"We are losing more people every year to opioid overdoses than we are car accidents and look at all we do to make people safer in cars. And yet we stick our heads in the sand when it comes to this crisis," Kennedy said. "This is a startling, startling public-health epidemic and yet the political will to do anything about it has been anemic."

Kennedy spoke during a conversation on stage with Dr. Gregory R. Fritz, Bradley's academic director and president of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Fritz also directs the Bradley Hasbro Children's Research Center, and holds positions at Rhode Island Hospital and The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.

As he did in last year's best-selling book "A Common Struggle: A Personal Journey Through the Past and Future of Mental Illness and Addiction," co-authored with Stephen Fried, Kennedy spoke of the shame that prevents some from even acknowledging a family member's illness.

"The times are changing, but there is still horrific denial. And that denial is not only the personal shame of denying that it's happening to our loved ones but it's the denial that is now permitted by insurance companies because they know that we won't fight. ... They calculate that into their cost/risk benefit analysis. They know people are not going to appeal."

Bradley Hospital, which was dedicated on April 8, 1931, was America's first neuropsychiatric hospital for children. It was named for George and Helen Bradley, whose only child, Emma Pendleton Bradley, fell victim to encephalitis when she was seven. Left with epilepsy, developmental disability and cerebral palsy, she required care for the rest of her life.

The Mental Health Association of Rhode island was founded in March 1916 as the Rhode Island Society for Mental Hygiene. When incorporating, the founders pledged to work "for the conservation of mental health: for the prevention of mental disease and mental deficiency; for improvement in the care of and treatment of those suffering from nervous or mental diseases... ."

One hundred years later, the society's ambitions are only partly fulfilled -- and for that, Kennedy said stigma plays a role.

"It's that elephant in the room that says 'be quiet,' " he said.

gwmiller@providencejournal.com

(401) 277-7380

On Twitter: @GWayneMiller

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