Federal News & Issues

Washington, D.C., Oct. 10, 2021 — Today, on World Mental Health Day, the American Psychiatric Association Foundation (APAF) is launching a new monthly podcast to engage the public in conversations about the current mental health crisis. Each episode of Mentally Healthy Nation will be centered around an aspect of mental health that impacts the community, where people live, learn, work and worship.

“One of the most important things we can do to help ease the stigma of mental illness and to reach a more mentally healthy nation is to turn up the volume on the issue,” said APAF Executive Director Rawle Andrews, Jr., Esq. “This is a time in our country when everyone is feeling the impacts of stress, and many are dealing with depression, anxiety, substance use disorders or other mental health disorders. We want to keep the conversation...

Washington, D.C., Oct. 6, 2021 — “I am a homosexual. I am a psychiatrist.” So began the speech presented by Dr. H. Anonymous (who later revealed himself as Dr. John Fryer) at the 1972 American Psychiatric Association (APA) Annual Meeting held in Dallas, Texas. The story of Dr. Fryer, Barbara Gittings, Frank Kameny, and others who worked together to push the APA to remove homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is being told in a powerful new documentary, CURED. The film will air as the season premiere of Independent Lens on PBS on National Coming Out Day, Monday, Oct. 11.

The documentary, which recently won the American Historical Association’s John E. O’Connor Film Award for best historical documentary of 2021, features...