Federal News & Issues

Jan 05, 2016

ARLINGTON, Va. – Today the American Psychiatric Association issued the following statement from its president, Renée Binder, M.D., in reaction to President Obama’s announcement today on gun violence and mental health:

We welcome the announcement from President Obama to make needed investments in mental health and curb the epidemic of gun violence in our country. Gun violence is a public health problem and needs to be addressed as such. We support the president’s efforts to expand background checks, propose policies that respect physician-patient confidentiality, and increase funding for mental health services by $500 million. We will work with Congress to make that funding proposal a reality, as we also work with allies in Congress who are championing comprehensive...

Dec 11, 2015

ARLINGTON, Va. – The American Psychiatric Association (APA) released the following statement from APA President Renée Binder, M.D., on Senate passage Thursday night of S. 993, the “Comprehensive Justice and Mental Health Act,” introduced by Senators Al Franken (D-Minn) and John Cornyn (R-Texas):

“Jails and prisons have become the front lines of treatment for mental illness despite being ill-equipped to do so. In 44 states, the largest facilities housing people with severe psychiatric illness are prisons or jails,” Binder said. “This bipartisan legislation will help improve mental health services in the criminal justice system and reduce the number of people with mental illness in jails and prisons.”

The legislation extends the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act , including support for...