Former Congressman Patrick Kennedy called on Syracuse University students to lead the transformation of mental health treatment in his speech in Goldstein Auditorium on Wednesday night.

“You all are the ones that are going to tackle this problem,” Kennedy said.

Syracuse University College Democrats, the National Alliance on Mental Illness at Syracuse University, University Union and the Psychology Club co-sponsored Kennedy’s visit to address SU students and faculty on the topics of reforming health care and de-stigmatizing psychiatric disorders.

Kennedy is a former Rhode Island U.S. Representative who served in Congress from 1995 until 2011. He personally struggles with bipolar disorder and alcoholism and is a leading political sponsor for mental illness research.

Unlike health issues such as cardiovascular disease and cancer, mental health issues are often overlooked, Kennedy said.

“The brain is part of the body last time I checked,” he said. “It is not OK to marginalize people just because their illness is a part of the brain and not in any other part of the body.”

William Mellen, president of NAMI-SU, said Kennedy was chosen to speak at SU because of his political and personal ties to the mental health community.

“Mental health research is something that needs to be talked about, and Patrick Kennedy is a great advocate for the subject,” Mellen said. “He’s trying to change the paradigm; mental health illnesses have been stigmatized for a long time.”

One of Kennedy’s biggest accomplishments during his time in Congress was being the lead co-sponsor of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, which was signed in 2008, Mellon said.

The bill requires that financial requirements on medical benefits and treatments for mental health or substance-use disorders have the same requirements as patients with other health issues, Kennedy said.

He told the audience that there is a sense of shame and secrecy when it comes to mental health problems, and many members of Congress are not willing to be a part of the discussion.

“Seniority rules in Congress,” Kennedy said. “It was tragic irony that I was lucky that I got to be the sponsor of this, but that says a lot that it was left to me — no one was fighting for it.”

Among the many groups that are in need of better mental health treatment, Kennedy emphasized the need for treatment of soldiers who have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“The one thing we do well in this country is that we never leave behind hostages,” Kennedy said. “But today’s prisoners of war walk among us. They are prisoners of their own mind.”

Many military personnel who served in Iraq have developed post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, and have not been properly treated, Kennedy said.

“What really bothers me is that it doesn’t bother more Americans that we’re losing more soldiers in their own hands than on the battlefield,” he said. “This should be on the front page every single day.”

Kennedy said that the younger generations are going to be vital in developing a new way to approach mental health by combining technology and knowledge of the brain.

“Syracuse has everything we need to mount a new campaign,” Kennedy said. “The sooner we get to understand how our brains function, the sooner we can improve the mental health of everyone.”

Published on October 11, 2012 at 3:01 am

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