Murphy promotes mental health bill at Waynesburg University
U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., held a press conference Wednesday at Waynesburg University to discuss his proposed mental health bill, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act. (Photo by Abby Wernert)
U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., held a press conference Wednesday at Waynesburg University to discuss his proposed mental health bill, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act. (Photo by Abby Wernert)
WAYNESBURG – With the stabbings at Franklin Regional High School, the double shootings at Fort Hood in Texas and the massacre in Newtown, Conn., the concerns over outbreaks of killing spree-style violence persist to this day.
A nationwide dialogue has developed, centered on identifying those with serious mental illnesses and restricting them from accessing firearms or admitting them to badly needed care.
This has been the main impetus behind a bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., of Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District, which Greene County belongs to. H.R. 3717, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, is Murphy’s endeavor to reform the identification and treatment of mental illness to a state suitable for the 21st century.
The proposed bill is currently being debated in the House of Representatives. If it passes, the bill will reform much of the United States’ current mental healthcare system.
Presenting to an audience which filled Alumni Hall at Waynesburg University, Murphy delivered a press conference Wednesday which elaborated on America’s need for the legislation.
“Lots of things happen with guns, for good and for evil,” Murphy said during the conference. “If we focus all of our attention on what is in people’s hands, and ignore what is in their minds and what is in their hearts, then we will miss an important time in American history.”
Prior to entering politics, Murphy was a psychologist with a doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh, and co-authored books on parenting unruly children and personal anger management. Murphy called upon this career expertise during the conference, using extemporaneous explanations regarding mental health, coupled with a slideshow packed full of statistics compiled by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
However, the bottom line, Murphy said, was that correct and timely intervention can make a crucial difference in preventing violent outbreaks, without even needing anything as heavy-handed as locking a patient away in an asylum.
“A person with serious mental illness, who has any propensity at all towards aggressive or violent behavior, is fifteen times less likely to be committing an act of violence if they are in treatment,” he said.
“And when you identify someone earlier, it doesn’t take a lot of treatment. Sometimes a little medication adjusted to the person’s needs, sometimes a little counseling to help them understand that the voices they hear, the delusions they have, the emotional turmoil they have, is something that is manageable.”
According to Murphy, intervention into the affairs of someone’s mental health typically occurs only when someone has met the “imminent danger” standard; a point reached when someone indicates to others, either by speech or action, that they pose a threat to either their own or someone else’s well-being. He blamed such a standard for calling for action too late in the process of one’s personal deterioration.
“When that person who has lost their job, lost their family, or is homeless and can’t take care of themselves but refuses care, some groups say ‘If that John Doe wants to lie on a park bench, vomit on himself and sleep in his own feces, he has a right to do that,'” Murphy said. “I say no, that person has the right to be better. A right to access a treatment.”
For those who wish to learn more details about the new bill or to track its progress, the congressman’s website can be visited at Murphy.house.gov.
The main district office in Pittsburgh can be reached by phone at 412-344-5583, or the Washington D.C. office at 202-225-2301.