Better Help for the Mentally Ill
The New York Times, March 12, 2002
To the Editor:
"Beautiful Minds Can Be Reclaimed," by Courtenay M. Harding
Courtenay (Op-Ed, March 10), offers hope and indicates the importance
of early recognition of and treatment perseverance for those suffering
from major mental illness. This group includes the 16 percent of the
incarcerated who, according to Department of Justice statistics, suffer
from major mental illness.
Both early recognition and long-term treatment are hampered by managed
health care approaches that use a quick fix and compound the existing
stigma that attends those suffering from major mental illness. These
approaches limit benefits for those suffering from major mental illness
far more than benefits are limited for those suffering from other life-threatening
illnesses.
HAROLD J. BURSZTAJN, M.D.
Cambridge, Mass., March 10, 2002
The writer is an associate clinical professor of psychiatry, Harvard
Medical School.