IA
103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. J. RES. 148
To designate the week of October 3, 1993, through October 9, 1993, as
‘‘Mental Illness Awareness Week’’.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 10, 1993
Mr. WYDEN (for himself, Mr. KASICH, Mr. WISE, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. NEAL
of Massachusetts, Mr. MACHTLEY, Mr. BLACKWELL, Mr. BREWSTER,
Mr. CRAMER, Mr. KOPETSKI, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. BILI-
RAKIS, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. BACCHUS of Florida, Mr.
STUDDS, Ms. PELOSI, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PETERSON of Florida, Mr.
HUNTER, Mr. SPRATT, Mr. JEFFERSON, Mr. MARTINEZ, Mr. FILNER,
Mr. WALSH, Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. BUYER,
Mr. KREIDLER, Mr. SHAYS, Ms. E.B. JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. ROWLAND,
Mr. JACOBS, Mr. MORAN, Mr. FROST, Mr. MONTGOMERY, Mr. PETER-
SON of Minnesota, Mr. COOPER, Mr. SPENCE, Mr. MAZZOLI, Mr. MAR-
KEY, Mrs. MORELLA, Mr. RAHALL, Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA, Mr. KLECZKA,
Mr. GEJDENSON, Mrs. ROUKEMA, Mr. FORD of Tennessee, Mr. WAXMAN,
Mr. SYNAR, Mr. KING, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mrs. UNSOELD, Mr. WOLF, Mr.
RANGEL, and Mr. PICKETT) introduced the following joint resolution;
which was referred to the Committee on Post Office and Civil Service
JOINT RESOLUTION
To designate the week of October 3, 1993, through October
9, 1993, as ‘‘Mental Illness Awareness Week’’.
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Whereas mental illness is a problem of grave concern and
consequence in the United States and it is widely, but
unnecessarily, feared and misunderstood;
Whereas on an annual basis 40,000,000 adults in the United
States suffer from clearly diagnosable mental disorders,
including mental illness, alcohol abuse, and drug abuse,
which create significant disabilities with respect to em-
ployment, school attendance, and independent living;
Whereas more than 11,200,000 United States citizens are di-
agnosed with schizophrenia, manic depressive disorder,
and major depression, and some of these individuals have
been disabled for long periods of time;
Whereas 33 percent of homeless persons suffer serious,
chronic forms of mental illness;
Whereas alcohol, drug, and mental disorders affect almost 22
percent of adults in the United States in any 1-year
period;
Whereas mental illness interferes with the development and
maturation of at least 12,000,000 of our children;
Whereas a majority of the 30,000 American citizens who
commit suicide each year suffer from a mental or an ad-
dictive disorder;
Whereas our growing population of elderly persons faces
many obstacles to care for mental disorders;
Whereas 20 to 25 percent of persons with AIDS will develop
AIDS-related cognitive dysfunction and as many as two-
thirds of persons with AIDS will show neuropsychiatric
symptoms before they die;
Whereas mental illnesses, alcohol abuse, and drug abuse re-
sult in staggering costs to society, estimated to be in ex-
•HJ 148 IH
cess of $273,000,000 annually in direct treatment and
support and indirect costs to society, including lost pro-
ductivity;
Whereas the Federal research budget committed to the Na-
tional Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute
of Drug Abuse, and the National Institute of Alcoholism
and Alcohol Abuse represents only about 1 percent of the
direct treatment and support costs of caring for persons
with alcohol, drug, and mental disorders;
Whereas mental illnesses are increasingly treatable disorders
with excellent prospects for amelioration when properly
recognized;
Whereas persons with mental illness and their families have
begun to join self-help groups seeking to combat the un-
fair stigma of mental illness, to support greater national
investment in research, and to advocate an adequate con-
tinuum of care from hospital to community;
Whereas in recent years there have been unprecedented major
research developments bringing new methods and tech-
nology to the sophisticated and objective study of the
functioning of the brain and its linkages to both normal
and abnormal behavior;
Whereas research in recent decades has led to a wide array
of new and more effective modalities of treatment (so-
matic, psychosocial, and service delivery) for some of the
most incapacitating forms of mental illness, including
schizophrenia, major affective disorders, phobias, and
phobic disorders;
Whereas appropriate treatment of mental illness has been
demonstrated to be cost effective in terms of restored
•HJ 148 IH
productivity, reduced use of other health services, and
lessened social dependence; and
Whereas recent and unparalleled growth in scientific knowl-
edge about mental illness has generated the current
emergence of a new threshold of opportunity for future
research advances and fruitful application to specific clin-
ical problems: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
That the week of October 3, 1993, through October 9,
1993, is designated as ‘‘Mental Illness Awareness Week’’.
The President is authorized and requested to issue a proc-
lamation calling upon the people of the United States to
observe such week with appropriate programs, ceremonies,
and activities.
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