•HJ 349 IH
Whereas conditions such as major depression and dysthymia
affect approximately twice as many women as men, thus,
an estimated 6 percent of United States women, in con-
trast to 3 percent of men, will experience a major depres-
sion in their lifetime;
Whereas at least another 6 percent of women have
dysthymia, a less severe, but often more chronic form of
depression;
Whereas a majority of the 30,000 American citizens who
commit suicide each year have a mental or an addictive
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 develop
AIDS-related cognitive dysfunction and as many as 2⁄3 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-
cess of $300,000,000,000 in direct treatment and sup-
port and indirect costs to society, including lost produc-
tivity;
Whereas the Federal research and services budget committed
to the National Institute of Mental Health, the National
Institute of Drug Abuse, the National Institute of Alco-
holism and Alcohol Abuse, and the Center for Mental
Health Services represents only about 1 percent of the di-
rect treatment and support costs of caring for persons
with alcohol, drug, and mental disorders;
•HJ 349 IH
Whereas mental illnesses are increasingly treatable disorders
and with excellent prospects for amelioration when prop-
erly recognized;
Whereas persons with mental illness and their families have
begun to join self-help groups and have worked to reduce
the unfair stigma of mental illness, to support greater
national investment in research and services, and to ad-
vocate a full continuum of care from hospital to commu-
nity;
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 of services and systems of
care for persons with mental illness;
Whereas research in recent decades has led to a wide array
of new and more effective modalities of treatment (so-
matic, psychosocial, ad service delivery) for some of the
most severe forms of mental illness, including schizophre-
nia, major affective disorders, phobias, and phobic dis-
orders;
Whereas appropriate treatment of mental illness has been
demonstrated to be cost effective in terms of restored
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
emergency 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,
•HJ 349 IH
That the week of October 2, 1994, through October 8,
1994, 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.
Æ