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The majority of Americans believe that “radical” or “significant” changes are needed in the way the US handles mental health conditions, according to a new poll released Tuesday.

Ninety-six percent of Americans believe mental health conditions are a “serious” public health problem in the US, and 66% believe they are “very serious” concern.

Former Congressman Patrick Kennedy and former Surgeon General David Satcher, M.D., released the findings at the National Press Club during a “State of the Union in Mental Health and Addiction” presentation by the new Kennedy Center for Mental Health Policy and Research.

“We didn’t hear mental health addressed in the President’s State of the Union message,” said Kennedy, who called it “shocking” that mental health is not a bigger part of the federal agenda.

“This should be a tipping point for Congress to act,” Kennedy told the audience and media. “This is a bipartisan issue.”

Among other findings of the telephone poll of 800 registered voters by Public Opinion Strategies:

• 74% of Americans believe the current health care system treats physical health with greater importance than mental health.
• 71% say that “radical” or “significant” changes are needed in responding to mental health conditions.
• The main change they support is expanding treatment options.

Majorities of Democrats, Independents and Republicans – as well as men and women – shared these views, demonstrating anew that mental illness is a bipartisan issue.

As an organization dedicated to improving treatment access for individuals with the most severe mental illness, the Treatment Advocacy Center applauds the polling effort and welcomes the public’s recognition that the mental health system is in need of dramatic change. Passage of the landmark “Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act” authored by Rep. Tim Murphy is a perfect place to start.

“The science is in” on mental illness, Kennedy said. “The question is: Are we going to act on it?”

The 114th Congress is now in session. We will soon find out.

The new Kennedy Center for mental Health Policy and Research is a partnership of the Kennedy Forum and a Morehouse School of Medicine grant from the NIH. Satcher is director of the Satcher Health Leadership Institute at the Morehouse medical school.