News & Publications

Mental Health Program - Articles by Carter Center Experts

19 September 2008
Mental Health Legislation We Need
This op-ed was originally published in the Washington Post.
The Sept. 8 news story "Kennedy Plans a January Return," regarding Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), mentioned an effort to pass legislation granting parity in insurance coverage for those suffering from mental illnesses.

7 January 2008
Addressing the Caregiving Crisis
This Rosalynn Carter op-ed was published in the January 2008 issue of Preventing Chronic Disease.
This issue of Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD) focuses on a set of concerns that is likely to challenge the public's creative spirit and resourcefulness for the next 30 years. Public health is the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting physical and mental health. What we are beginning to see is that success in any one of these areas raises new challenges and presents new problems for us to solve in the other areas.

18 July 2007
Rosalynn Carter and Betty Ford Op-Ed: Pass the Wellstone Act; Mental-health Parity Needed
This op-ed was published in the July 18, 2007, edition of the Wall Street Journal.
If you were diagnosed with a brain tumor, would you seek treatment or would you ignore it and hope it goes away? Would your answer differ according to whether your health insurance covered treatment? A diagnosis such as a brain tumor, or Parkinson's disease, is a serious matter. Just as serious are the diagnoses of mental illnesses and addictions. But depending on the location of the illness in your body, the decision to seek treatment may be harder to make.&

1 July 2006
Editing and Education: The Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Journalism Fellowships (PDF)
July-August 2006. Science Editor. Vol. 29 (4). pg.139. Palpant, Rebecca G. and Katie Hawkins. Mental health issues often do not receive the mass-media attention they deserve. Although mental illnesses are among the most serious and unrecognized health problems in the United States, affecting one fifth of people at some point in their lives, most Americans know little about them. Because of the lack of available information, however, the myths and mystery surrounding mental illnesses persist, perpetuating stigma and discrimination. Editors and reporters have unique opportunities to provide mental health information to the public.

22 May 2006
Equal Time: Health Bill Plays Russian Roulette, Thom Bornemann Op-Ed
Forty million Americans do not have health coverage. Some analysts are quick to suggest that "basic health coverage" is the answer. That prescription, however, risks spreading a "virus" that now infects most commercial health coverage in this country and lurks in the fine print of most employer-provided health plans: singling out mental health care for rigid coverage limits. 

1 April 2006
The Carter Center Mental Health Program: Addressing the Public Health Crisis in the Field of Mental Health Through Policy Change and Stigma Reduction (PDF)
April 2006. Preventing Chronic Disease. Vol. 3(2). Rebecca G. Palpant, MS, Rachael Steimnitz, Thomas H. Bornemann, EdD, Katie Hawkins. This article examines the public health crisis in the field of mental health and focuses on The Carter Center Mental Health Program's initiatives, which work to increase public knowledge of and decrease the stigma associated with mental illnesses through their four strategic goals: reducing stigma and discrimination against people with mental illnesses; achieving equity of mental health care comparable with other health services; advancing early promotion, prevention, and early intervention services for children and their families; and increasing public awareness about mental illnesses and mental health issues.

1 May 2005
A Survey of Mental Health Leaders One Year After the President's New Freedom Commission Report (Abstract)
May 2005. Psychiatric Services. Vol. 56, pgs.605 - 607. Silke A. von Esenwein, Thomas Bornemann, Lei Ellingson, Rebecca Palpant, Lynn Randolph, and Benjamin G. Druss. As part of the 19th annual Rosalynn Carter Symposium on Mental Health Policy, held in 2003, an anonymous online survey of symposium participants was conducted to gain insight into participants' perceptions of the impact on their organizations of the President's New Freedom Commission and its recommendations. The participants were national mental health leaders representing a broad range of mental health agencies and organizations. The results of the survey suggest that the New Freedom Commission has had a substantial impact on the organizations represented at the symposium. Findings on successes and challenges in implementing the recommendations suggest areas for ongoing efforts to transform mental health care.

20 May 2001
A Life's Mission in Mental Health; Cynthia Wainscott; Her Can-Do Spirit and Ability to Mobilize People Have Garnered Results
About a hundred of Cynthia Wainscott's closest friends gathered in a Buckhead restaurant recently to send her off into sort-of retirement. There were numerous jokes about the executive director of the National Mental Health Association of Georgia and her affinity for cellphones, including some about the intimate article of clothing in which Wainscott likes to carry hers.