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| Celebrating H. Res. 1005 and Borderline Personality Disorder Awareness Month! |
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Congressional Reception on Capitol Hill
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Congressional Reception
May 6, 2008 |
NEA-BPD hosted a Congressional
Reception on Capitol Hill on May
6, 2008 to celebrate the
unanimous passage of the
Resolution (H. Res. 1005) by the
U.S. House of Representatives
supporting May as Borderline
Personality Disorder Awareness
Month. Over sixty people
attended the event that was held
from 5 to 6:30 pm in the Rayburn
House Office Building.
The Reception honored
Representatives who had a lead
role in supporting and passing
the Resolution. Rep. Tom Davis
(R-VA), Rep. Chris Van Hollen
(D-MD), and Rep. Nita Lowey
(D-NY) received awards for BPD
advocacy, and addressed the
audience about the need for more
resources to advance awareness,
research and treatment of
BPD. In addition, two invited
speakers gave inspiring
presentations: Dr. Wayne
Goodman, Director of the
Division of Adult Translation
Research and Treatment of
NIMH; and Dr. John Gunderson,
Professor of Psychiatry at
Harvard Medical School, and
Director of Psychosocial and
Personality Research at McLean
Hospital.
There were additional remarks by
supporters from the audience, as
well as from NEA-BPD Board
Members. |
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 I do believe that these measures are very important…
to raise public awareness. I think, and all of you know
this, but the fact of the matter is, I think, if you ask
most Americans if you went to a group, a crowd and said, “How
many people have heard of schizophrenia?” a lot of people
would raise their hands, right? And if you said, “How many
people have heard of bipolar disorder …?” A lot of people
would raise their hands because they’d heard of it. They may not know about it. But if you ask them how many
heard of borderline personality disorder, there are
not a lot of people who would raise their hands, even though
more Americans, more people are affected by borderline
personality disorder than those other mental health
disorders. And so we’ve got our work cut out for us to
raise awareness about it, because it is the first step to
getting this country to devote more resources to addressing
the problem, both in terms of research and studying it, and
also in terms of treatment. |
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Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) |
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 We have really made extraordinary progress in the Congress
just acknowledging that there must be parity between mental
and physical illness, and… I can say it took the work of a
lot of people in the Congress working together to get this
Resolution passed… but what really counts is all of you. And don’t underestimate your power. Your coming to
Washington, your speaking to your member of Congress, your
giving me your story, your sharing with me the passion that
you feel really makes a difference. |
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Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) |
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| Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA) with Beth Elliott, NEA-BPD Board Member |
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I just want to thank the
parents and the therapists and the families who
are adversely affected by this [BPD] but have
turned it into something positive. And to
identifying it, getting a Resolution passed
through the House with no dissenting votes,
that’s a rare thing these days. And…I think the
next step will be trying to go to NIMH and
getting some appropriate funding and some
appropriate research and just so that we can
understand it better and come to grips with it
better. But it started with you. This is
genuinely a grassroots movement… |
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Rep. Tom Davis
(R-VA) |
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 It’s really an honor to be asked to do this. Here I am
in the Congress… It’s such a breakthrough for this
disorder and the people in this room who have been treaters
and advocates and family members and funders, all of us,
there’s this, like, mixed group of people in the room and
you’ve come here for different reasons and with different
backgrounds. I don’t think any of us could have imagined
that there would be a Reception in Congress that would give
awareness and recognition to this group of
people… Who would have thought that this [BPD] was what my colleague
Mary calls a good prognosis diagnosis? NIMH we thank
for funding the research that’s made that possible… I was
staggered this week when I read that article that 5.9
percent of the population had BPD – I never would have
imagined that… what we’re going to learn is still unfolding… So, with that, I’ll just say
"Hallelujah, my God, it’s
great.” |
| Dr. John Gunderson |
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 I’m new to Washington, as you know, but I’d bet that the
unanimous bipartisan support for the Resolution is not a
typical outcome of House votes. And this exceptional
success reflects the effectiveness of the members here who
have been honored here today in making a compelling case for
the gravity of the disorder… Bringing mental disorders out
of the shadows is an active process that, in some cases, may
take an Act of Congress, or at least a Resolution of the
House. Experience tells us that awareness and Awareness
Month is an important step, but only the first step. Borderline personality disorder may be late to join the
American lexicon, in part, because mental health
professionals were hesitant to make a diagnosis and speak
openly to patients and family members about a serious
illness for which existing treatments offered little hope. Fortunately, the options for effective treatments are
expanding, making this an auspicious time to launch a
national awareness campaign…And I can insure you that on
our part, NIMH will continue to do its work to fund
meritorious research on borderline personality disorder.
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Dr. Wayne Goodman,
NIMH |
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NEA-BPD Board Members, James A. Hall and
Patricia A. Woodward, MAT |
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Front: NAMI President, Anand Pandya, MD
Behind: Frank Yeomans, MD, PhD, NEA-BPD
Scientific Advisory Board, and Ken Silk, MD,
Science Editor, BPD Forum |
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Dr. Mary Zanarini visits with NEA-BPD Board
Member Jim Payne. |
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Kenneth R. Silk, MD
Professor, Dept. of Psychiatry,
University of Michigan Medical School, Ann
Arbor, MI |
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| Frank E. Yeomans, MD, PhD Director of Training,
Personality Disorders Institute; Clinical Associate Professor of
Psychiatry, Weill School of Medicine at Cornell
University, New York, NY |
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NEA-BPD Board Member James A. Hall
and
Robert Elliott |
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