Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, this is Suicide Prevention Month, and we have a lot of work to do. In July the House passed H.R. 2646, our mental health reform act called the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act; but since September 1, the beginning of Suicide Prevention Month, 826 people have died by suicide. Since we passed the bill, 7,434 have died from suicide. Let me tell you one quick story about a young man, a constituent by the name of Chuck Mahoney, who, while in college, suffered from depression. Despite his fraternity brothers going to the administrators and to his counselor, and despite Chuck telling his counselor that he thought he was going to die and there was no reason to live, no one spoke up. No one told the parents. Sadly, young Chuck, who had been a student, who had been captain of his high school football team, a decorated student with great grades, took his own life, hanging himself with his dog's leash, a suicide that could have been prevented if he had seen people who really could treat suicide. But so often what happens in this Nation, when someone cries out for suicide risk, there is no one there to help. Actually, as it turns out, mental illness is a contributing factor in 90 percent of suicides. When a person makes a decision, it usually happens in the first 5 minutes or, at the most, the first hour. There is no time for waiting lists. We have a crisis shortage of psychiatrists and psychologists. We have too few hospital beds.…”