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Treatment Advocacy Center

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Murmur1974 (talk | contribs) at 13:03, 14 April 2019 (Revised first paragraph to indicate quoted material previously uncited but verbatim from TAC website). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The Treatment Advocacy Center (TAC) is a national U.S. nonprofit organization focused on issues related to treatment of people diagnosed with mental illness. Their mission is ″dedicated to eliminating barriers to the timely and effective treatment of severe mental illness″ [1]. The organization publicizes research and proposes laws, policies, and practices in the areas of legally compelled outpatient services for people diagnosed with mental illness (also known as assisted outpatient treatment, AOT [2]. The organization provides education around anosognosia - a term used to describe the posited neurological deficit of a lack of awareness that one has a mental illness. They publish reports comparing states and ranking access, adequacy, and other issues around mental healthcare according to their criteria. TAC also focuses on the intersection of the legal system with people with mental illness, and the effect of deinstitutionalization on those diagnosed with mental illness.

History

E. Fuller Torrey, M.D. founded the Treatment Advocacy Center in 1998 as an offshoot of the National Association on Mental Illness (NAMI). Torrey had worked as a psychiatrist at St. Elizabeth's Hospital, a public psychiatric hospital in Washington, D.C. Torrey believed that individuals who would have been hospitalized prior to the closing of state psychiatric hospitals (a historical period known as "deinstitutionalization") into jails and prisons was best explained by behaviors that resulted from their non-treatment. With the support of entrepreneur Theodore Stanley and his wife Vada, the Treatment Advocacy Center separated from NAMI shortly after its founding to focus entirely on promoting the legal changes to enable treatment for those who are most ill. Operating without funding from the pharmaceutical industry, the Treatment Advocacy Center has evolved into one of the nation's largest source of research on issues regarding untreated severe mental illness. The organization operates with the support of the closely affiliated Stanley Medical Research Institute, the largest nongovernment source of funding for research into bipolar disorder and schizophrenia in the United States, and many individual donors and foundations. Torrey continues to serve as a member of the Treatment Advocacy Center's board and is executive director of the Stanley Medical Research Institute.

Activities

The Treatment Advocacy Center engages in a wide range of activities and projects including:

  • Development of a Model Law for Assisted Treatment (also called involuntary treatment). Released in 2000, the Model Law suggests a legal framework for authorizing court-ordered treatment of individuals with untreated severe mental illness who meet certain legal criteria around dangerousness to self or others or inability to care for oneself due to a mental illness.
  • Advocacy for laws and policies to decrease the arrest, incarceration, homelessness, hospitalization, and violence that can occur when someone has untreated mental illness.
  • Research and study into public policy and other issues related specific to severe mental illness.
  • Education of policymakers and judges regarding severe mental illnesses and treatment availability.
  • Support for the development of new treatments for and research into the causes of severe and persistent psychiatric illnesses.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Treatment Advocacy Center". Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  2. ^ Publications, Harvard Health. "Involuntary outpatient commitment - Harvard Health". Harvard Health. Retrieved 2017-08-13.
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