As Mental Illness Awareness Week begins, a new poll finds Americans have divergent views about illnesses that affect thinking, feeling or mood; this discrepancy is notable when it comes to genetic testing recommended by a doctor to help with personalized treatment.

Thirty-four percent of Americans report having been diagnosed with a mental illness or have a friend or family member who has been. A mere 7 percent think the country does a good job at dealing with mental illness, while 45 percent feel we do a poor job, a percentage that is more than twice as high as the responses for how the U.S. deals with cancer, heart disease and diabetes, according to the Genomind Mental Health Poll™. Genomind (www.genomind.com) is a personalized medicine company bringing innovation to mental health care.

Recently, celebrities such as Bruce Springsteen have been more open about their own struggles with depression. Nearly half of poll respondents see such revelations as a positive trend and agree it would be great to see more disclosures, while 17 percent say this is a private matter and these public figures should keep this information to themselves.

Almost half of the poll respondents say the country should be spending more than it does on mental health (currently the U.S. spends roughly 4 percent on mental health of the nearly $2 trillion it spends on health care each year), while just 25 percent feel the current balance is about right.

However, 28 percent of Americans agree that “except in extreme circumstances, issues like depression and anxiety should be solved on a personal level and not with medication.”

Also pointing to the split opinions Americans hold on mental health issues, 67 percent are very or somewhat excited about using genetic tests to individualize patients’ treatments for a wide variety of illnesses to make treatments more effective. However, when asked specifically if they would take a genetic test recommended by a doctor that would help determine the best treatment plan for mental illness, respondents are less likely to choose to take such a test than they are to take a test to guide treatment for cancer, heart disease or diabetes.

A majority (53 percent) did agree the following was a strong statement to support genetic tests for mental illness treatment: They help reduce the time, expense and struggle of finding the right treatment by trial and error.

“I think what we are seeing when we dig deeper is that mental health issues still seem to carry a stigma for many Americans, despite all the public education that has been done and what we know today about their diagnosis and treatment. This stigma evidences itself in the way that Americans seem to view mental illness differently than other chronic diseases,” says Stefan Hankin of Lincoln Park Strategies, who conducted the poll for Genomind.

“I’ve felt the stigma of mental health in my life,” says Patrick J. Kennedy, a noted mental health advocate, Genomind adviser and former Congressman. “The poll results clearly show that some Americans still view treatment for mental health differently than they do for other diseases. We would never tell a breast cancer patient to just ‘deal with it.’ During this important week I hope we can make progress on advancing understanding and acceptance of effective treatment and genetic testing to help guide treatment for mental health.”

The Genomind Mental Health Poll consisted of a representative sample of 1,000 interviews that were conducted online Sept. 21–25, 2016. The Bayesian confidence interval for 1,000 interviews is 3.5, which is roughly equivalent to a margin of error of ±3.1 at the 95 percent confidence level.

“We conducted this poll because we think it’s important to understand where the country stands on these vital issues; the results will hopefully lead to greater understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing the mental health sector,” says Michael Koffler, Genomind president and CEO.

Genomind’s Genecept Assay® is a genetic test designed to help clinicians optimize treatment decisions for their patients with mental illness. Clinical research has found 87 percent of patients demonstrated a clinically measurable improvement with treatment guided by the Genecept Assay. It also reported improvement in 91 percent of patients who had previously failed at least two medications.

The Genecept Assay is available for use by any licensed and prescribing clinician. Patients should discuss with their clinician whether the Genecept Assay is right for them: https://genomind.com/talk-to-your-doctor/. Patients should have their clinician contact Genomind directly to order test kits and/or to receive more information about testing.

About Genomind

Genomind is a personalized medicine company bringing innovation to mental health care through genetic testing. Genomind is comprised of pioneering researchers and thought leaders in psychiatry and neurology and specializes in pharmacogenetic laboratory testing for psychiatry. Genomind is committed to partnering with clinicians to improve their patients’ lives. Learn more at www.genomind.com.

About the Genecept Assay®

The Genecept Assay® is a genetic test designed to help clinicians optimize treatment decisions for their patients with mental illness. It identifies patient-specific genetic markers that indicate which treatments are likely to work as intended, have no effect or cause adverse effects. It is an easily administered cheek swab test that analyzes key genes that have been selected based on hundreds of studies showing that variations in these genes can inform treatment decisions. The Assay is used to guide treatment for a range of psychiatric conditions, including depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), autism, schizophrenia, chronic pain and substance abuse, and has been shown in peer-reviewed published studies to improve patient outcomes and reduce overall medical costs. Each Assay provides clinicians with an easy-to-read patient report and a complimentary psychopharmacogenomic consultation. Learn more at www.genomind.com

MEDIA CONTACTS

Kristina Habermann

Vice President, Marketing and Corporate Communications Genomind

267-326-2166

khabermann@genomind.com

Adam Shapiro

ASPR

202-427-3603

Adam.Shapiro@ASPR.bz

Hard work and good luck resulted in President Bill Clinton giving a moving testimony to the work of Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters, a longtime ASPR client. Clinton made his remarks at the Democratic National Convention and they were viewed by 24 million Americans. Coverage was secured on NPR, Education Week, POLITICO and dozens of other outlets. 

PRESIDENT CLINTON’S PRAISE OF HIPPY USA JOINS

GROWING CHORUS OF BIPARTISAN VOICES SUPPORTING

EDUCATION HOME VISITING PROGRAM

In a nationwide address, President Bill Clinton spoke passionately about the impact of Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (www.hippyusa.org), an evidence-based home visiting program.

“Twenty years of research has shown how well this program works to improve readiness for school and academic achievement. There are a lot of young adults in America…who are enjoying better lives because they were in that program,” Clinton said at the Democratic National Convention. The clip can be viewed at  http://cs.pn/2awbOpB.

Hillary Rodham Clinton’s relationship with HIPPY USA dates back to the 1980s when she was the First Lady of Arkansas.  Recognizing that many families with young children weren’t getting what they needed, she brought the HIPPY program to the state to help teach parents how to prepare their children for school.

As a nonpartisan nonprofit, HIPPY USA is supported by legislators, community leaders, school administrators and others in order to successfully implement its model.

HIPPY USA helps to close the education achievement gap for families in 140 communities across the country. Peer parent educators work with families in the home to support parents in their critical role as their child’s first and most important teacher. Parents in underserved neighborhoods are provided with a set of carefully developed curriculum, books and materials designed to strengthen their children’s cognitive and early literacy skills and social/emotional and physical development.

Research has found the HIPPY model to be effective in improving school readiness, parent involvement, school attendance, classroom behavior, standardized test scores and academic performance by children participating in HIPPY.

Some of the research findings include:

• HIPPY parents become more engaged in reading, talking and working with their children.

• HIPPY improves children’s school readiness.

• HIPPY children demonstrate higher achievement in school.

• HIPPY parents are involved in their children’s schools and education. 

Further details are available at http://hippyusa.org/research/.

ASPR is honored to have won the bronze in the 2015 Nonprofit PR Award from the “Bulldog Reporter,” a well-respected industry publication. The firm was nominated for its work highlighting and promoting education innovation in New Orleans a decade after Hurricane Katrina. Advocates in New Orleans are widely credited with reinventing a dysfunctional school system into one that is helping more students than ever close the achievement gap. ASPR’s strategic plan resulted in major news placements and coordination with the mayor’s office, which led to a speech praising the work of advocates by President Obama.  

It takes persistence, a good story and an interested reporter to achieve a media hit for a client. ASPR is fortunate that nearly a year’s worth of effort on behalf of the Catalogue for Philanthropy paid off in the form of a glowing profile of the initiative’s founder Barbara Harman in The Washington Post Sunday Magazine.

This successful outcome is a reminder to all of us who toil in media relations — reporters and editors work on their deadlines, not ours. But, ultimately, the wait is worth it when the final story can do so much good for nonprofits. 

“An author was better liked when a literary agent delivered his pitch than when he did it himself, even though listeners knew he was responsible for what was said in both circumstances.”

“Overcoming the Self-Promotion Dilemma,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin