HR0898 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0898 LRB097 20749 KXB 67264 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Mental illness is a critical underlying concept in various areas of our law affecting mitigation of criminal responsibility and fundamental rights to property, individual liberty, and personal privacy; and

WHEREAS, For at least 2 generations, mental illness has been presumed to be brain disease which is best confronted as a treatable medical problem; and

WHEREAS, Vast amounts of State resources and tax monies, not to mention the creative energies and work of our citizens and civil servants, are continuously expended in accordance with Illinois laws and regulations dependent upon derived psychiatric definitions, formulations, and diagnostic criteria for mental disorders, in particular upon those definitions, formulations, and criteria which are found in the American Psychiatric Association's nearly 20-year-old Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV); and

WHEREAS, The head of the task force which developed DSM-IV recently admitted that since it was published in 1993, that manual has resulted in at least 3 false epidemics causing countless persons to be prescribed expensive, unnecessary, potentially dangerous psychotropic drugs; and

WHEREAS, A professor of psychiatry and author of a leading reference book on psychopharmacology recently called the entire chemical imbalance theory of mental disorders an urban legend; and

WHEREAS, Experts in the field of mental health are currently in major and substantial disagreement about the general validity of psychiatric diagnosis itself; and

WHEREAS, Despite explicit admonitions in DSM-IV against the use of psychiatric diagnosis for such legal purposes as establishing competence, criminal responsibility or disability, Illinois courts and agencies have nonetheless habitually relied upon the formulations and criteria in the DSM for the precise expertise which the text itself disclaims; and

WHEREAS, A new edition of the American Psychiatric Association's manual, DSM-5, is scheduled for publication in May of 2013, but proposed changes for this upcoming DSM are provoking intense criticism from a diverse range of mental health experts, more than 12,000 of whom have signed a petition protesting the secretive and unscientific character of the APA's proposals to expand concepts of mental disorder to a point where normal human emotions and coping behaviors will be falsely pathologized as illness; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that the Task Force on Mental Diagnosis and Illinois Law be created within the Office of the Governor, and jointly supervised by the Comptroller and the Attorney General, to

(1) thoroughly survey the Illinois Compiled Statutes and Administrative Code to identify all instances where our laws and government functions depend upon purported understanding of mental illness or disorder, mental capacity, mental health, behavior or psychology, which may be recently discredited, or reasonably considered incorrect or arbitrary in light of the current confusion among mental health experts over the possible absence of scientific validity in psychiatric diagnosis;

(2) forward initial recommendations of urgent legislative actions which may be needed to avoid gross injustice or waste of public resources to the General Assembly as soon as possible; and

(3) produce a final report summarizing the task force's findings and detailing recommended statutory or constitutional strategies to correct negative impacts of concepts and nomenclature now discredited or inconsistent with current medical science, and to avoid future immoderate scientism in our laws and public policy; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the task force shall consist of the following members: 3 members appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, one of whom shall be appointed co-chairperson; 3 members appointed by the minority leader of the House of Representatives, one of whom shall be appointed co-chairperson, one member appointed by the Comptroller; and one member appointed by the Attorney General; and be it further

RESOLVED, That in appointing members of the task force, the Speaker and minority leader shall consider that professional experience in diverse mental health-related fields may be a positive qualification; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the task force shall take voluntary assistance and testimony from individuals and professional organizations and institutions; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the members of the task force shall serve without compensation but may be reimbursed for actual expenses while serving on the task force from funds appropriated to the Office of the Governor for that purpose; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the task force shall submit its final report to the Governor and the General Assembly no later than December 31, 2013.