For nearly 100 years, the National Mental Health
Association has been the nation’s leading
organization working to focus attention on the
mental health needs of all Americans. Our mission
is to improve the mental health of millions of
people though advocacy, education, research and
practice. Our programs reach out to people of all
ages and address all aspects of mental health,
including wellness, prevention, treatment and
recovery. We are especially concerned with
promoting access to effective and appropriate
treatments for persons with mental illnesses such
as depression, bipolar disorder and for those at
risk of suicide.

We work to remove barriers to treatment for
adults and children with mental and substance
abuse problems. To that end, we are committed to
drive legislation, policy and practice to assure
that people with mental illnesses achieve parity
in access through our healthcare system. Our
mission demands that we advocate for equal access
to any and all FDA-approved treatments.

The purpose of this letter is to make clear our
position regarding treatments for depression and
more specifically, the 20% of persons whose
depression has not responded to multiple
interventions. For these persons Treatment
Resistant Depression (TRD) is a life ruining and
often life threatening condition. All too often
people with TRD are unable to work, utilize vast
healthcare resources, and have a high mortality
rate: 15% end their suffering through suicide. We
strongly encourage Medicare to help eliminate
limit mental health disparities by ensuring that
all persons with mental illness, including TRD
have access to the full range of FDA-approved
treatments for their illness.


Sincerely,

Raymond L. Crowel, Psy.D.
Vice President, Research and Practice