Rep. Tim Murphy is a sponsor of the 21st Century Cures Act, which was passed by Congress on Wednesday. He discussed the act and the need to deal with mental illness during an appearance on CNN's "New Day."
Murphy, also the author of a book about mental illness, "Overcoming Passive Aggression," said, "We need to provide treatment instead of tragedy."
The congressman said the federal government is partly to blame for a lack of focus on mental health and mental issues: "We have 112 federal agencies out there that don't work together that are supposed to address mental health and mental issues, but don't do it very well."
"We were funding some pretty silly programs, like how to make a fruit smoothie or do interpretive dance to deal with your anger. Our bill changes that."
Host Chris Cuomo noted that Murphy wanted to address the problem of when an adult has a mental illness but refuses help. He said part of his bill changes rules so that a doctor can now speak to family members and say, "Tell me what I need to know" in order to treat their family member.
Seventy-five percent of people with mental illnesses also have chronic physical illnesses as well, Murphy said. "Wouldn't it be great if a physician could at least say, ‘Mr. Smith, your son, I can't tell you everything we do, but he needs to see an oncologist.'"
He pointed out violent events where "the family felt unempowered" when their family member started acting strangely or violently, and the act addresses that issue, Murphy said.
NPR said the 21st Century Cures Act strengthens laws for mental and physical health care and includes grants to increase numbers of psychologists and psychiatrists.
"It's time to fix our broken mental health care system," Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy said in NPR's report.