Oscar-winning actor Rod Steiger gave Congress a haunting performance Tuesday to describe his hellish, decadelong torment from mental illness before he overcame worry about social stigma to seek treatment for it.
He described his panicked thoughts coming from depression. "I want to die. I don't want to move. I want to disappear. I don't want to be bothered with bathing or shaving . . . I'll never act again. They'll find me out. I can't memorize anything . . . I feel them watching. I feel their eyes on my skin."He said he often planned suicide. "There is a way out. A nice cool gun. But I must be careful not to make a mess . . . I could go out in a boat, lower myself over the side, hold on with one arm and with the other lower the gun from pointing at God's heaven, put it in my mouth and shoot . . . My body sinks. No mess," he remembers thinking.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, ranking Republican on the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee, told the hearing that millions of Americans suffer like Steiger and may not know that their afflictions are treatable.
"One in five Americans will suffer a mental disorder ranging from minor depression to full-blown psychosis in his or her lifetime. Over 2 million individuals are currently afflicted by a persistent and severely disabling mental disorder, such as schizophrenia. And nearly 5 percent of Americans will suffer from major depression," Hatch said.
He added that new government research should help remove stigma from such suffering.
For example, the Office of Technology Assessment of Congress released a report at the hearing saying research increasingly shows that physical disorders in the brain and chemical imbalances have key roles in mental illness - and such illness does not result merely from environment or psychological reasons.
David J. Kupfer, chairman of the Psychiatry Department of the University of Pittsburgh, added, "It is now clear that mental illnesses are brain-related disorders resulting from the combined influences of biological and psycho-social factors . . . Many brain disorders could be prevented, cured or alleviated inexpensively if research opportunities were fully exploited."
Sen. Paul Simon, D-Ill., said funding has been relatively small for mental illness "because if someone has a loved one with cancer, heart disease or diabetes, they stand up (and ask for help). But if they have mental illness, they don't stand up."
Steiger - who starred in "In the Heat of the Night," "On the Waterfront," and "Dr. Zhivago" - said in additional written comments to the committee that worry about such stigma kept him from seeking help for years for the depression that had attacked him suddenly.
"Stigma against mental illness often keeps people who have a mental illness from acknowledging it and from seeking treatment. I was no exception," he said - but he did eventually seek it and has been able to control his illness and find happiness.
He said, while breaking into tears, "I will not have a human being condemned because of pain . . . To suffer disease and bear pain does not mean in any way you are insane."
Steiger and mental illness advocacy groups asked for $200 million in additional funding to further research into the causes and possible treatments for mental illness.