Fund targets spill-related mental illness

HOUSTON, Aug. 16 (UPI) -- BP said it will provide $52 million for mental health services on the U.S. Gulf Coast, where experts say the oil spill has caused widespread mental illness.

"We appreciate that there is a great deal of stress and anxiety across the region and as part of our determination to make things right for the people of the region, we are providing this assistance now to help make sure individuals who need help know where to turn," said Lamar McKay, president of BP America and incoming leader of the Gulf Coast Restoration Organization.

The international oil giant's announcement followed criticism from mental health groups after a Medpage Today report Monday in which the administrator of BP's $20 billion gulf victim's relief fund, Kenneth Feinberg, was quoted as telling a House committee last month it was "highly unlikely" any of the fund would cover mental health claims.

Groups including the American Psychiatric Association criticized Feinberg's testimony, in which he said: "If you start compensating purely mental anguish without a physical injury -- anxiety, stress -- we'll be getting millions of claims from people watching television. You have to draw the line somewhere."

APA President Carol A. Bernstein took issue with the comment.

"Mental illnesses brought on by difficult situations surrounding the BP oil spill may be less visible than other injuries, but they are real," Bernstein said in a statement Monday. "An entire way of life has been destroyed and this is causing anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance-use disorders, thoughts of suicide and other problems."

BP said $10 million would go to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, $15 million to the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, $12 million to the Mississippi Department of Mental Health, $12 million to the Alabama Department of Mental Health and $3 million to the Florida Department of Children and Families.