Mental health advocacy groups have launched a Web site.

The N.C. Mental Health Vote site will feature a blog on mental health issues and candidates' statements in the 2008 statewide elections. It is run by the N.C. Psychiatric Association, the state Mental Health Association and other groups.

Dr. John Gilmore, a UNC-Chapel Hill psychiatrist, said the site is intended to spark discussion about the ongoing problems of the state's mental health system.

"When psychiatrists stand up and speak out, you know things are really bad," he wrote on the blog's first post Wednesday. "As a group, we'd rather sit back, listen, observe, and quietly do our job. But things are really bad, and we are speaking out." (AP)