Issues Of The Mental Health Care System

Evaluation and treatment of the mentally ill population has developed from confinement of the mad during colonial times, into the biomedical balancing of neurological impairment seen in these modern times. There were eras of mental health reform, medicalization, and deinstitutionalization sandwiched in between (Nies & McEwen, 2011). Regardless of the stage of understanding and development, communities have not been completely successful in dealing with and treating persons who are mentally unwell. Fortunately, treatment has become more compassionate; social and professional attitudes have morphed into more humanistic and

In recent times, the responsibility of providing health care services has fallen on the shoulders of the primary health care providers. In turn, this reflects on the treatment preferences of many citizens and the subsequent availability and further the affordability of health care services. Quite some patients now receive health care for mental disorders from their primary health care providers. Therefore, this shows that the mental health afflicted patients are getting the proper treatment and prescription of their disorders from their doctors.

Furthermore, tremendous advances have been made in the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses in the recent decades. Nowadays, someone with a mental illness is treated with respect, just like every other person, because, in fact, everyone is equal. Society’s goals today are to treat and support the mentally ill individuals enough so they can live in

The United States has never had an official federal-centered approach for mental health care facilities, entrusting its responsibility to the states throughout the history. The earliest initiatives in this field took place in the 18th century, when Virginia built its first asylum and Pennsylvania Hospital reserved its basement to house individuals with mental disorders (Sundararaman, 2009). During the 19th century, other services were built, but their overall lack of quality was alarming. Even then, researchers and professionals in the mental health field attempted to implement the principles of the so-called public health, focusing on prevention and early intervention, but the funds were in the hands of the local governments, which prevented significant advances in this direction.

American history is littered with tails of reform and revolution. Earlier on in America’s young life, revolution included war, struggle for basic human rights and dignity as well as radical tactics taken by the public. As time went on Americans learned that revolution and reform could occur through the government systems that our forefathers had put in place. The battle for human rights has all but ended but the way in which Americans wage war is a different story altogether. Now American’s fight for better public healthcare, equal rights for homosexual individuals and couples, and stricter standards for social welfare programs.

Oregon has a shortage of mental health clinicians and prescribers resulting in inadequate access to mental health services. Oregon has 90 designated Mental Health Care Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSA) (Kaiser Family Foundation [KFF], 2016). However, this data does not include Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners. The Portland Metropolitan Area, comprised of Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties is not designated as a Mental Health Care HPSA (Oregon Health Authority [OHA], 2013). In Oregon, Psychiatrists, Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioners (PMHNP) and Physician Assistants are able to prescribe psychiatric medications. As of 2014, the entire state had 964 behavioral/mental health prescribers (Oregon Health

Problem Statement: The World Health Association defines ‘good’ health as: “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” However, in the United States, access to care and funding for mental health care are grossly neglected and underfunded in comparison to other aspects of health care.

Take a moment and think about those your care deeply for, those you would give your life for. Now, imagine if he or she were sick, or in any other kind of trouble. What would you do to help them? Go to the edge of the world and back, fight, not stopping for yourself until they were in good health once more. Now imagine if you found a potential cure, or a solution, but it was held away because a few people who had more money than you did not want it to be used. You have seen and heard of this proponent being used in other countries and has had very promising results, yet still those who claim they have “power” over you deny what you seek. The fact of the matter is thousands of Americans suffer from some kind of mental illness, including my brother. Whether it be chronic anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder, depression, bi-polar, schizophrenia, addiction, the list can go on. America has a botched mental health system, the main way we treat people is by shoving pills down their throats, most that have little to no substantial effects, leaving people still feeling empty. The pills rather just “control” or alleviate symptoms rather than eradicating them completely, leaving people to have to take dose after dose daily to keep their lives in check.

In the United States the Mental Health Care field is one of the most underserved areas of healthcare. The mental healthcare field faces many challenges to the proper treatment of patients from both a societal and professional standpoint. From a societal perspective a negative stereotype is associated with patients seeking psychiatric care. Patients seeking care are often labeled as defective or damaged. Add in the complication that most patients with mental illness appear to be normal, accepting that someone is ill without outward symptoms can also be difficult for a society to understand. From a professional perspective the challenges within the mental health care industry include personal prejudice, staffing issues, and problems with coordinating care. The combination of these factors has a direct negative impact on the willingness of individuals suffering from mental illness in seeking the care needed to treat the symptoms of mental illness.

As of now, there is no general consensus that would require states to cover mental health (Cauchi, Landess, & Thangasamy 2011). Out of the 49 states that do cover mental illness, there are three main categories that vary considerably; mental health “parity” or equal coverage laws, minimum mandated mental health benefit laws, and mental health “mandated offering laws.” Mental illness is as serious a condition as any other health condition. It should be covered as such. Mental health parity has come a long way over the years. With health care reform underway, this issue is bound to come up. Hopefully the reform can enact a program that will lead to more mental health parity.

Policies have an important role in regulating and shaping the values in a society. The issues related to mental health are not only considered as personal but also affecting the relationships with significant others. The stigma and discrimination faced by people with mental health can be traced to the lack of legislation and protection of rights (Rodriguez del Barrio et al., 2014). The policy makers in mental health have a challenging task to protect the rights of individuals as well as the public (Swigger & Heinmiller, 2014). Therefore, it is essential to analyse the current mental health policies. In Canada, provinces adopt their own Mental Health Acts (MHA) to implement mental health services. As of January 15, 2016, there are 13 mental health acts in Canada (Gray, Hastings, Love, & O’Reilly, 2016). The key elements, despite the differences in laws, are “(1) involuntary admission criteria, (2) the right to refuse treatment, and (3) who has the authority to authorize treatment” (Browne, 2010). The current act in Ontario is Mental Health Act, 1990.

It has been reported that the number of people with mental disorder is increasing in our communities at an alarming rate. Environmental and social changes are among the most mentioned causes of the accelerating rate of mental illness in society (Häfner, 1985). Despite the prevalence, about one fifth of the adult population will battle with mental illness every year ("Facts and figures about mental illness," 2014) and the acknowledgement of authorities mental illness is still given less attention then is needed to treat the problem successfully. Health bodies need to be putting more resources into this area as

The negative stigma of mental health has lightened slightly over the years, however, it has not rescinded entirely. People still have an unmanageable time admitting that they may have a mental disorder and that they require assistance. Human beings struggle with these hindrances openly and also hidden on a daily basis. Therefore, our civilization needs to remove the shame associated with the treatment of mental disorders and work on devising a progressive suitable mental healthcare plan in order to ensure that many live a healthy, happy, and prosperous

Although about 450 million people in the world currently are suffering from a mental illness, many untreated, the topic still remains taboo in modern society (Mental Health). For years, people with mental illnesses have been shut away or institutionalized, and despite cultural progression in many areas, mental illnesses are still shamed and rarely brought to light outside of the psychiatric community. The many different forms in which mental illness can occur are incredibly prevalent in the world today, and there is a substantial debate about the way that they should be handled. Some people are of the opinion that mental illness is merely a variance in perception and that it either can be fixed through therapy or should not be treated at

Living in a rural area has some drawbacks but misconceptions as well. Urban living makes seeking specialized treatment physically and/or mentally easier to obtain and an individual can have multiple choices. With the advancement of technology, living in rural areas does not mean that consumers cannot have the same access. Transportation to mental health follow up appointments can be challenging for rural consumers especially the elderly. Therefore, access can be challenging but with the education of consumers and their families, today consumers have a choice of whether or not to seek mental health services. In the rural areas, there are many primary physicians. The primary physicians can be the catalysts for ensuring consumers that require mental health follow up continue their care. Like follow up for physical care, there is significant non-adherence to mental health follow up care.