The Present Mental Health System

The Present Mental Health System

Mental health illnesses remain a global concern. Fulone et al. (2021) report that mental health illnesses presently cause one in five years of disability, with close to 20% of children and teenagers having a mental health condition. The mental health system in the country is broken. The history of mental health care in the country has seen considerable transformations. Recently, intense awareness of these illnesses coupled with governmental and care groups’ efforts to improve welfare has seen significant improvement in mental health care. The deinstitutionalized movements depicted in the movie segments presented an opportunity to improve the quality of psychiatric care. As Mongelli et al. (2020) report, the deinstitutionalized movement produced a paradigm shift in psychiatric care by reforming mental health illnesses care and support and establishing special services to lessen dependency and other behaviors that made these patients find difficulties in adjusting to life outside these institutions.

However, the shift to community-based care upon the implementation of deinstitutionalization presented yet another challenge in meeting clients’ needs. With restricted resources and a ballooning number of patients with severe mental health illnesses, considerable strains are felt in these care institutions. Their benefits in providing care notwithstanding, community-based care is unable to adequately meet the demands of severely mentally ill patients, with the burden of their care provision being shelved by their families and relatives (Mongelli et al., 2020). This casts questions on the overall mental health systems in the country and unearths gaps in psychiatric care. The lack of proper and uniformly coordinated care provision for patients with mental health illnesses that is characteristic in the country may be a contributing factor to this dysfunctionality (Coombs et al., 2021). With the care system in the country being a free market system, federal efforts to ensure comprehensive psychiatric care may just be falling short of yielding the required benefits due to the fragmented administration of psychiatric care.

References

Coombs, N. C., Meriwether, W. E., Caringi, J., & Newcomer, S. R. (2021). Barriers to healthcare access among U.S. adults with mental health challenges: A population-based study. SSM – Population Health, 15, 100847. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2021.100847.

Fulone, I., Barreto, J. O., Barberato-Filho, S., Bergamaschi, C. de, Silva, M. T., & Lopes, L. C. (2021). Improving care for deinstitutionalized people with mental disorders: Experiences of the use of knowledge translation tools. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.575108.

Mongelli, F., Georgakopoulos, P., & Pato, M. T. (2020). Challenges and opportunities to meet the mental health needs of underserved and disenfranchised populations in the United States. FOCUS, 18(1), 16–24. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.focus.20190028.

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Module 01 Discussion – The Present Mental Health System
Discussion Topic

Activity Time:

3 hours

Directions:

View the two videos linked below, then answer the discussion question provided.

From the timeline, you are aware that in the 1960s, it was decided that the mentally ill should be provided care/treatment in their communities. This video will explain this process in greater detail.

The Present Mental Health System

Deinstitutionalization Movement
https://fod-infobase-com.ezproxy.rasmussen.edu/p_ViewVideo.aspx?xtid=32651&loid=28391

This is another segment of the same movie, explaining how communities in different states were unable to meet client needs. As a result, many became homeless at that time, and many with a mental health disorder are homeless today.

The Homeless Mentally Ill
https://fod-infobase-com.ezproxy.rasmussen.edu/p_ViewVideo.aspx?xtid=32651&loid=28392

Initial Post
Do you think the mental health system in our country today functions well, or is it broken? Why or why not?

Support your choice with at least two examples and one credible resource.

Response Posts

Explain why you agree or disagree with at least two other classmates’ responses.
Provide at least two examples and one credible resource to support each response.

Resources

Library News Database

Please make your initial post by midweek and respond to at least two other students’ posts by the end of the week. Please check the Course Calendar for specifics.