Transcript Chapter 11
Chapter 11
Community Mental
Health
Introduction
• Mental illness – leading cause of disability in
North America and Europe
• ~20% of American adults have diagnosable
mental disorders during a given year
• Only 38% receive treatment
• Needs of people with mental illnesses diverse
• Services required to meet needs include
therapeutic and social services
Causes of Disability for All Ages
Definitions
• Mental health
• Mental illness
• all diagnosable mental disorders
• Mental disorders
• Health conditions characterized by alterations in
thinking, mood, or behavior associated with
distress and/or impaired functioning
Good Mental Health
• Adults with good mental health are able to:
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Function under adversity
Change or adapt to changes around them
Maintain control over their tension and anxiety
Find more satisfaction in giving than receiving
Show consideration for others
Curb hate and guilt
Love others
Classification of Mental Disorders
• Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5)
• Published by American Psychiatric Association
• Most influential book in mental health
• Classifies disorders based on behavioral signs
and symptoms rather than definitive tests or
measurements of brain or another body system
• Challenges to diagnosis include comorbidity
and lack of cultural competence
Causes of Mental Disorders
• Symptoms can arise from various causes:
• Poor prenatal care, postnatal environment,
genetics, environmental factors, brain function
impairment, substance abuse, maladaptive
family functioning, stress
• PTSD
Stress: A Contemporary Mental Health
Problem
• Stress – one’s psychological and physiological
response to stressors
• Stressors
• General adaptation syndrome
• Fight or flight reaction
• Diseases of adaptation
• Experts recommend combination of physical,
social, environmental, and psychological
approaches to managing stress
General Adaptation Syndrome
Mental Illness in the United States
• One of nation’s most pervasive health
problems
• Indicators of mental illness problem in
U.S.
• More people die of suicides than car
accidents
• High rates of alcohol, tobacco, and other
drug use
History of Mental Health Care in the
United States
• Response to mental illness characterized by
periods of enthusiastic reform followed by
periods of widespread ambivalence
Mental Health Care before World War
II
• Colonial America – people with mental illness
cared for by families or private caretakers
• Institutionalization first appeared in 18th
century
• Population growth led to institution growth
• Harsh treatments and unpleasant
conditions
The Moral Treatment Era
• Began in 1792
• Belief that environmental changes can affect
the mind and alter behavior
• Move people from settings causing life
stressors into rural, peaceful setting
• Appeared to have success and became widely
acceptable
The State Hospitals
• Supposed to provide therapeutic environment,
based on close personal relationships between
patients and well-trained staff
• Deterioration of services occurred as chronic
nature of mental illness was discovered; long
term or lifetime stays were the norm
• Maximum capacities quickly reached;
personalized care lost; restraints became more
practical; staff turnover high
The State Hospitals
• 1940, population in state mental institutions
was nearly a half million
• Staff case loads so large, only subsistence care
possible
• Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) introduced in
response
• Lobotomies practiced
• Appearance of new medications in 1950s made
widespread use unnecessary
Mental Health Care after World War II
• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
established
• To foster and aid research related to cause,
diagnosis, and treatment of neuropsychiatric
disorders
• To provide training and award fellowships and
grants for work in mental health
• To aid states in the prevention, diagnosis, and
treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders
Deinstitutionalization
• Deinstitutionalization – discharging of
thousands of patients from state mental
hospitals
• Propelled by economics, idealism, legal
considerations, and antipsychotic drugs
Community Mental Health Centers
• Mental Retardation Facilities and Community
Mental Health Centers Act
• Community mental health centers – fully
staffed centers originally funded by the federal
government providing comprehensive mental
health services to local populations
• Five core services
• Problem of transinstitutionalization
• Community Support Program
Mental Health Care Concerns in the
United States Today
• Experiences of people with serious mental
illness has improved significantly in past 50
years
• Challenges remain:
• How to provide services to the homeless
• Changing perception that mental illness is
linked to extreme violence
• Resolving problems of those with mental
illness who are incarcerated
Homelessness
• 2.1 million adults experience homelessness
over the course of a year
• 80% temporarily homeless, 10% episodically
homeless, 10% chronically homeless
• About half of all homeless adults have
substance use disorders, major depression and
other co-occurring mental illness
• Successful interventions include provision of
housing and services they need
Mental Illness and Violence
• Extreme violence relatively rare in people
with mental disorders
• Much of risk attributable to comorbid
factors
• What should be done to prevent violence
is unclear
• Constitutional issues related to individual
freedoms, privacy and other rights
Mental Health Care in Jails and Prisons
• More than half of all prison and jail inmates
have mental health problems
• Correctional facilities designed to confine and
punish, not to treat disease
• Lack space, adequate number of qualified
treatment personnel, and timely access to
services
• Once released back into community, more
likely to commit crime if untreated
Prevention
• Primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention
applicable to mental disorders
• Primary – reduces incidence of mental illness
and related problems
• Secondary – reduces prevalence by shortening
duration of episodes
• Tertiary – treatment and rehabilitation
Treatment Approaches
• Goals of treatment of mental disorders
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To reduce symptoms
To improve personal and social functioning
To develop and strengthen coping skills
To promote behaviors that make a person’s life
better
Psychopharmacology
• Psychopharmacological therapy – treatment
with medications
• Conditions for which medications exist
include: schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major
depression, anxiety, panic disorder, and
obsessive-compulsive disorder
• Other biomedical therapy – ECT
Psychotherapy
• Psychotherapy – treatment through verbal
communication
• Numerous approaches
• Cognitive-behavioral therapy
• More likely to be successful in less severe
cases or when used in conjunction with other
approaches
Technology
• Use of technology in treatment via telephone,
video conferencing, internet, email, computer
software
• Benefits
• Delivers flexible help directly to clients’ living
environments
• Lowers cost to patient
• Increases privacy of patient
• May reduce feelings of coerciveness
Psychiatric Rehabilitation
• Primary objective is most often recovery rather
than cure
• Psychiatric Rehabilitation – current recoveryoriented services
• Service include medication, therapy, adaptive
skills, changing environment through
accommodations at work or school
• Practices must be evidence-based
Self-Help Groups
• Self-help groups –concerned members of the
community who are united by a shared
interest, concern, or deficit not shared by other
members of the community
• National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
Challenges Facing Mental Health Care
in the United States
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Multiple services needed
Staff turnover relatively high
System is decentralized and fragmented
Lack of licensed providers in rural and lowincome counties
• Lack of cultural competence among providers
Government Policies and Mental
Health Care
• Following deinstitutionalization, government’s
role in funding and policy became substantial
• Medicaid
• Mental Health Parity and Addiction Act of
2008
• Parity – concept of equality in health care
coverage for people with mental illness and
those with other medical issues or injuries
The Affordable Care Act of 2010
• Medicaid coverage for individuals with mental
disorders grew
• Individuals with mental disorders
disproportionately benefit from coverage
expansions
• They tend to have lower incomes and less like
to be insured
• Communities may lack infrastructure to
adequately meet needs of newly insured
Discussion Questions
• How can community mental health centers
work to reach 100% of their territory in need?
• What role can schools play in supporting
mental health in children and adolescents?