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HereSince1628

(36,063 posts)
Fri Mar 22, 2013, 02:25 PM Mar 2013

3 Ways the American Mental Health System Has Fallen Apart

http://www.policymic.com/articles/30347/3-trends-that-have-crippled-our-nation-s-mental-health-system

Hetali Lodaya inScience, Public Health

Ever since Dorthea Dix’s clarion call for more attention to patients with mental illness, the United States has struggled to find the best way to serve a growing segment of our population – about 26.2% of individuals over the age of 18 have a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year.

There have been great successes, like Truman’s 1946 National Mental Health Act or the Americans with Disabilities Act, which finally put mental and physical illness on the same legal footing.

Three trends — de-institutionalization, budget cuts, and the unique state of mental health in the military — consistently plague our national mental health system.

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cbayer

(146,218 posts)
1. I guess lack of parity would fall under #2 and is, imo, the biggest problem.
Fri Mar 22, 2013, 02:27 PM
Mar 2013

Even Medicare doesn't cover psychiatric illness on par with other disorders and some insurance companies won't cover it at all.

fizzgig

(24,146 posts)
3. wouldn't that be a violation of the parity act?
Fri Mar 22, 2013, 02:31 PM
Mar 2013

i'm not familiar with the nuts and bolts, but it's my understanding that coverage for mental health and substance abuse is the be the same as 'physical' health.

cbayer

(146,218 posts)
5. Big holes in that act.
Fri Mar 22, 2013, 02:39 PM
Mar 2013

The biggest one is that there is no requirement that policies cover psych at all, so some plans just dropped it entirely or shipped it out to a separate company. However, Medicare did not do this and I think has finally achieved parity.

HereSince1628

(36,063 posts)
8. I suspect parity is in part a problem because of a thing going unnamed...
Fri Mar 22, 2013, 03:46 PM
Mar 2013

Many Americans don't accept that mental illness as something that is legitimately disease, but rather as weakness of character or even factious.

Another issue is the public's perception of division of labor constructed by the professions and enforced by training and licensing

Within that framework physicians and surgeons attend to the "real medical" problems

The not so serious and non-medical problems are handed off to chiropracters, pediatrists, optometrists and...psychological therapists.

That gets further complicated by social institutions such as town councils criminalizing 'disorderly' behaviors, and by belief systems that deny psychiatry as valid (Scientology being the most obvious, but not only example), and the pervasive culture of strength that sees mental illness as a character issue either as a weakness, a flaw, or both.

cbayer

(146,218 posts)
9. Agree with all of that.
Fri Mar 22, 2013, 03:50 PM
Mar 2013

It is very easy to marginalize those with psychiatric illness. No ribbons. No marches. No armbands.

fizzgig

(24,146 posts)
2. we have done our troops a great disservice when it comes to mental health
Fri Mar 22, 2013, 02:28 PM
Mar 2013

funding for treatment needs to be increased across the board but, unfortunately, it is rarely a priority.

cbayer

(146,218 posts)
7. Besides the stigma, there is a increasingly severe shortage of mental health
Fri Mar 22, 2013, 02:49 PM
Mar 2013

professionals within the VA system to evaluate and treat these people.

A shameful national tragedy.

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