Mental Health Act Of 1963 Essay

In 1965, there was a histrionic change in the method that mental health care was delivered in the United States. The focus went from State Mental Hospitals to outpatient settings for the treatment of mental health issues. With the passing of Medicaid, States were encouraged to move patients out of the hospital setting (Pan, 2013). This process failed miserably due to under funding and understaffing for the amout of patients that were released from the State Mental Hospitals. This resulted in patients, as well as their families, who were in dire need of mental health services. This population turned to either incarceration (jails and/or prisons) or emergency departments as a primary source of care for their loved ones.

The historical concerns of the past bill Is that America keeps pushing our mentally ill individuals into jail and prison cells denying them the care they need. Psychiatric hospitals that no longer exist were one of the places where the mentally ill were able to find competent care that society deemed unnecessary while numerous people safely housed in these institutions have been booted out in the streets with nowhere to go. Loved ones of the mentally ill in the past have not been able to get any information about them due to privacy restrictions, not about their care or treatment. Locking mentally ill people in jail or prisons was not solving the problem because once their jail time was over they were back on the streets once more.

Most people with mental illness can and do seek out treatment for their condition. The Mental Health Act is concerned with the small number of persons who cannot or who do not seek out treatment.

This implied the conventional shelter was left with less long haul patients to look after – understanding numbers diminished from more than 150,00 in 1950 to 80,000 in 1975. The second purpose behind the conclusion of the mental doctor's facilities was the death of the Mental Health Act 1983 – this saw the general population being focused on the extensive refuges being given back their full rights and being able to advance their confirmation; it likewise saw the rationally lacking being moved once again into the group under the consideration in group ventures.

The aim of this act is to treat vulnerable adult ’s right in order to protect them no matter how they are behaving and what type of illness they actually have. It also helps vulnerable people to not get abused just because of their rights. Mental Capacity Act 2005 The Mental Capacity Act is a type of act which was created in 2005.

An interesting finding by Huskamp and Iglehart (2016) is that between the Mental Health Parity Act (MHPA) and the Affordable Care Act (ACA), there should be a rise in people with mental illness seeking services, however, services are underutilized more than ever (Huskamp & Iglehart, 2016). According to Bendant (2014), in 2013 a total of 47 million people uninsured and 25% of those suffer mental illness (Bendant, 2014). These numbers are staggering for a service that is more inclusive now more than ever. The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) site indicates that the MHPA is regulated differently depending on the state (CMS, n. d.). The Department of Labor (DOL) has identified a few problems with the MHPA and addressed these issues to Congress via a 2017 report (DOL, n.

As Americans it becomes natural to undermine those with a mental illness. As a fact, many adults and children deal with mental illness each and everyday. There are many stories that have been told to Americans about depression, anxiety, along with bipolar disorders, with the outcome usually being a negative consequence. For the 1 in every 5 citizens that deal with a mental illness each year. Americans have neglected the fact that many adults and children deal with mental issue(s), the citizens that refrain from getting help; their well being can suffer detrimental effects, there is not a lot of awareness either taught in school, or in public perspectives, American’s stigma has perfected their

Because states needed Medicaid reimbursement from the federal government, they had no option but to transfer patients with mental diseases from state hospitals to nursing homes and community psychiatric facilities. It is these alternative

Kennedy signed the Community Mental Health Centers Act of 1963, which provided $150 million for new mental health center programs. Enactment of the act culminated Kennedy’s pursuit of reform of the national mental health system, which he had a personal stake in. His sister, Rosemary had received a prefrontal lobotomy at age 23. In 1955, when Kennedy was senator, he sponsored the Mental Health Study Act. This act which assigned a joint commission to create detailed assessments of mental health care and the effect mental illness had on American society. The study advised a new role for state hospitals as intensive treatment sites that would be much smaller in size, As president in 1963, Kennedy presented a special message to Congress that detailed the need for new mental health legislation. Kennedy stated that 600,000 people in private and public mental institutions at the time were affected by the harsh conditions of the institutions and hospitals on a daily basis. Kennedy argued that because of the benefits of new psychotropic drugs, people with mental illness could live in more natural community settings. Kennedy suggested Congress allocate funds to train more mental health professionals, to build more programs and facilities and to continue research. His goal was to reduce by 50 percent the number of patients in state mental hospitals in 10 to 20 years, according to Rochefort. As a result of Kennedy's legislation, the

The Mental Health Services Act is designed to accumulate and distribute funds to county mental health programs (upon program plan approval). There are five different areas that the act helps with funding in mental health. The first is Community Services & Support (CSS) which helps fund the pairing of mental health care with primary health care settings. CSS also provides mental health support services to people that aren’t able to receive the services elsewhere (Dchs.ca.gov 2015). CSS has some main objectives including reduction of homelessness, justice and child welfare system

In 1955, over 559,000 individuals resided in inpatient psychiatric hospitals. By 1995, however, the number had drastically diminished to 69,000, (National Health Policy Forum, 2000). This drastic reduction was largely due to the discovery of antipsychotic medications in the 1950s, and the deinstitutionalization movement of the 1960s, wherein several thousands of mentally ill individuals were released from psychiatric institutions to return to their communities for treatment. Mental health centers (MHCs) were conceptualized during deinstitutionalization to provide treatment to these newly-released mentally ill persons in their communities. Although efforts were well-intended, the MHCs failed to serve the

Most of those admitted to state psychiatric hospitals come from the Criminal Justice System. There is currently a shortage of beds and staff in psychiatric hospitals, causing serious problems. Severely mentally ill people charged with crimes are being sent to jail instead of getting the treatment they need, and employees are getting injured. Funding should be increased for the state mental health facilities so that these issues can be fixed.

Senator Creigh Deeds story is just one of many that end in tragedy because of a mental health system that has failed. While the major proportion of people living with mental illness are not violent, they can become a victim of violence. According to the latest statistics from the American Psychological Association one in five adults has a diagnosable mental disorder, one in twenty-four has a serious mental disorder (SMI), and people with mental illness are no more likely to be violent that people without mental illness (Association, American Psychiatric, 2016). Untreated mental health care is characteristic of the violent crimes that we see happening today. Some of the reasons behind these untreated individuals are the unmet needs of people not having a financial means to pay for services, lack of insurance, knowledge about how to access care, embarrassment about having the need for services, and those that needed care but experienced delays in accessing care (Jones et al., 2014).

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.

The mental health act is an act design to protect people with mental illness. It was originally written in 1983 and reformed in 2007. It sets out clear guidance for a health professional when a person may need to be taken into compulsorily detained in a hospital. This is known as sectioning. This helps carers who are unable to cope without help. People can be sectioned if the health care profession thinks they are a danger to themselves, they are a danger to another person or in danger of abuse from another person. The health professionals have a duty of care to the patient who is mentally ill. They must provide get the right treatment and to give them and their families the right information. The act gives rights to