Mental Health Policy Analysis of Pfeiffer 's Report

Research by the NIMH has been focused on developing the means to diagnose mental disorders early enough to enable prompt and effective intervention, preventing more serious, lasting illness. The benefits of early detection and treatment are widespread and enduring; for many, effective early intervention and treatment will enable them to learn, work, and engage in a fully productive life (NIMH,

In an effort to transform the public mental health system, in 1963, President Kennedy proposed the Community Mental Health Act. It was the first among several federal initiatives to create a community mental health care system. Once the act was ratified, there was an intense deterioration in institutionalization, otherwise known as “deinstitutionalization”, and by 1980 there was a 75% declined of the inpatient population at many public psychiatric hospitals. In 2000, there was less than 10% of the public institutionalized just fifty years earlier. In 2009, there was even a more dramatic shift among children and adolescence whereby there was a 98% decline in

As a whole, literature on the topic of mental illness in our country and specifically in our criminal justice system had a reoccurring theme. There are millions of individuals who suffer from mental illness but are improperly being handled through the criminal justice system. These individuals are deemed criminal just by their acts and their mental health state is not overly examine. Jails and prisons are being overcrowded. State prisons and jails are overpopulated anywhere from 15 to 32% (Spending Money in All the Wrong Places: Jails & Prisons).

In the video, “The New Asylums”, it demonstrated how deinstitutionalization has left thousands of mentally ill patients in the hands of the prison system. As the mental health hospitals closed down, the police department and prison system has become responsible for the mentally ill people that are on the streets. There was a firm point made about the release of mentally ill patients- “When hundreds of thousands of mentally ill are released, they do not magically become healthy. They went to the streets, became homeless, and turned to a system that cannot say no.” The video also stated that today, there are nearly 500,000 mentally ill people being held in jails and prisons throughout the country. Furthermore, there was no safety net for those

The community-based mental health programs are not only inadequate in relation to numbers, but also underfunded (Unite for Sight.org, 2013). According to Martin (1995), we live in a society that is increasingly becoming conscious of an excessive tax burden. Tax burden, on the other hand, provides for the realization of just how deinstitutionalization is directly related to politics and public policy. The pubic in America who account for the electorate, have a significant say in how policy is affected. To this extent the assumption in relation to deinstitutionalization is that due to increased public outcry in regards to taxation, the both federal and state governments have over the years been forced to cut down spending on some items in the recurring budget in order to free up additional funds. According to Treatment Advocacy Center (2011), the federal government in 1965 surgically excluded the payment of Medicaid for patients institutionalized in state psychiatric and other mental disorders institutions. The goals of this action, according to Treatment Advocacy Center (2011) was to foster deinstitutionalization, and the wading of care costs to sates, viewing them as largely responsible for mental care.

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

The United States criminal justice system has been continuously increasing incarceration among individuals who suffer from a sever mental illness. As of 2007 individuals with severe mental illness were over twice as likely to be found in prisons than in society (National Commission of Correctional Health Care, 2002, as cited in Litschge &Vaughn, 2009). The offenses that lead to their commitment in a criminal facility, in the majority of cases, derive from symptoms of their mental illness instead of deviant behavior. Our criminal justice system is failing those who would benefit more from the care of a psychiatric rehabilitation facility or psychiatric hospital by placing them in correctional facilities or prisons.

In 1946 President Harry Truman enacted the National Mental Health Act which provided federal funding for mental asylums (Scott, R. A. & Marks, I. M., 1990). Military veterans were the driving force behind this law and this was the first time that mental illness was getting the spotlight it desperately needed. During the war, our soldiers suffered from traumatic events that were treated moderately by psychiatrist and then they were sent back to the field. After receiving brief treatment, the soldiers were considered healed and upon returning home, the soldiers and their families quickly realized that they were not healed at all and needed more help. Harry Truman began the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to help our soldiers and other Americans who were suffering from mental illness. The NIMH was one of the founding programs of

In the book, Crazy, by Pete Earley, provides a detailed overview of the mental health system in the United States, as it presents a first hand narrative of Earley’s family journey through the system. The author’s major premise and arguments, in the book, is to highlight the history of mental health, navigation through the judicial system with mental illness, the bureaucracy and policies of hospitals, society views on human rights and client safety, and the impact on the individual, family, and community. The content suggests that human service workers and public health workers should extend their professional lens to advocate for change in the mental health system in the United States.

Attitudes toward the mentally ill started to change in the 60’s and 70’s from both the communities and professionals. The two began to recognize that the mentally ill had rights to live an independent life style like that of ordinary citizens. Before this, people with mental illness or developing disabilities had been institutionalized, giving strong medications, sedated and isolated from the rest of society. Living amongst the community, they receive their medication as well as interact with the general public. In addition, they also interact with security personnel and law enforcement officers, and all too frequently with unfortunate consequences. (Russell, 2012).

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

Senate (S.) 689 is the Mental Health Awareness and Improvement Act of 2013, which resanctions and increases critical behavioral health programs through superior federal education and healthcare programs related to awareness, early identification, and prevention of mental illness (The Library of Congress, 2013). United States Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) pioneered S. 689 on April 9, 2013 (The Library of Congress, 2013). There are 23 co-sponsors of the Mental Health Awareness and Improvement Act of 2013, including 14

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.

In today’s society there is a greater awareness of mental illnesses. With this greater awareness one might assume that there would be a substantial increase in government involvement or funding in the area of mental illness treatment. Unfortunately this isn’t the case in the U.S. today. There are hundreds of thousands of people with mental illness that go untreated. These potential patients go untreated for many reasons. These reasons are discussed in the Time article “Mental Health Reform: What Would it Really Take.

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.