Severe Psychiatric Disorders Go Untreated

Americans are now spending billions of dollars on psychiatric medications but according to Frances “We are ignoring the people who have severe psychiatric illness; so that, one-third of people with severe depression see a mental health clinician, two-thirds don’t. Two-thirds of people with severe depression get no treatment at all. At the same time, we’re way over-diagnosing people who have milder problems that would get better on their own.” Diagnosis can cause more harm than good when not really needed. We are over-treating those who don’t need treatment, while neglecting those who do.

The first obstacle that must be overcome when Appalachians want to get help for mental health issues is the lack of access to mental health professionals. While there are mental health treatment options available, they are mainly located in the more urban areas of the region (Susan Emily Keefe, Appalachia’s Children). All too often, people are unaware of the services available to them for the treatment of mental health disorders. Even if they do possess knowledge of what is available, it may not be feasible to get to these services. Many of the residents may not have insurance or the financial capabilities necessary to pay for treatment. Because the

Across the country, a steady increase has been noted in the number of patients presenting to emergency departments for psychiatric complaints (Zun, 2014). Patients also attempt to use their primary care doctors to treat their mental illnesses. The mental health care options for these patients are extremely limited, especially for minority populations such as African Americans and Hispanics. One out of four adults in America suffers from some form of mental illness, yet only one out of three of those affected receives treatment (Safran, 2009). Furthermore, patients are routinely misdiagnosed, receive poor quality of care, receive care from providers who have no understanding of their cultures and values, or are not even able to receive care in the first place (Sanchez, 2012).

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.

Mental health policymakers overlooked the difficulty of finding resources to meet the needs of a marginalized group of people living in scattered sites in the community. Implications of changes in financing will need to be measured and unsuspected responses should be assessed promptly when they occur. A shortage of community resources will eventually mean that it may be necessary to preserve institutional beds primarily until community care is expanded. Structure in an important consumer role in policymaking, monitoring and evaluation has proven to be a valuable source of input in mental health policy advocacy. Particularly in politics who review the demographic pressure on long-term care services establishments. Deinstitutionalization accelerated nationwide due to the federal government in the late 1960s and 1970s. During this time Medicaid and Medicare were created with coverage for a range of services including components of the mental health field. Supplemental Security Income also made an appearance for the mentally ill. (Koyanagi, 2007)

Oregon has a shortage of mental health clinicians and prescribers resulting in inadequate access to mental health services. Oregon has 90 designated Mental Health Care Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSA) (Kaiser Family Foundation [KFF], 2016). However, this data does not include Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners. The Portland Metropolitan Area, comprised of Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties is not designated as a Mental Health Care HPSA (Oregon Health Authority [OHA], 2013). In Oregon, Psychiatrists, Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioners (PMHNP) and Physician Assistants are able to prescribe psychiatric medications. As of 2014, the entire state had 964 behavioral/mental health prescribers (Oregon Health

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.

Response: In today's society, it is apparent that we are facing a mental health crisis. The lack of mental health care has had disastrous effects on this Nation. To address the issue, our society must first concern ourselves with how ordinary people pay for mental health care. The way people pay for mental health services today is not sufficient. Most states have laws in place making it a requirement for insurance companies to provide mental health care. However, because health care providers create limits on how many mental health professionals are on their panel, and thanks to the inordinate amount of people seeking care, health providers purposefully make it difficult to acquire mental health care in order to save money. This intern means that people seeking mental health care often do so at their own monetary expense.

In the United States, there are 25% of adults who are diagnosed with a mental illness and it is predicted that 50% of the adult population will develop a mental illness within their lifetime; 8-9% of the adult population in Florida is diagnosed with depression (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011). Promotion, awareness, and the availability of mental health services are public health areas in my community that needs attention. The needs of my community are not entirely met, and there are inconsistencies when addressing mental health illness through mental health screenings and routine/follow up appointments. There are some people who are not getting the necessary medical attention, and are therefore are unproductive and unaware of where they can help and what help is actually available to them. The number of adults that report that they have good mental health has decreased since the last Orange County community health assessment of 2007-2010; over 30% of the population ranks their overall mental health as good, fair, or poor, with the severely mentally ill accounting for almost 2400 members of our homeless population (FloridaHealth.gov, 2012). 30 % of the population may seem like a small number when it compares to the other 70 percent of individuals who reported having great to excellent mental health, but I think more can be done to meet the needs of the 30%.

The United States has one of the highest percent of mental illness in the world. According to “Transformation Prescribed for Mental Health Care in the USA” by Desmond Avery, “In any given year, 5-7% of all American adults have a serious mental illness, and 5-9% of all children have a serious emotional disturbance.” (Avery 695). These are staggering numbers, at this rate, some form of mental illness effects nearly every family in America. The U.S. on average spends about 113 billion dollars on mental care each year. This puts them right with other developed countries on spending, however, a clear majority of that spending goes to keeping the mentally ill medicated, instead of counseling or rehabilitation. More of American spending goes to prescription drugs than any other country in the world. Another issue with American mental healthcare is that mental health professionals are far scarcer than any other type of medical professional. Mental health care is also extremely expensive in the United States. Many people who cannot afford premium insurance are not subject to the best treatment available, or are not properly treated at all. With all these factors, mental health patients in the United states are not getting the treatment they need. Many go completely untreated. With many issues associated with healthcare in the United States, there seems to be no solution in

The county has assessed this need for the past several years by providing individuals to have access to a mental health services through Medi-Cal. They provide a booklet with important information including telephone numbers to access hotlines to mental institutions within the cities in the county and they also provide information regarding attaining mental health plan services within the

Mental Illnesses have plagued our society for centuries. In fact, it is a more common disease than people realize, “Approximately 1 in 5 adults in the U.S.—43.8 million, or 18.5%—experiences mental illness in a given year.” (Nami, org). Despite the prevalence of mental illnesses, the stigmas associated with them are still very strong to this day, this is a result of the deinstitutionalization of mental healthcare facilities. Many Americans who suffer from mental Illness do not receive treatment, “Only 41% of adults in the U.S. with a mental health condition received mental health services in the past year. Among adults with a serious mental illness, 62.9% received mental health services in the past year”

Major obstacles to accessing health services found in the literature include: the lack of medical coverage, the significant challenges in the recruitment and retention of suitably qualified staff, the absence of public (or reliable private) transportation, lack of childcare, limited flexibility in work schedules, and lengthy waiting lists for mental health services (Boyd, Hayes, Rhonda, & Bearsley-Smith, 2008; Cartreine, Ahern, & Locke, 2010; Feil et al., 2008; Griffiths et al., 2009). In addition, psychological barriers to mental health service utilization also pose significant difficulties for some families. In particular, concerns about confidentiality, lack of privacy, dual relationships, perceived lack of helpfulness of care providers,

Poor integration of mental health into the Primary health care facilities due to lack of trained professionals with an estimate of 3,500 psychiatrists for 1 billion population (Das and Leibowitz, 2011).

There are currently 149 counties in Georgia that have a severe lack of mental health care providers. The ratio is a startling 1:30,000 of providers to population (Mental Health America of Georgia, n.d.). Those of us at MHAG believe that working on student loan forgiveness for mental health professionals in the Georgia areas would provide a type of incentive to encourage more people to join the mental health field in these areas. Psychiatrists and psychologists are the most highly trained mental health professionals, which means more money has to be spent to be a psychiatrist or psychologist. The National Health Service Corps (NHSC) is a loan repayment program that focuses on offering financial incentives to attract health care professionals to underserved areas.