Inadequacy Of The United States Mental Health Care System

The lack of treatment for mental illnesses — due partly from the stigma with which it is associated with — comes with a number of public issues: economically,

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).

Mental health in America is a stigmatized topic that affects nearly 20% of the population and around 1 in 4 people will be affected by a mental illness at some point in their life (World Health Organization, 2010). However, due to the stigma behind mental health, people often do not seek treatment. As for the homeless population, the rates are much higher, with 1 in 4 homeless individuals living with a severe mental illness (Jasinski, Wesely, Mustaine, & Wright, 2005). These people and this population struggles to receive adequate healthcare, but with the enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or better known as ObamaCare, there have been positive change made to help these individuals. However, the ACA is not perfect and there are

Problem Statement: The World Health Association defines ‘good’ health as: “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” However, in the United States, access to care and funding for mental health care are grossly neglected and underfunded in comparison to other aspects of health care.

As discussed in class, little advancement has been made in the field of mental health care over the past two decades. Rates of mental illness continue to be high especially among certain subgroups, but progress has been stunted by stigma and social environmental issues. Mental health disparities, like many other health disparities, are embedded within a trend of socioeconomic differences (Miranda, McGuire, Williams, & Wang, 2008). Racial and class disparities exist among those afflicted

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.

What is left is that we have many citizens who are mentally ill and are not receiving treatment. However the patients who are able to receive treatment are only able to have some treatment covered. Health insurers are responsible for covering the immensely large cost of substantial treatment, a mixture of medication and therapy; since therapy is highly priced, less reliable, and time consuming; patients typically do not receive treatment for therapy. Health insurers would much rather cover medication because it is cheaper, it heals patients faster, and it is more reliable than therapy. However, medication is not made to heal, but to only coax symptoms of a mental illness (Sandberg).

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

About 75-80 million people in the United States are mentally ill to some extent (For the Mentally Ill, Finding Treatment Grows Harder). Many people are unaware of the treatments for the mentally ill and how few resources are available. Yes, if society looks from where society has come with the development of treatments, it has come a long ways. There is still more knowledge to be uncovered to ensure the United States gives the mentally ill care equal to what the United States gives the physically ill. Even though research has advanced immensely in the understanding of sanity vs. insanity, the United States needs to do more for those who are mentally ill through diagnosis and aid.

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.

If this country is about greatness, then in conclusion everyone must strive to improve the mental wellness of others by trying to fix the American mental health care system that is without a doubt failing the mentally ill. It is evident that the mental healthcare is failing the mentally ill, because the Affordable Care Act is actually struggling to provide mental health coverage. Second, mentally ill patients are being given an unnecessary amount of drugs and that actually creates more harm than helping. Lastly, the mentally ill are being thrown into prisons and jails. If not, they are left homeless on the streets; and the main root cause of this problem is because of psychiatric hospitals closing and the failure of mental health officials.

Lack of access to mental health care and treatment is one of the top ten reasons that many mental health conditions go untreated. Many private and group health insurance plans only include minimal mental health care coverage or do not incorporate mental health care coverage at all. Over half of adult citizens of the United States of America, who possess a mental illness, do not obtain mental health care treatment. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, one out of every five adults in America have endured their own mental health difficulty, and one out of every twenty-five American adults suffer from a severe mental illness, such as major depression, schizophrenia, or bipolar disorder. (Top 5 Barriers to Mental Healthcare Access, Social Solutions.com, 2017)

Access to mental health care is not as good as than other forms of medical services. Some Americans have reduced access to mental health care amenities because they are living in a countryside setting. Others cannot get to treatment for the reason of shortage of transportation or vast work and household tasks. In some areas, when a

United States have definitely failed on the their responsibility to provide adequate spaces for people with mental health issues. No one should have to be denied treatment because the facility or the hospital they choose to go to doesn't have enough bed to serve patients that need care. People with severe mental illness can no be taken as a joke as some can harm themself or the people around them. We must take in account of the story of what happened to Virginia State Senator Deeds and his son. Just because Deeds want to help his son and get him treated Gus tried to kill his father but instead in the end took his own life. That could of been avoid if the hospital they went to earlier took Gus in when he need help.

The Mental Health Care system is really important to our society. What might happen if the workforce in the Mental Health System didn 't meet the qualifications to support the mentally ill? It means thousands of people with mental health problems are at risk of not getting the urgent care in emergencies because of a lack in staff and supplies. For the most part America has a better control on their Mental Health Care System, but it is a whole different story in the United Kingdom. One thousand people who had experienced a mental health crisis in the last five years located in the UK were interviewed and asked “If they had felt they received all the support they needed in their emergency?” Only fourteen percent said yes to this interview conducted by one of the National Health Services (NHS) Mental Health trusts. Trust retain their operational responsibly for acute and primary care services, so in other words England’s Mental Health Care System can make as many mistakes as they want and not get sued for them. We talked about the United Kingdom not having enough qualifications to work with the mentally ill, now lets get more information on these workers and their schooling. In Britain to get a doctorate 's degree for Psychology it only takes 3 to 5 years and that is including the little training you need. As for schooling in America for a Doctorate 's degree for Psychology it will take you at least 6 to 8 years and that is not including the formal training and supervised