Mental health affects us all. How we think and feel about our lives and ourselves has an impact on our behavior and how we cope in tough times. Mental health illness include conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, anorexia, anxiety, bi-polar disorder, bulimia, depression, hyperactivity, insomnia, mania, narcolepsy, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), panic attacks, paranoia, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), schizophrenia, stress, suicide and Tourette’s.
The timeline of mental health policy in the United States is a representation of the ways in which trends in psychiatry and cultural understanding of mental illness influence national policy and attitudes towards mental health. The United States is considered to have a relatively progressive mental health care system and the history of its evolution. 5th century B. C “Many cultures have viewed mental health illness as a form of religious punishment or demonic possession. In ancient Egyptian, Indian, Greek, and Roman writings, mental illness was categorized as a religious or personal problem” (Knapp & etc. 2011). Hippocrates was a pioneer in 2 Running head:
HEALTH POLICY DETEMINANTS TIMELINE treating mentally ill people with techniques not rooted in religion or superstition; instead, he focused on changing a mentally ill patient’s environment or occupation, or administering certain substances as medications. 1800s In the 1840s, activist Dorothea Dix lobbied for better living conditions for the mentally ill after witnessing the dangerous and unhealthy conditions in which many patients lived. Over a 40-year period, Dix successfully persuaded the U. S. government to fund the building of 32 state psychiatric hospitals.
This institutional inpatient care model, in which many patients lived in hospitals and were treated by professional staff, was considered the most effective way to care for the mentally ill. Families and communities struggling to care for mentally ill relatives also welcomed institutionalization. Although institutionalized care increased patient access to mental health services, the state hospitals were often underfunded and understaffed, and the institutional care system drew harsh criticism following a number of high-profile reports of poor living conditions and human rights violations.
Early 1990s 3 Running head: HEALTH POLICY DETEMINANTS TIMELINE Mental Health America (MHA), originally founded by Clifford Beers in 1909 as the National Committee for Mental Hygiene, works to improve the lives of the mentally ill in the United States through research and lobbying efforts. A number of governmental initiatives have also helped improve the U. S. mental healthcare system. 1946 Harry Truman passed the National Mental Health Act on July of 1946, which created the National Institute of Mental Health (NIH).
Allocated government funds towards research into the causes of and treatments for mental illness. By the mid-1950s, a push for deinstitutionalization and outpatient treatment began in many countries, facilitated by the development of a variety of antipsychotic drugs. Deinstitutionalization efforts have reflected a largely international movement to reform the “asylum-based” mental health care system and move toward community-oriented care, based on the belief that psychiatric patients would have a higher quality of life if treated in their communities rather than in large, undifferentiated, and isolated mental hospitals. 1963 4 Running head: HEALTH POLICY DETEMINANTS TIMELINE.
In October of 1963 Congress passed the Community Mental Health Act (CMHA) or fully known as Mental Retardation Facilities and Community Health Centers Construction Act, which provided federal funding for the development of community-based mental health services. Many patients, formerly warehoused in institutions, were released into the community. However, not all communities had the facilities or expertise to deal with them. In many cases, patients wound up in adult homes or with their families, or homeless in large cities, but without the mental health care they needed.
The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill was founded in 1979 to provide support, education, advocacy, and research services for people with serious psychiatric illnesses. 1996 The Mental Health Parity Act (MHPA) signed into United States law on September of 1996, that requires annual or lifetime dollar limits on mental health benefits be no lower than any such dollar limits for medical and surgical benefits offered by a group health plan or health insurance issuer offering coverage in connection with a group health plan. 2008 5 Running head: HEALTH POLICY DETEMINANTS TIMELINE.
In conjunction of the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996, the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) were enacted in October. “The main purpose of MHPAEA was to fill the loopholes left by the MHPA” (Martinez-Leal & etc, 20011). The act requires health insurers as well as group health plans to guarantee that financial requirements on benefits, including co-pays, deductibles, out- of-pocket maximums, and limitations on treatment benefits such as caps on visits with a provider or days in a hospital visit, for mental health orsubstance use disorders are not more restrictive than the insurer’s requirements and restrictions for medical and surgical benefits.
Conclusion Implementation of mental health policy in the United States shows improvement on the care of service for mental illness people. As we see today mental illness affects family and loves one, which mental illness are taking upon themselves on committing criminal behavioral actions. United States government is improving on the quality of care for mental illness people in created facilities, housing, and community-based centers.
Having health insurance plan to guarantee financial coverage to mental illness population. As the progression of mental health, health care plans need to 6 Running head:
HEALTH POLICY DETEMINANTS TIMELINE provide quality service to mental illness population and not take advantage of the mental illness population. Hopefully the government increases the budget on mental health service in the United States. Reference Knapp, M. , Beecham, J. , McDaid, D. , Matosevic, T. , Smith, M. (2011). The economic consequences of deinstitutionalisation of mental health services: lessons from a systematic review of European experience.
Health and Social Care in the Community, 19(2): 113-125. Martinez-Leal, R. , Salvador-Carulla, L. , Linehan, C. , Walsh, P. , Weber, G. , Van Hove, G. , Maatta, T. , Azema, B. , Haveman, M. , Buono, S. , Germanavicius, A. , van Schrojenstein LAntman-de Valk, H. , Tossebro, J. , Carmen-Cara, A. , Berger, D. M. , Perry, J. , Kerr, M. (2011). The impact of living arrangements and deinstitutionalisation in the health status of persons with intellectual disability in Europe. J Intellect Disabil Res, 55(9): 858-872. Adapted from PBS Online’s “Timeline: Treatments for Mental Illness”. Retrieved August 3, 2015.