Mental Health Integration Paper

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Integration of Mental and Primary Health Systems
Joly Aziz
University of South Florida

“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and nor merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” This quote by the World Health Organization (2009) is applicable now more than ever, as mental illness is on the rise. According to the NCS-R, nearly 57.7 million Americans suffer from a diagnosable mental illness every year in other words that is approximately 26.2% of the entire adult American population. Moreover, 1 in 5 children also have a diagnosable mental illness. (Kessler,Chiu, Demler, Walters, 2005) With these staggering numbers one would hope that there is a structured system to support more than one fourth of the …show more content…
(Chapa, 2004) However, Charlotte Mullican said that studies show that “more than half of primary care doctors do not successfully refer patients to mental health professionals within the community.” This results in sometimes lack of diagnoses, mis-diagnoses, inadequate treatment, and inappropriate psychotropic medications and treatment plans. These statistics make the rising issues of primary and mental health integration an important and essential topic. In the following paper, I will introduce the history of mental health in the United States and its role in relation to the traditional medical care. I will then lay the groundwork for why integration of mental and primary health is extremely important, and how such an integration might look like by referring to some successful integrated healthcare facilities. However, as with any new idea, there are challenges, and the idea of the integration of metal and primary involves numerous challenges. …show more content…
On the social side, the first initial step that must be taken to achieve this change and the goal of integration must be the raised awareness of mental illnesses and its relationship with physical illness. The next step would be to alleviate the stigma which society associates with mental illness in hopes to clear a path for a more integrated system. Federally, there must be programs in place that provide incentives for doctors and mental health professionals to collaborate. There also needs to be more funding allocated towards the integration of primary and mental healthcare. Furthermore there needs to be more evidence based practices to present to the court, in hopes that this evidence might prove to encourage the courts to pass legislation in favor of the integrated system. But most importantly, before integration can occur, there must be reform within the mental health system itself. As the New Freedom Commission stated, “The mental health system is fragmented and in disarray… leading to unnecessary and costly disability, homelessness, school failure and incarceration.” (Hogan, 2003) In doing this it can provide a framework of care and action
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