Category Mental Health Reform

Is Obamacare Sunk?

Susan Weinstein, J.D.
Editor in Chief, Care for Your Mind

In a decision more political than legally sound, a judge in a U.S. District Court in Texas struck down the Affordable Care Act (ACA, also known as Obamacare) last week. (Download the 55-page decision.) In Texas v. U.S.A., Judge Reed O’Connor determined that when Congress removed the penalty for not having health insurance, it rendered the entire ACA statutory scheme invalid. However, knowing that the decision would be appealed, the judge left the ACA to function normally until it ran its course in the court system...

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Shared Decision Making – with Families – Yields Better Treatment Outcomes

Alison M. Heru, M.D.
Professor of Psychiatry, University
of Colorado Denver

In the NES Program at University of Colorado Health, a six-month program combining neurology and psychiatry treatment for non-epileptic or non-electrical seizures, psychiatrist Dr. Alison Heru makes shared decision making an integral part of practice.


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How Can Parents Help in Shared Decision Making?

Mother and daughter with doctor

Families for Depression Awareness for Care for Your Mind

Your teenager has
been diagnosed with a mood disorder and the clinician is talking with
her or him about treatment. What is your role as a parent in the
shared decision making model? How can you participate?


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Why You Deserve Shared Decision Making

John W. Williams Jr., MD
Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry, Duke University

As a patient, would you want your physician making healthcare decisions on your behalf without any regard for your personal preferences, values, or needs? If you’re like most people, you’d prefer to be involved in choosing the care that’s right for you. After all, it’s your body, your mind, your financial resources, and your life.


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The Why, Where, When, Who, and How of Mental Health Screening

Susan Weinstein
Editor-in-Chief, Care for Your Mind

October 11, 2018 marks National Depression Screening Day, a
prompt for people with concerns about their mental wellbeing to take advantage
of nearby in-person screening opportunities and get connected to local
resources. Participating in a screening day made all the difference for 25-year-old
Monica, whose mother told her to go take a screening or she’d take her there
herself.


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Mental Health Month: It’s Not About Shooters

Susan Weinstein, J.D.
Editor in Chief, Care for Your Mind

As Mental Health Awareness Month continues, we are again in the position of gun violence determining the conversation about mental illness. Friday’s deadly shooting at Santa Fe High School – where 10 people (2 teachers and 8 students aged 15-17) were killed and 13 were injured – shifted the conversation from raising awareness, cultivating understanding, and dispelling stigma to equating mental illness with violence. Reaction to this shooting shows how much work we still have to do.

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How Would You Fix Mental Health Care?

Capitol

Susan Weinstein, J.D.
Editor-in-Chief

Imagine that the Congressional powers-that-be came to you and said, “We really have to fix the mental health care system. What should we do?” What would you say? Which issues would you prioritize?

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Break Down the Silos, Work Together for Change

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”
Helen Keller

The mental health care system is notoriously divided into silos of narrow interests. Not only is mental health seen as distinct from physical health, and distinct from substance use disorders, but there is little collaboration – or even conversation – between and among people living with mental health conditions and their families, mental health care providers, professional associations, advocacy organizations, researchers, community health centers, hospital systems, and so on. This division works against our ability to effectively and collectively advocate for improvements to the mental health care system.

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