mental health screening tagged posts

Faster and Easier Approaches for Improving Patients’ Depression Treatment Outcomes

Michael E. Thase, M.D.

Michael E. Thase, M.D.
Professor of Psychiatry
Director, Mood and Anxiety Disorders Treatment and Research Program
University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine

Depression affects more than 15 million Americans and it’s the leading underlying factor for people who attempt suicide. Only half of Americans diagnosed with major depression receive treatment. Because earlier diagnosis and treatment improve outcomes, mental health screenings should be a top priority.

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What’s the State of Your State’s Mental Health and Care?

Theresa Nguyen

Theresa Nguyen, LCSW, Vice President of Policy and Programs
Mental Health America

If you have a mental health problem and you are young – or you live in Nevada, Mississippi, or Alabama – chances are you are going to have, or have already faced, incredible difficulty getting the support you need.

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It’s About Mental Health, America

Paul Gionfriddo
President and CEO, Mental Health America

I became President and CEO of Mental Health America on May 1, honored by the opportunity to work with so many wonderful advocates on behalf of people with concern for mental health. At Mental Health America, our goal is:

  • prevention for all
  • early identification and intervention for those at risk
  • integrated health and behavioral health services for those who need them, and
  • recovery as a goal

Changing the treatment paradigm
For too long, policymakers and some advocates have been mired in what I call Stage 4 thinking. They have accepted the largely false premise that mental health concerns and violence are intertwined. They have accepted “imminent danger to self or others” as a standard for diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses.

But as I have said repeatedly, mental illnesses are the only chronic conditions that we treat this way. They are the only chronic conditions where, as a matter of public policy, we wait until Stage 4 to treat, and then often only through incarceration.

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Can Erasing Stigma Lead to Earlier Acceptance of Treatment?

steve
Today, on National Depression Screening Day, CFYM reader, Steve, shares his story of emerging from depression onto a new life path of mental health advocacy. Erasing the social stigma of depressive disorders, he believes, will pave the way to earlier use of depression screenings and encourage people to seek and accept treatment.

After a distinguished career in the Navy, I was proud to join the public sector utilizing the immeasurable discipline and knowledge I had acquired serving in our country’s military. I enrolled in a rigorous doctor of education program at Vanderbilt University with an emphasis in Human Resource Development. I was well on the way to establishing a name for myself as an independent management consultant, focusing on organizational development, prospective employee screening, and middle-management development.

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