Category Mental Health Reform

Patient-Centered Outcomes Pave the Road to Wellness

A suicide attempt during her junior year in college brought Jennifer back home to live with her parents where she chose to participate in a mood disorder partial hospitalization program (PHP). Her treatment plan included group therapy and peer support services at the PHP and appointments with a psychiatrist. Through this coordinated mental health care, she and her support team accepted a bipolar II disorder diagnosis. Jennifer identified to her care team that her end-goal was to return to the university she had left and graduate.

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Through the Eyes of the Patient

mood network

Roberta Tovey
Director of Communications, MoodNetwork

The concept of patient-centered care is not, on the face of it, a very complicated one. Nor is it new: developed in the 1980s, and based on the famous psychiatrist Carl Rogers’ humanistic approach to psychotherapy in the 1950s and ’60s, it has been widely promulgated in modern healthcare theory and has been the credo of family practice medicine for decades. Nevertheless, patient-centered care has turned out to be harder to implement than to describe, and is still not incorporated into most medical practices. This is especially true of the area of mental health.

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Help Ensure Mental Health Services for Victims of Intimate Partner Violence

Part 1 of the series on the special mental health needs of victims of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) explained the relationship between IPV, depression, and an increased risk of suicide. In Part 2 CFYM provides actionable steps readers can take to address the disparity of services.

Robin Axelrod Sabag, LCSW, MFT
Jewish Family & Children’s Service

Even women in abusive relationships who do not have a pre-existing mental health issue may find it difficult to leave the relationship...

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Intimate Partner Violence Presents Special Mental Health Concerns

Research reveals there is a strong relationship between being a victim of intimate partner violence (IPV) – defined as physical, sexual or psychological harm and depressive disorders. This research conducted as part of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 showed that experiencing IPV nearly doubled a woman’s risk for subsequently reporting symptoms of depression. More alarming women reporting IPV incident depression were at a higher risk for attempted suicides. In a two-part series, CFYM examines IPV and provides recommendations for self and legislative advocacy.

Robin Axelrod Sabag, LCS...

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Live! How to Fix Our Mental Health Care System

Allen Doederlein
President, Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA)

On this Thursday, February 26, I’m excited to participate as a panel member in a mental health policy briefing, Fixing America’s Mental Healthcare System, in Washington, DC, hosted by The Hill. At this important event, we’ll discuss how our nation’s broken system impacts those with a mental health condition, their families, workplaces, and broader communities. We’ll also discuss potential solutions to this crisis. I will be sharing my views as both a patient as well as a representative of all of our DBSA members and families.

Attend the event
For those in DC, register to attend the event! If you can’t be there in person, watch the livestream starting at 8:30 AM EST on Thursday, February 26.

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Tragic California Case Exposes Failings in Our Mental Health Care System

Rusty Selix
Executive Director, Legislative Advocate
California Council of Community Mental Health

In April 2012, Fred Paroutaud, a California man with no history of mental illness, experienced a psychotic episode. Mr. Paroutaud was hospitalized and diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Just 72 hours after he was admitted, and despite the fact that he was still experiencing hallucinations, he was discharged and referred to outpatient group therapy. Because his condition remained unstable he requested alternate therapy and one-on-one sessions with a psychiatrist. He was denied both by his health plan and his condition deteriorated.

Concerned by his worsening depression, his wife appealed to the health plan again and again. She pleaded that her husband required more supervised and personalized treatment. While waiting for an appointment with his psychiatrist, and just two months after his first psychosis, he died by suicide.

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Care for Your Mind’s 2013 Best Of List: Mental Health Policy Advancements

It’s that time of year again when the “Best Lists” come out. The mission at CFYM is to facilitate discussion by sharing the views of experts in the community. In that spirit, we are summarizing the “Ten Best” list from the National Institute of Mental Health to create our own “Five Best List.” We want to hear from you. Read the post and tell us what you believe are the best advances in policy and advocacy during 2013.

Mental Health Advocacy Begins with Science

Director Thomas Insel of the National Institute of Mental Health makes the argument that science leads to better policy. We are encouraged that scientific advances shift the conversation towards more self-directed treatment plans. It is the empowerment of treatment ownership that fosters advocacy and ultimately leads to a life of thriving, not just surviving.  We’ve compiled our top five list below, with the corresponding NIMH rank in parenthesis.

5. (10 on the NIMH List):  “Nobel Prize—This year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (and Lasker Award) recognized NIMH grantee Thomas Südhof for his discoveries of how neurotransmitters are released from the pre-synaptic terminal.”

This research includes better understanding on how neurons in the brain communicate. We don’t know where the research will lead, but better knowledge about how molecules translate bio-chemical messages, give us reason to hope for advances in treatment options.

4. (9 on the NIMH List): “Beyond Magic Bullets—Several important new trends emerged this year in non-pharmacological treatments, sometimes from pharmaceutical companies. In April, a Nature commentary that included authors from the pharmaceutical giant GSK described “electroceuticals,” heralding a new era in treatment development focusing on devices to deliver electric signals rather than drugs to alter the activity of neurotransmitters in the brain.”

Many peers have reported successful outcomes with this type treatment. We are encouraged that pharmaceuticals are exploring options outside of strict pharmacology protocols.

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First Kennedy Forum Panel Spotlights Past and Future of Mental Health Care

kennedy forum logo

Care For Your Mind is here today at The Kennedy Forum, and the daylong conference kicked off early this morning with the first panel discussion that looked at the historical significance of President Kennedy’s mental health initiative. This month marks the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy’s signing of the Community Mental Health Act, a law that provided federal funding for community mental health centers in the United States. In addition, it helped raise the conversation around mental illness in this country.

Mental Health and the Civil Rights Movement

The discussion focused on exami...

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