Mental Illness

Mental illness is a term describing any impairment of a person’s emotional, cognitive, and behavior functioning that is a result of social, biochemical, genetic, head traumas or other causes impairing the individual’s ability to live a normal life. It affects an individuals ability to relate to others, thinking and moods. Mental illness cannot be clearly defined as a physical illness such as diabetes (Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation, 2012). Diabetes occurs in the body wit the cause clearly known and causes some dysfunction of the body system. On the other hand, mental illness cause is not clearly defined, and it is diagnosed by behavior, and speech observation, where speech may be incoherent and behavior against the social norms. Considering cure to be a complete elimination of a condition, mental illness can be considered to have no cure since individual have to remain under medication indefinitely (Cannon, 2011). When they stop, the chances of relapsing back are high, meaning the condition is only suppressed.

The process of deinstitutionalization has not been effective in providing the needed services to the mentally ill. Deinstitutionalization was meant to remove mentally ill from institutions that many believed were harming them, to have then taken care of within the society. However, lack of proper implementation of treatment outside institutions hindered its effectiveness. Some of the populations adversely affected were those working in the institutions that were closed down as well as the mentally ill who did not receive enough medication after deinstitutionalization (Ribeiro, 2006). Advantages of deinstitutionalization include saving costs associated with running the institutions, avoid overcrowding in hospitals, and giving patients a chance to live a better life besides their loved ones.

Health care professionals providing mental health care are integrated with other systems of care. Mentally ill people also suffer physical illnesses and require treatment as well. Thus, integration of mental health professionals with other healthcare systems is important. Mental illness and physical illness may be different from each other, but are closely related. Both have influence on each other. Mental illness will have an effect on physical health, and vice versa. Thus, when treated separately, the treatment does not take into consideration the effect one illness on the other. Additionally, according to Weld (2008) other consequences include missing possible causes of mental problems, in adequate treating of medical conditions, both physical and mental, and stigma. Mentally ill persons will have other social and health services depending on the severity of their condition. For severe cases, the patients need a safer place where they cannot hurt themselves or others. Mentally ill people also need financial support since very few can afford to pay for the services. They also need support of their loved one to go through treatment.

Three governmental sources that pay for mental health care include the Medicaid, Medicare, and Veterans Health Administration. Each source covers specified groups of people. Medicaid being the largest source of funding covers for both public and private treatment. It covers mostly for the poor and children who meet criterion set. Medicare on the other hand is also a public fund for the elderly from ages of 65 and above. Veterans Health Administration is concerned with military veterans. It is federally funded and offering treatment funds for the veterans from most of the health facilities within the country (King, 2012).

There are several challenges to managed care for mentally ill persons; one of them is lack of comprehensive assessment. Considering patients stay at home and visit the doctor, they might not exhibit all the symptoms, as it would be with close observations in the hospital. Through managing health care of patients at home, the managed care reduces costs associated with hospital admissions. One can ensure mentally ill people are placed in the right medical facilities through ensuring they teaming up with doctors to know what is best for them s well as helping them in observing the behavior o the patient. However, patients may lack the ability to choose their health providers if they are in managed care, and there is a limitation as the providers seek to reduce costs.

References

Cannon, T.D. (2011). Cures for Mental Illness. International Mental Health Research Organization.

Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation. (2012). What is Psychiatric Disability and Mental Illness? Retrieved from http://www.bu.edu/cpr/reasaccom/whatis-psych.html

King, J. (2012). Three Government Sources That Pay for Mental Health Care. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/list_7453607_three-pay-mental-health-care.html

Ribeiro, C. (2006). Deinstitutionalization of the Mentally Ill. Retrieved from http://voices.yahoo.com/deinstitutionalization-mentally-ill-57628.html?cat=72

Weld, S. (2011). Consequences of Separating Mental Health Care From Physical Health Care. Retrieved from http://www.livestrong.com/article/134525-consequences-separating-mental-health-care-from-physical-health-care/