Mental Healthcare: Are We Doing Enough?

Source: Ryan Melaugh

Knowing you're sick is easier when your body is sending the right signals. You get a diagnosis and get the treatment if possible. Recovery is the next stage, helping us move on after an illness, hopefully free from any afflictions. Of course, illness is never this simple, but it helps us understand the burden of mental illness and how mental healthcare strays so far from the established means of treatment in health services. Mental disorders already account for 13% of global disease burden, so shouldn't we be providing the best mental healthcare?

For illnesses which we can clearly identify, it’s easier to be understanding of how it afflicts the other person. Mental illness however has a different perception in society I’ve found, and one that’s often changing due to awareness efforts on the part of mental health organisations. Alongside these awareness efforts, they are now challenging the somewhat chilling and aged view that mental illness doesn't exist in the same way regular illness does. If you’ve ever heard the expression ‘it’s all in the mind’ in relation to mental health, you know you’re facing a challenging viewpoint.

There’s a few keen differences between our perceptions of illness, and the challenges which mental health issues present. Firstly, there’s still much we don’t know about how the human mind operates. This makes treatment a difficult and long process, especially if diagnosis is unclear or evolving. Mental healthcare specialists also often struggle to break the barriers to treatment; the social stigma of mental health issues still largely exists, and often can prevent those suffering from seeking any help.

Likewise, a lack of appropriate resources in poorer nations is also preventing proper mental healthcare treatments being provided around the world. This has led to multiple studies and mental healthcare professionals seeking to close this apparent ‘treatment gap’. There are many factors which contribute to the widening of this perceived gap, but most of them stem from cultural factors, as well as the social perceptions of mental illness itself.

In Nigeria for example, mental healthcare professionals must work with spiritual faith healers in order to progress their treatment programs and care contract logistics across the country. This is due to the large role faith healers have in Nigerian society, and has provided an opportunity for mental health workers to advance their treatment-based agenda across the country.

This is just one example of how sociocultural beliefs are preventing effective treatment programs. Even across Europe and America, the stigma still largely exists and has begun to highlight problems within our own healthcare services. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is already focused on improving England’s own mental healthcare policies, mainly due to recent studies by the organisation which suggest current mental healthcare is inadequate.

For context, across 2013 and 2014, over 1.7 million people in England used mental health services, with only 105,270 of these admitted to hospital for further care. However, suicide statistics in England show that between 2003 and 2013, 1 in 4 people who took their own lives consulted these same mental healthcare services at least 12 months before their death.

This shows that existing treatments are not having the long term benefits many had hoped for. This suggests that after being discharged from care, ongoing treatment is crucial to the health and well-being of patients. From the 1.7 million admitted to treatment programs, the fact that less than 5% were hospitalised also suggests patients could benefit more from longer care periods. There’s also the suggestion of specialist practitioners providing live-in care services, ensuring hospital resources are free but also that patients receive a better level of care.

Apart from suicide, mental health professionals also have a duty of care beyond self-harm. Mental disorders also increase the risk of substance abuse such as drugs and alcohol in patients. This is also likely to influence various other lifestyle risks such as a poor diet, unprotected sexual activity, and poor fitness. As such, mental health has a significant costs across a wide range of areas within healthcare.

Ultimately, this shows the desperate need for evidence based theories in mental health services. The rise of accessible technologies and communications, as well as a better global understanding of mental health issues, could remove some of the most dangerous obstacles preventing widespread implementation of better mental healthcare initiatives.