In the national healthcare debate, preventive mental healthcare is increasingly becoming the priority. A recent opinion piece by the authors in STAT explains why, if the government genuinely desires to enhance the overall health of its citizens, it must include preventive mental healthcare as well as addiction prevention among the key components of public policy, instead of treating them merely as an afterthought. These authors note how recent funding reductions, stalled implementation of parity regulations, and uncertainties related to the Medicaid program have jeopardised access to critical forms of care, when depression, anxiety, suicide, and overdoses continue to remain unacceptably high throughout the nation.
Specifically, the authors highlight two recent actions taken by the federal government towards improving the availability of preventive mental healthcare and addiction services; 1) The restoration of $2 billion in funding for both addiction and mental healthcare, following public outcry and advocacy efforts; and 2) The Great American Recovery Initiative reframing addiction as a chronic, treatable disorder that requires a fully articulated model of coordinated and integrated long-term healthcare.
Although these two examples represent major progress, the authors believe that preventive mental healthcare currently lacks an adequate national infrastructure. The authors refer to the recently released report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, which presents a detailed plan for developing a comprehensive system of preventive mental healthcare in schools, workplaces, primary care and community settings through behavioral health integration.
Advocates agree that preventive mental health care must be more stable and better funded (such as through agencies like SAMHSA and the Administration for Children and Families) with regard to behavioral health prevention. They also emphasize the need for a senior White House coordinator to focus solely on behavioral health prevention.
Accordingly, for every-day persons, the notion of preventative mental health includes greater social-emotional learning in schools, earlier intervention for children displaying signs of distress, and community programing to build family resiliency before issues escalate into crises. The concept behind these initiatives is to get to individuals’ mental health problems earlier in their process so there are fewer people requiring hospitalization, incarceration, or suffering a tragedy.
Source: STAT News – “Preventive care must include mental and behavioral disorders
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