Mental Health

Battling The Mental Health Crisis Among The Underserved Through State Medicaid Reforms

Published: | 11:43 pm | Posted in: Mental Health

Total deaths from suicide, alcohol, or drugs, what some call “deaths of despair,” increased by 51 percent from 2005 to 2016 in the United States, and drug overdose deaths increased by 16 percent per year between 2014 and 2017. These statistics reflect the well-documented opioid crisis and what some experts have called a national “mental […]

Media and Mental Illness in a Post-Truth Era

Published: | 9:00 pm | Posted in: Mental Health

It has been argued convincingly that the public’s primary source of information about mental illness is the media: news, entertainment, and the echo chamber of social media. These depictions cue, frame, and otherwise guide our interpretive frameworks in both obvious and subtle ways. Visual media may be especially compelling and impactful in guiding social awareness, […]

Assessment of 3-dimensional wisdom in schizophrenia: Associations with neuropsychological functions and physical and mental health

Published: | 5:44 pm | Posted in: Mental Health

Recent decades have seen growing empirical research in wisdom as a complex, trait-based psychological characteristic. Wisdom has been shown to possess individual and societal benefits through associations with health and well-being, but it has not yet been evaluated in people with schizophrenia (PwS). In the current study, we administered a widely used, validated 3-dimensional wisdom […]

The Affordable Care Act and the Faltering Revolution in Behavioral Health Care

Published: | 3:20 pm | Posted in: Mental Health

Often described in such terms as a “revolution” and a “game-changer” for the behavioral health sector in the United States, the Affordable Care Act has helped to enhance coverage for mental health and substance use disorders while encouraging service system innovations at the organizational level. However, tens of millions of Americans still lack health insurance, […]

Inside the nation’s largest mental health institution: a prevalence study in a state prison system

Published: | 5:52 pm | Posted in: Mental Health

Background The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world which has created a public health crisis. Correctional facilities have become a front line for mental health care. Public health research in this setting could inform criminal justice reform. We determined prevalence rates for mental illnesses and related comorbidities among all inmates in […]

A Tale of Two Diseases: Mental Illness and HIV/AIDS

Published: | 5:10 pm | Posted in: Mental Health

In 2011, I was speaking at an international AIDS conference where the first two speakers were from UNAIDS and Harvard. UNAIDS announced a new campaign: Getting to Zero: Zero New HIV Infections, Zero AIDS‐Related Deaths, and Zero Discrimination. (A year later, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for an AIDS‐Free Generation.) The Harvard researcher reported the […]

County Jail or Psychiatric Hospital? Ethical Challenges in Correctional Mental Health Care

Published: | 5:31 pm | Posted in: Mental Health

Abstract Approximately 20% of the roughly 2.5 million individuals incarcerated in the United States have a serious mental illness (SMI). As a result of their illnesses, these individuals are often more likely to commit a crime, end up incarcerated, and languish in correctional settings without appropriate treatment. The objective of the present study was to […]

Projected Workforce of Psychiatrists in the United States: A Population Analysis

Published: | 5:59 pm | Posted in: Mental Health

Abstract Objective: This analysis quantified and assessed the projected workforce of psychiatrists in the United States through 2050 on the basis of population data. Methods: With use of data from the Association of American Medical Colleges (2000–2015), American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (2000–2015), and U.S. Census Bureau (2000–2050), the psychiatrist workforce was projected through […]

Enforcing Mental Health Parity

Published: | 8:52 pm | Posted in: Mental Health

Traditionally, insurance providers and employers have covered treatment for mental health and substance use conditions differently than treatment for other medical conditions. Coverage for mental health care and substance use disorders had its own (usually higher) cost-sharing structure, more restrictive limits on the number of inpatient days and outpatient visits allowed, separate annual and lifetime […]

Among The Elderly, Many Mental Illnesses Go Undiagnosed

Published: | 8:52 pm | Posted in: Mental Health

Few health care providers have the training to address depression, anxiety, and other conditions in their older patients. By now, warnings about the impact of an aging population on the nation’s health care system have become familiar: rising numbers of seniors with diabetes, heart disease, and other chronic illnesses; increased costs; and a strained geriatric […]

Lessons From Medicaid’s Divergent Paths On Mental Health And Addiction Services

Published: | 8:48 pm | Posted in: Mental Health

Over the past fifty years Medicaid has taken divergent paths in financing mental health and addiction treatment. In mental health, Medicaid became the dominant source of funding and had a profound impact on the organization and delivery of services. But it played a much more modest role in addiction treatment. This is poised to change, […]