A thought-provoking read in Scientific American by Peter Kinderman, a distinguished professor of clinical psychology at the University of Liverpool, who challenges the disease model of mental illness. He argues that mental health services should be based on the origins of psychosocial distress (trauma; social determinants of health). He further argues that the design and delivery of mental health services needs to change from focusing on treating disease to an understanding that mental health conditions are a result of peoples’ life circumstances.
He cites that over the past 20 years, we have seen a proliferation of consumer and survivor movements and advocacy for mental health policy reform. These efforts have led to national policy changes (Wellstone and Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act; Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act; provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or PPACA), in addition to calls for alternatives to traditional disease models of care. I agree with the author that we need not develop new treatment alternatives/approaches. We have robust and effective treatment alternatives with a strong evidence base. We just need to use them!
We also have considerable evidence that traumatic childhood experiences (ACE studies, poverty, etc.) are associated with serious mental health conditions.
[For more of this story, written by Rick Ybarra, go to https://hoggblogdotcom.wordpre...-mental-health-care/]
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