Globally, the majority of those who need mental health care worldwide lack access to high-quality mental health services. Stigma, human resource shortages, fragmented service delivery models, and lack of research capacity for implementation and policy change contribute to the current mental health treatment gap.
Full Answer
What are the most common problems faced by mental health professionals?
Psychologists, psychiatrists, and counselors may face the same issues as the general population, such as depression, marital disharmony, and substance abuse. Despite these problems, mental health professionals may not receive needed treatment either because of stigma or a lack of access to help. 2.
What is the importance of mental health?
Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood. Over the course of your life, if you experience ...
What is the most effective treatment for major mental health disorders?
Most studies suggest that for major mental health disorders, a treatment approach involving both drugs and psychotherapy is more effective than either treatment method used alone. Psychiatrists are not the only mental health care practitioners trained to treat mental illness.
Should mental health care be part of the health care system?
Clearly, mental health care should be a prominent part of the health care system in the U.S., but this idea isn’t necessarily the case. Consider the following five challenges that mental health counselors face today.
What is a major concern in the area of mental health?
Mental health problems are very common Anxiety and depression are the most common problems, with around 1 in 10 people affected at any one time. How do mental health problems affect people? Anxiety and depression can be severe and long-lasting and have a big impact on people's ability to get on with life.
What are 4 treatments for mental health concerns?
They include:Psychotherapy or counseling. This also is called talk therapy. ... Prescription medicine. ... Support groups. ... Other therapies. ... ECT or other brain stimulation therapy. ... Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. ... Hospital or residential treatment program.
What are some problems with mental health?
Types of mental health problemsAnger. Explains what anger is, and how to deal with it in a constructive and healthy way.Anxiety and panic attacks. ... Bipolar disorder. ... Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) ... Borderline personality disorder (BPD) ... Depression. ... Dissociation and dissociative disorders. ... Drugs - recreational drugs & alcohol.More items...
Which of the following are the biggest barriers to mental health treatments?
A Closer Look at Four Major Mental Health Treatment BarriersLack of Awareness. First and foremost, many people do not understand the breadth of mental illnesses and disorders. ... Social Stigma. ... High Cost. ... Limited Options. ... Eliminating Challenges and Getting Help.
What is the best treatment for mental health?
Psychotherapy. Psychotherapy is the therapeutic treatment of mental illness provided by a trained mental health professional. Psychotherapy explores thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and seeks to improve an individual's well-being. Psychotherapy paired with medication is the most effective way to promote recovery.
Why is mental health treatment important?
Having your mental health treated can also improve your productivity, allowing you to focus on daily tasks and give you the motivation to get things done in a timely manner. Improving your mental health can even extend your life expectancy.
What factors might prevent a person from seeking mental health treatment?
8 Reasons Why People Don't Get Treatment for Mental Illness Fear and shame. One of the most common reasons for not seeking help is fear and shame. ... Lack of insight. ... Limited awareness. ... Feelings of inadequacy. ... Distrust. ... Hopelessness. ... Unavailability. ... Practical barriers.
What are 3 barriers to receiving mental health treatment?
We discuss six common barriers below.Desire to Receive Care. ... Lack of Anonymity When Seeking Treatment. ... Shortages of Mental Health Workforce Professionals. ... Lack of Culturally-Competent Care. ... Affordability of Care. ... Transportation to Care. ... Resources to Learn More.
What are the barriers to seeking help with mental health issues?
Barriers to seeking help for an emotional or mental health difficultyStigmatising beliefs. ... Perceiving problem as not serious enough. ... Reliance on self. ... Difficulty accessing help. ... Fear of negative outcome. ... Difficulty identifying or expressing concerns.
Importance of Overcoming Challenges to Mental Health Treatment
Removing the barriers to mental health treatment is essential for improving lives and communities.
Biggest Barriers to Mental Health Care Access
Virtual care can provide direct interventions and real-time interaction between therapist and patient (for instance, videoconferencing). Other digital mental health interventions, which can complement therapy, include:
Removing Barriers to Mental Health Services With Virtual Care
Virtual care can successfully address some of the biggest problems with the mental health system and reduce the burden of providing treatment.
What is the treatment of mental illness?
Psychotherapy. Psychotherapy is the therapeutic treatment of mental illness provided by a trained mental health professional. Psychotherapy explores thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and seeks to improve an individual’s well-being.
How do people with mental illness recover?
Many people diagnosed with mental illness achieve strength and recovery through participating in individual or group treatment. There are many different treatment options available. There is no treatment that works for everyone – individuals can chose the treatment, or combination of treatments, that works best.
Why is hospitalization necessary?
In a minority of cases, hospitalization may be necessary so that an individual can be closely monitored, accurately diagnosed or have medications adjusted when his or her mental illness temporarily worsens. Learn more about Hospitalization.
What is self help plan?
A self-help plan is a unique health plan where an individual addresses his or her condition by implementing strategies that promote wellness. Self-help plans may involve addressing wellness, recovery, triggers or warning signs.
Does medication cure mental illness?
Medication does not outright cure mental illness. However, it may help with the management of symptoms. Medication paired with psychotherapy is the most effective way to promote recovery.
How can mental health be treated?
Common mental disorders are responsible for the largest proportion of the global burden of disease; yet, there is sound evidence that these disorders, as well as severe mental disorders, can be successfully treated using evidence-based interventions delivered by trained lay health workers in low-resource community or primary care settings. Stigma is a barrier to service uptake. Prevention, though necessary to address the mental health gap, has not solidified as a research or programmatic focus. Research-to-practice implementation studies are required to inform policies and scale-up services.
What is the biggest challenge in bridging the mental health treatment gap?
One of the most significant challenges in bridging the mental health treatment gap is the glaring shortage of trained mental health workers in health care systems worldwide [87, 88]. This dearth of credentialed mental health professionals, specifically those who are knowledgeable and highly skilled in the application of EBPs, is experienced globally and universally. No mechanisms exist currently to rapidly fill this void.
How many children have mental health issues?
A review of the prevalence of mental disorders found that 14% of children worldwide are estimated to suffer from a mental disorder [56]. In many LMICs, children constitute roughly 50% of the population; yet, most research on mental health interventions for children comes from HICs [57]. This discrepancy is especially apparent in the literature on mental health services for infants and primary-school children [58•, 59]. Klasen and Crombag [57] reviewed 54 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of mental health treatments for youth in LMICs and found that none of the interventions targeted mood (depression, anxiety) or obsessive compulsive disorders outside of the context of traumatic experiences. Instead, interventions focused on behavioral disorders, developmental disorders, and disorders related to exposure to interpersonal violence. More recently, several epidemiological and intervention studies have been conducted with youth exposed to various forms of interpersonal violence [60], and results underscore the efficacy of group-based trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) for reducing posttraumatic stress symptoms [61, 62]. School interventions to prevent or to treat mental illness are common in HICs [8] and middle-income countries [9], but these efforts are lacking in LMICs, in spite of schools being an ideal setting to intervene [63].
What are the challenges of the GMH treatment gap?
Interrelated challenges that contribute to these deficiencies and also exacerbate the GMH treatment gap include shortages of mental health workers, lack of research capacity, stigmatization of mental illness, and the siloing of mental health services apart from other health services for physical health conditions.
How does stigma affect mental health?
Identified as one of the most significant barriers to reducing the mental health treatment gap globally, mental illness stigma feeds a negative spiral of silence and suffering that leads to successive cycles of stigma and discrimination [54•]. Social exclusion, grounded on stigma, leads to poor recovery outcomes and quality of life for those suffering from mental disorders [100]. Stigma also prevents many individuals from seeking mental health services during the early stages of their disorders. Stigma-based delays in care-seeking worsen the prognosis and perpetuate the misperception that mental illnesses are beyond cure [53, 101]. Prevalent, population-wide stigma may also diminish the prestige accorded to the mental health professions, leading fewer young persons to select these specialties and thereby exacerbating the human resource shortage [33].
What is the UN's mental health action plan?
In 2013, the World Health Assembly adopted the Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan for 2013–2020 [28], which committed the United Nations (UN) member states to provide mental health care that is integrated into primary care and subsumes both common and severe mental disorders. Thus, UN member states have committed to transforming their community-based primary health care systems to include diagnosis and treatment of both severe mental illness and common mental disorders, as well as mental health promotion and prevention.
How can we close the mental health gap?
Given the magnitude of the burden of mental disorders, treatment alone will be insufficient to close the mental health gap in LMICs; yet, mental health promotion and prevention of mental illness are nascent in most LMIC health systems. One promising area of prevention includes focusing on the mental health of children. Research shows that the average age of onset of mental disorders is in childhood and adolescence. Undetected and untreated mental disorders occurring early in life lead to lifelong disability and to early, preventable death [55]. Thus, attention to child mental health should be seen as a way to prevent mental disorders in adults.
What are the issues in mental health?
Mental Health America reports on issues that affect the mental health industry. Some of those issues include the following: 1 Fostering cultural competence, as Asians, African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) people may have various mental health needs that relate to their backgrounds. 2 Making sure patients have access to needed medications. 3 Dealing with policy changes on federal, state, and local levels. 4 Advocating integrated care. 5 Preventing mental illnesses.
Why are mental health professionals not receiving treatment?
Despite these problems, mental health professionals may not receive needed treatment either because of stigma or a lack of access to help. 2. President Barack Obama’s Health Care Law. Laws surrounding health care contain provisions for mental health treatments. However, the laws have much room for improvement.
What is the role of a mental health counselor?
The mental health industry needs well-trained clinical mental health counselors who can educate their co-workers and strive to create guidelines for professionals across the industry.
What is a lack of support?
1. A Lack of Support. An article from Psychology Today observes, “Mental health professionals — particularly psychologists — do a poor job of monitoring their own mental health problems and those of their colleagues.”. Psychologists, psychiatrists, and counselors may face the same issues as the general population, such as depression, ...
What percentage of counties do not have psychiatrists?
U.S. News & World Report states, “According to data from the Department of Health and Human Services, 55 percent of U.S. counties, all of which are rural, do not have a practicing psychiatrist, psychologists, or social workers.”. 4.
Is there a minimum standard for mental health?
No Minimum Standards. For non-drug therapies, a lack of minimum standards creates difficulty when determining whether treatments are both safe and effective. Further, some patients with mental disorders may pass through different systems, such as juvenile justice and other structures that offer mental health services.
Is there funding for mental health?
A Lack of Funding. The federal government is making efforts to offer funds for mental health care. In early 2014, an appropriations bill made the way for $115 million to go toward mental health initiatives. However, in some parts of the country, available mental health resources are still severely lacking.
What are the treatments for mental health disorders?
Most treatment methods for mental health disorders can be categorized as either. Somatic. Psychotherapeutic. Somatic treatments include drugs, electroconvulsive therapy, and other therapies that stimulate the brain (such as transcranial magnetic stimulation and vagus nerve stimulation). Psychotherapeutic treatments include psychotherapy ...
What is the best therapy for a person who doesn't have a mental illness?
Even people who do not have a mental health disorder may find psychotherapy helpful in coping with such problems as employment difficulties, bereavement, or chronic illness in the family. Group psychotherapy, couples therapy, and family therapy are also widely used.
What is talk therapy?
In recent years, significant advances have been made in the field of psychotherapy, which is sometimes referred to as talk therapy. By creating an empathetic and accepting atmosphere, the therapist often is able to help the person identify the source of the problems and consider alternatives for dealing with them. The emotional awareness and insight that the person gains through psychotherapy often results in a change in attitude and behavior that allows the person to live a fuller and more satisfying life.
What is psychoactive therapy?
Drug Therapy. A number of psychoactive drugs are highly effective and widely used by psychiatrists and other medical doctors. These drugs are often categorized according to the disorder they are primarily prescribed for. For example, antidepressants are used to treat depression.
Which is more effective, psychotherapy or treatment?
Most studies suggest that for major mental health disorders, a treatment approach involving both drugs and psychotherapy is more effective than either treatment method used alone.
How many sessions does a psychotherapist have?
However, the person is usually sitting instead of lying on a couch and attends only 1 to 3 sessions per week. In addition, less emphasis is placed on the relationship between the person and therapist.
How does cognitive therapy help people?
Cognitive therapy helps people identify distortions in thinking and understand how these distortions lead to problems in their lives. For example, people may think in an all-or-nothing way ("if I am not a total success, I am a complete failure"). The premise is that how people feel and behave is determined by how they interpret experiences. Through the identification of core beliefs and assumptions, people learn to think in different ways about their experiences, reducing symptoms and resulting in improvement in behavior and feelings.
What are the mental health disorders?
Mental health disorders include anxiety, depression, seasonal effectiveness disorder, or more serious illnesses as bipolar disorder, major depression, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and more. Unfortunately, most people with mental illness do not receive mental health services that they need.
How to contact SAMHSA for mental health?
If you or a loved one is experiencing symptoms of mental illness, get treatment or help them get treatment. Call SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) for 24-hour, free and confidential treatment referral. Last Updated.
Is mental illness easy to detect?
Mental illness is not always easy to detect. Someone does not need to have all these symptoms, perhaps just one or two. Treating a mental illness is not something to attempt on your own. Like many health conditions, help for mental illness takes professional diagnosis and treatment.
Can mental illness be seen?
Mental illness can’t always be seen, and it’s not something to treat on your own. Watch the video
Is mental health a part of health?
Mental health is an important part of overall health and well-being, yet mental illness affects millions of people and their families nationwide. Know that treatment for mental illness is effective—and help is a phone call away.
Do people with mental illness need mental health services?
Unfortunately, most people with mental illness do not receive mental health services that they need. People with mental illness can have symptoms that include a range of feelings, emotions, or experiences, including: Shifts in mood. Sadness. Anxiety.
Does mental health work?
The good news: Research shows treatment for mental illness works. With appropriate treatment, people can manage their illness, overcome challenges, and lead productive lives.
Why is mental health important?
It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood. Over the course of your life, if you experience mental health problems, your thinking, mood, and behavior could be affected.
What are the symptoms of mental illness?
Hearing voices or believing things that are not true. Thinking of harming yourself or others. Inability to perform daily tasks like taking care of your kids or getting to work or school. Learn more about specific mental health problems and where to find help.
What is a serious mental illness?
Serious mental illness (SMI) is defined as a mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder resulting in serious functional impairment, which substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities.
What is mental health services?
The NSDUH defines mental health services as having received inpatient treatment/counseling or outpatient treatment/counseling or having used prescription medication for problems with emotions, nerves, or mental health.
How many people with SMI received mental health treatment in 2019?
In 2019, among the 13.1 million adults with SMI, 8.6 million (65.5%) received mental health treatment in the past year. More females with SMI (70.5%) received mental health treatment than males with SMI (56.5%).
Does the adhd assessment include diagnostic modules?
The assessment did not contain diagnostic modules assessing: adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorders, schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders (although the assessment included a psychotic symptom screen).
Can you be detected with a mental disorder that is not included in the diagnostic module?
People who only have disorders that are not included in these diagnostic modules may not be adequately detected. However, there are known patterns of high comorbidities among mental disorders; these patterns increase the likelihood that people who meet AMI and/or SMI criteria were detected by the study, as they may also have one or more of the disorders assessed in the SCID-I/NP.
What Causes Mental Illness?
There is no singular cause of mental illness. Instead, mental illness can usually be attributed to multiple factors, including brain chemistry, developmental experiences, and environmental causes.
A Mental Illness List: Types of Mental Health Disorders
There are several different types of mental health disorders that each have a certain set of criteria. Details on each mental illness are found in the DSM-5, which healthcare providers and mental health professionals use to diagnose a mental health issue.
Diagnosis and Treatment for Mental Illness
Mental illness is generally diagnosed by a mental health professional, who uses the DSM-5 to evaluate whether someone meets the criteria for a certain mental illness.
Summary
There are many types of mental illnesses, which range in severity and how they impact everyday life. There is no single cause for mental illness, and it is commonly caused by multiple factors, many of which are out of an individual’s control. Diagnosis requires a healthcare professional, who can also advise on treatment options.
A Word From Verywell
Mental illness still holds a lot of stigma. But the more that awareness of mental health increases, the more we are able to reduce the stigma around each individual's personal struggles and create more opportunity for everyone to get the help they need.
A Lack of Support
President Barack Obama’s Health Care Law
- Laws surrounding health care contain provisions for mental health treatments. However, the laws have much room for improvement. 1. Many people are not aware that their insurance policy covers mental health treatments. In 2014, one poll found that 40 percent of Californians did not understand that their health insurance plans offer mental health care. 2. Some people fall into a …
A Lack of Funding
- The federal government is making efforts to offer funds for mental health care. In early 2014, an appropriations bill made the way for $115 million to go toward mental health initiatives. However, in some parts of the country, available mental health resources are still severely lacking. U.S. News & World Report states, “According to data from the Department of Health and Human Serv…
No Minimum Standards
- For non-drug therapies, a lack of minimum standards creates difficulty when determining whether treatments are both safe and effective. Further, some patients with mental disorders may pass through different systems, such as juvenile justice and other structures that offer mental health services. These groups also do not always coordinate with each other to give the best car…
Other Challenges
- Mental Health America reports on issues that affect the mental health industry. Some of those issues include the following: 1. Fostering cultural competence, as Asians, African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) people may have various mental health needs that relate to their backgrounds. 2. M...