The asylum and the community

Author(s):  
Ian Cummins

This chapter will argue that the development of mental health policy was hugely influenced by conceptions of space and place. By the middle of the 20th century the asylum had become, in the public and sociological imagination a Gothic institution of seclusion and abuse. The chapter will explore the development of this representation of the asylum. The final representations of the asylum contrast dramatically with the original ones that saw the new institutions as a modern, progressive deinstitutionalisation was to present the community in binary opposition to the asylum. Community based services would, almost by reason of their location, lead to the creation of a new form of inclusive mental health provision. This is based on an idealised notion of community. As the pressures on mental health services grew, a range of social policies that were introduced that meant that urban communities, in particular, became exclusionary rather than inclusionary.

2021 ◽  
pp. 89-109
Author(s):  
Helge Ramsdal ◽  
Catharina Bjørkquist

This chapter examines how addiction and mental health policy can be designed to meet the objective of the new paradigm of community-based services applying soft governance tools while maintaining the balance between hierarchical governance and local autonomy. Nudging is a specific tool within the framework of soft governance. Furthermore, such instruments leave great latitude for local authorities. We explore how we can understand the development towards today’s dominant ideological perspectives, i.e. normalization, empowerment, towards recovery and “the patient first”, as a development process where soft governance is the overriding concept, increasingly providing room for development of more specific strategies characterized by nudging. Finally, we discuss some implications of using such instruments in practice.


2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 293-303
Author(s):  
Anthony L Pillay ◽  
Anne L Kramers-Olen

The COVID-19 pandemic heralded challenges that were both significant and unfamiliar, placing inordinate burdens on health care systems, economies, and the collective psyche of citizens. The pandemic underscored the tenuous intersections between public mental health care, politics, economics, and psychosocial capital. In South Africa, the inadequacies of the public health system have been laid bare, and the disproportionate privileges of the private health care system exposed. This article critically considers government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, the psychosocial correlates of lockdown, politics, corruption, and public mental health policy in South Africa.


2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brenda Happell ◽  
Robert Stanton ◽  
David Scott

Background Comorbid chronic illnesses, such as cardiovascular disease, respiratory conditions, and type 2 diabetes are common among people with serious mental illness. Management of comorbid illness in the mental health setting is sometimes ad hoc and poorly delivered. Use of a cardiometabolic health nurse (CHN) is proposed as one strategy to improve the delivery of physical health care to this vulnerable population. Objective To report the CHN's utilization of primary care and allied health referrals from a trial carried out in a regional community mental health service. Design Feasibility study. Mental health consumers were referred by their case manager or mental health nurse to the CHN. The CHN coordinated the physical health care of community-based mental health consumers by identifying the need for, and providing referrals to, additional services, including primary care, allied health, and community-based services. Results Sixty-two percent of participants referred to the CHN received referrals for primary care, allied health, and community-based services. Almost all referrals received follow-up by the CHN. Referrals were most commonly directed to a general practitioner and for nurse-delivered services. Conclusion The CHN role shows promise in coordinating the physical health of community-based mental health consumers. More studies on role integration and development of specific outcome measurement tools are needed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ondrej Pec

This paper describes the history and current provision of mental healthcare in the Czech Republic. After the political changes in 1989, there was an expansion of out-patient care and several non-governmental organisations began to provide social rehabilitation services, but the main focus of care still rested on mental hospitals. In recent years, mental health reform has been in progress, which has involved expanding community-based services and psychiatric wards of general hospitals, simultaneously with educational and destigmatisation programmes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 387-396
Author(s):  
Eleni Karayianni ◽  
Tom Van Daele ◽  
Jasminka Despot-Lučanin ◽  
Josip Lopižić ◽  
Nicholas Carr

Abstract. The public health outbreak of the COVID-19 virus has hit all aspects of life as we know it. We found ourselves trying to solve several concurrent crises that have afflicted us. The European Federation of Psychologists’ Associations (EFPA) launched the Psychologists’ Support Hub to share resources among its members and beyond and promote the continuing adoption of psychological science to battle the pandemic. In the greater context of evidence-based practice (EBP), the best available evidence is what we turn to for help in our decision-making on how best to address different challenges. However, there are challenges in implementing EBP when the science is limited, and we are still expected to be effective and efficient as professionals. The article outlines the need for EBP during the pandemic. Three vignettes display how that can be done while identifying obstacles and recommending ways forward in the future. The first one relates to the development of e-mental health services in Belgium following the March 2020 lockdown. The second describes addressing the needs of older adults in Croatia when it was hit by two crises simultaneously – the March 2020 lockdown and a destructive earthquake. The third looks at how targeted community-based interventions in Norway directed at social change can positively impact times of crisis. Overall, the pandemic presents a unique opportunity for professional growth for researchers, trainers, practitioners, and policymakers alike. EFPA can play a pivotal role in EBP adoption.


1999 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. 462-467 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.G. Madianos ◽  
J. Tsiantis ◽  
C. Zacharakis

SummaryGreece joined the European Community in 1981 and, three years later, the Commission of the European Communities provided financial and technical assistance under EEC Regulation 815/84 for the modernisation of the traditional psychiatric care system, with the emphasis on decentralisation of mental health services and the development of community-based services, as well as on deinstutionalization of long-stay patients and improvement of conditions in public mental hospitals. Over the last 11 years, the implementation of the EEC Reg. 815/84 programme contributed to a significant shift towards extramural care and rehabilitation. The role of the large mental hospitals has gradually been diminished and a large number of long-stay patients have been deinstitutionalised. It is commonly accepted that the EEC-funded psychiatric reform programme, despite inadequacies and constraints, had an impact on the changing mental health scene in Greece.


2000 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
William R. Brieger ◽  
Sam A. Orisasona ◽  
P. Bolade Ogunlade ◽  
U. Olu. Ayodele ◽  
Ayo Iroko

Basic Support for Institutionalizing Child Survival (BASICS) was given a mandate by USAID to find innovative ways to meet the child health needs of poor Nigerian urban communities. BASICS inventoried communities in the Lagos metropolitan area to identify community-based organizations (CBOs) and private health facilities (HFs) that could form coalitions that might plan and deliver child and family health services such as immunization and prompt treatment. Six Community Partners for Health (CPHs) coalitions formed in late 1995. In late 1997, a documentation of the progress and processes of CPH formation and functioning was carried out through a review of documents, interviews with CPH leaders, discussions with CBO members, and textual analysis of CPH board meeting minutes to define the CPH approach, the organizational structures that result from that approach, the achievements of the CPHs and the potential sustainability of the approach. All CPHs have developed a work plan and all have undertaken programmatic activities including child immunization campaigns, environmental clean-up, and awareness campaigns to alert the public on the dangers of HIV/AIDS. Most CPHs have also developed three main mechanisms for financial sustainability. Finally, CPHs have also been calling on each other for technical and management assistance. This augers well for future independent action and sustainability, and BASICS staff themselves have been promoting inter-CPH communication and activities among the Lagos CPHs.


1995 ◽  
Vol 19 (12) ◽  
pp. 731-733 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sawsan Reda

The closure of large psychiatric hospitals and the opening of community-based mental health facilities is a central part of British health policy for the care of people with mental illness. The North East Thames Regional Health Authority's (NETRHA) psychiatric hospitals closure plan started in 1985. As part of this a programme was established to assess the closure process (Leff, 1993). This study was carried out between 1988 and 1992 and was designed to study the reactions of the public to the hospital closure decision (Reda, 1993).


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