Eating Disorders and Our Youth: Aggressive Action Must be Taken to Ensure Parity.

Eating disorders are one of the most common chronic illnesses among adolescents. Yet, our current framework for mental health care provides limited education, access to care, and support for adolescents suffering from this disease. The enactment of key legislation and federal guidance such as the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA) is evidence that there are steps being taken to ensure the removal of barriers to care. However, eating disorders are often overlooked as a category of behavioral disorders. This paper analyzes the current legal and social framework for providing care and support to adolescents suffering from eating disorders. In doing so, it offers recommendations to develop stronger protective and responsive measures to ensure access, support, and care to these individuals.

[The Dutch Mandatory Mental Health Care Act allows more care for pregnant women under coercion]. / Wet verplichte ggz biedt meer mogelijkheden om zwangeren te begeleiden.

Women with mental health issues may wish to get pregnant. In some situations a pregnancy is contra-indicated or not be in the best interests of the future child. This article analyses the way treating physicians may assist these women and, if needed, treat these women by using somatic of psychiatric care. This on the basis of the Dutch Patients' Rights Act and mental health legislation. The recent Dutch Mandatory Health Care Act provides physicians more opportunities to act in comparison with the previous situation.

Ley 21331: nuevos desafíos de la Ley del reconocimiento y protección de los derechos de las personas en la atención de salud mental / Law 21331: new challenges of the law of recognition and protection of people's rights in mental health care

Since the dawn of the Republic, the question regarding the diagnosis, management and treatment of mental illnesses has been an unresolved issue to this day. Since before the time of the colony, at the time of the conquest, mental illnesses abounded, both in the Mapuche population - autochthonous indigenous - and in the Spanish. The presence in the river basins of heavy metals and minerals toxic for human consumption, as was originally the Mapocho River, whose waters were not drinkable and were only used for crops adopted from the Inca culture, were consumed by the population of the Spanish conquerors, who manifested various types of mental disorders, either due to the consumption of polluted water and the neurological damage that it caused them, the high levels of stress due to the same occupation and the isolation in which they found themselves and the diseases venereal that they carried, which they progressively transmitted to the aboriginal population. (1) On the other hand, the Mapuche population had magical-ritual treatments and methods to treat these and other diseases based on herbalism, phytotherapy and rituals (2) for the evil of melancholy (depression), anxiety disorders, panic attacks and schizophrenia. (3) Centuries later, when medicine and hard science are presented in society giving way to the scientific method, key people make their appearance within mental health studies, who made their way into the national and world panorama, and who, despite the dark past and the tortuous evolution of this branch of medicine, stand out figures who were pioneers and who gave rise to a reality that today continues in constant development and debate. Today mental health is an issue on the table, and Law 21331, promulgated on April 23, 2021 (4) is a response to changes in the perception that society currently has of the concept of disease, which is contrasted to the thinking and management that existed for years, decades and centuries ago around mental health

Desde los albores de la República, la cuestión referente al diagnóstico, manejo y tratamiento de las enfermedades mentales ha sido un tema sin resolver hasta nuestros días. Desde antes del tiempo de la colonia, en la época de la conquista, las enfermedades mentales abundaban, tanto en la población mapuche -indígena autóctona- como en la española. La presencia en las cuencas fluviales de metales pesados y minerales tóxicos para el consumo humano, como fue en su origen el río Mapocho, cuyas aguas no eran bebestibles y solo se utilizaban para los cultivos adoptados de la cultura inca, fueron consumidas por la población de los conquistadores españoles, los cuales manifestaron diversos tipos de trastornos mentales, ya fuese por el consumo de aguas contaminadas y el daño neurológico que les provocaba, los altos niveles de estrés debido a la misma ocupación y al aislamiento en el que se encontraban y las enfermedades venéreas que portaban, las cuales transmitieron progresivamente a la población aborigen. (1) Por otra parte, la población mapuche tenía tratamientos y métodos mágico-rituales para tratar estas y otras enfermedades basados en la herbolaria, la fitoterapia y los rituales (2) para el mal de la melancolía (depresión), trastornos ansiosos, crisis de pánico y la esquizofrenia.(3) Siglos más tarde, cuando la medicina y la ciencia dura se presentan en sociedad dando paso al método científico, hacen su aparición personas clave dentro de los estudios en salud mental, quienes se abrieron camino dentro del panorama nacional y mundial, y que, pese al pasado oscuro y a la evolución tortuosa de esta rama de la medicina, se destacan figuras que fueron pioneras y que dieron pie a una realidad que hoy en día continúa en constante desarrollo y debate. Hoy la salud mental es un tema sobre la mesa, y la Ley 21331, promulgada el 23 de abril del año 2021 (4) es una respuesta a los cambios en la percepción que la sociedad actualmente tiene frente al concepto de enfermedad, que se contrasta al pensamiento y manejo que durante años, décadas y siglos atrás existió en torno a la salud mental

Impact of closure of the in-house psychiatric care unit on prehospital and emergency ward length of stay and disposition locations in patients who attempted suicide: A retrospective before-and-after cohort study at a community hospital in Japan.

ABSTRACT: Suicide is an increasingly serious public health care concern worldwide. The impact of decreased in-house psychiatric resources on emergency care for suicidal patients has not been thoroughly examined. We evaluated the effects of closing an in-hospital psychiatric ward on the prehospital and emergency ward length of stay (LOS) and disposition location in patients who attempted suicide.This was a retrospective before-and-after study at a community emergency department (ED) in Japan. On March 31, 2014, the hospital closed its 50 psychiatric ward beds and outpatient consultation days were decreased from 5 to 2 days per week. Electronic health record data of suicidal patients who were brought to the ED were collected for 5 years before the decrease in in-hospital psychiatric services (April 1, 2009-March 31, 2014) and 5 years after the decrease (April 1, 2014-March 31, 2019). One-to-one propensity score matching was performed to compare prehospital and emergency ward LOS, and discharge location between the 2 groups.Of the 1083 eligible patients, 449 (41.5%) were brought to the ED after the closure of the psychiatric ward. Patients with older age, burns, and higher comorbidity index values, and those requiring endotracheal intubation, surgery, and emergency ward admission, were more likely to receive ED care after the psychiatric ward closure. In the propensity matched analysis with 418 pairs, the after-closure group showed a significant increase in median prehospital LOS (44.0 minutes vs 51.0 minutes, P < .001) and emergency ward LOS (3.0 days vs 4.0 days, P = .014) compared with the before-closure group. The rate of direct home return was significantly lower in the after-closure group compared with the before-closure group (87.1% vs 81.6%, odds ratio: 0.66; 95% confidence interval: 0.45-0.96).The prehospital and emergency ward LOS for patients who attempted suicide in the study site increased significantly after a decrease in hospital-based mental health services. Conversely, there was significant reduction in direct home discharge after the decrease in in-house psychiatric care. These results have important implications for future policy to address the increasing care needs of patients who attempt suicide.

Improving Access to Psychotherapy: Implications of Wit Versus United Behavioral Health.

This column summarizes the verdict in the federal class action known as Wit v United Behavioral Health (UBH)/Optum, highlighting the verdict's implications for increasing access to care, implementing the mental health parity law, and reducing health disparities. Achieving these results requires recognition of the verdict as more than simply a nice news story, but as a decision that actually offers individual clinicians, their professional organizations, as well as patients, families, and their consumer organizations, a powerful tool for implementing change if they take up the task of learning how to use it. The verdict applies to outpatient treatment, including psychotherapy, along with 2 other levels of care: intensive outpatient programs and residential treatment.

Priority Given to Technology in Government-Based Mental Health and Addictions Vision and Strategy Documents: Systematic Policy Review.

BACKGROUND: The use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to deliver mental health and addictions (MHA) services is a global priority, especially considering the urgent shift towards virtual delivery of care in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is important to monitor the evolving role of technology in MHA services. Given that MHA policy documents represent the highest level of priorities for a government's vision and strategy for mental health care, one starting point is to measure the frequency with which technology is mentioned and the terms used to describe its use in MHA policy documents (before, during, and after COVID-19). Yet, to our knowledge, no such review of the extent to which ICTs are referred to in Canadian MHA policy documents exists to date. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this systematic policy review was to examine the extent to which technology is addressed in Canadian government-based MHA policy documents prior to the COVID-19 pandemic to establish a baseline for documenting change. METHODS: We reviewed 22 government-based MHA policy documents, published between 2011 and 2019 by 13 Canadian provinces and territories. We conducted content analysis to synthesize the policy priorities addressed in these documents into key themes, and then systematically searched for and tabulated the use of 39 technology-related keywords (in English and French) to describe and compare jurisdictions. RESULTS: Technology was addressed in every document, however, to a varying degree. Of the 39 searched keywords, we identified 22 categories of keywords pertaining to the use of technology to deliver MHA services and information. The 6 most common categories were tele (n=16/22), phone (n=12/22), tech (n=11/22), online (n=10/22), line (n=10/22), and web (n=10/22), with n being the number of policy documents in which the category was mentioned out of 22 documents. The use of terms referring to advanced technologies, such as virtual (n=6/22) and app (n= 4/22), were less frequent. Additionally, policy documents from some provinces and territories (eg, Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador) mentioned a diverse range of ICTs, whereas others described only 1 form of ICT. CONCLUSIONS: This review indicates that technology has been given limited strategic attention in Canadian MHA policy. Policy makers may have limited knowledge on the evidence and potential of using technology in this field, highlighting the value for knowledge translation and collaborative initiatives among policy makers and researchers. The development of a pan-Canadian framework for action addressing the integration and coordination of technology in mental health services can also guide initiatives in this field. Our findings provide a prepandemic baseline and replicable methods to monitor how the use of technology-supported services and innovations emerge relative to other priorities in MHA policy during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

California's Mental Health Services Act and Mortality Due to Suicide, Homicide, and Acute Effects of Alcohol: A Synthetic Control Application.

California's Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) substantially expanded funding of county mental health services through a state tax, and led to broad prevention efforts and intensive services for individuals experiencing serious mental disorders. We estimated the associations between MHSA and mortality due to suicide, homicide, and acute effects of alcohol. Using annual cause-specific mortality data for each US state and the District of Columbia from 1976-2015, we used a generalization of the quasi-experimental synthetic control method to predict California's mortality rate for each outcome in the absence of MHSA using a weighted combination of comparison states. We calculated the association between MHSA and each outcome as the absolute difference and percentage difference between California's observed and predicted average annual rates over the postintervention years (2007-2015). MHSA was associated with modest decreases in average annual rates of homicide (-0.81/100,000 persons, corresponding to a 13% reduction) and mortality from acute alcohol effects (-0.35/100,000 persons, corresponding to a 12% reduction). Placebo test inference suggested that the associations were unlikely to be due to chance. MHSA was not associated with suicide. Protective associations with mortality due to homicide and acute alcohol effects provide evidence for modest health benefits of MHSA at the population level.

Developing a Structure of Essential Services for a Child and Adolescent Mental Health System.

Policy Points That child and adolescent mental health services needs are frequently unmet has been known for many decades, yet few systemic solutions have been sought and fewer have been implemented at scale. Key among the barriers to improving child and adolescent mental health services has been the lack of well-organized primary mental health care. Such care is a mutual but uncoordinated responsibility of multiple disciplines and agencies. Achieving consensus on the essential structures and processes of mental health services is a feasible first step toward creating an organized system.

The Early Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Acute Care Mental Health Services.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explore the effects of COVID-19 and the lockdown measures adopted in England on patients with acute mental illness. METHODS: The authors analyzed referrals to the crisis resolution and home treatment (CRHT) team and inpatient admissions to acute adult wards, at Leicestershire Partnership National Health Service Trust, an integrated community and mental health trust in the United Kingdom. Number of CRHT referrals and inpatient admissions during a 4-week period starting March 16, 2020 ("COVID-19 period"), was studied and compared with the same period in 2018 and 2019 ("control periods"). Demographic and clinical characteristics of patients admitted during the COVID-19 period were compared with those admitted during the 2019 control period. RESULTS: The number of CRHT referrals and inpatient admissions were lower during the COVID-19 period, compared with the control periods, by approximately 12% and 20%, respectively. Patients admitted during the COVID-19 period were significantly more often detained under the Mental Health Act and were considered to pose a risk of aggression. The pattern of diagnoses differed significantly between 2020 and 2019. A higher percentage of patients admitted during the COVID-19 period were diagnosed as having nonaffective psychotic disorders (52% versus 35%) or bipolar disorder (25% versus 15%), and fewer received a diagnosis of depression (8% versus 16%), anxiety disorder (0% versus 3%), adjustment disorder (0% versus 8%), emotionally unstable personality disorder (6% versus 15%), or any other personality disorder (0% versus 5%) (p=0.01). CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that the pandemic has profoundly affected care by acute mental health services.

Telehealth Beyond COVID-19.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many mental health care services have been shifted from face-to-face to virtual interactions. Several health policy changes have influenced telehealth uptake during this time, including changes in technology, Internet connectivity, prescriptions, and reimbursement for services. These changes have been implemented for the duration of the pandemic, and it is unclear if all, some, or none of these new or amended policies will be retained after the pandemic has ended. Accordingly, in the wake of changing policies, mental health care providers will need to make decisions about the future of their telehealth programs. This article briefly reviews telehealth policy changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic and highlights what providers should consider for future delivery and implementation of their telehealth programs.

Achieving Access Parity for Inpatient Psychiatric Care Requires Repealing the Medicaid Institutions for Mental Disease Exclusion Rule.

Approximately 3.4% of Americans have a mental health condition and suicide is the 10th leading cause of death. While the rate of mental health conditions has slightly increased for adult populations, America's youth has experienced a significant rise in depression. From 2008 to 2017, occurrence of depression in the adolescent population increased from 8.3% to 13.3%. As adolescents mature into adults; it is likely the rate of mental health conditions for the adult population will rise as well as it is the common thread that binds the diseases of despair: drug abuse, alcoholism, and suicide. Arising out of the deinstitutionalization movement of the 1960s, the Medicaid Institutions for Mental Disease (IMD) Exclusion Rule (§1905(a)(B) of the Social Security Act) prohibits reimbursement for Medicaid recipients ages 21 to 64 years receiving inpatient care at a psychiatric hospital with 16 or more beds. Consequently, the rule limits payment for psychiatric treatment to general hospitals and smaller, nonspecialized centers, which blocks patients from receiving inpatient care and transfers the financial burden of care onto psychiatric hospitals. The IMD Rule is approaching its 55th anniversary. It requires reevaluation. Although a state waiver process is available, use of this option has the potential to increase the incidence of racial and ethnic disparities across states. Full repeal of the IMD Exclusion Rule could help provide immediate access to inpatient care that is consistent nationwide and be a vital step toward creating financial, treatment and ethical parity for mental health services.

Aligning dissemination and implementation science with health policies to improve children's mental health.

The prevalence of mental health problems among children (ages 0-21) in the United States remains unacceptably high and, post-COVID-19, is expected to increase dramatically. Decades of psychological knowledge about effective treatments should inform the delivery of better services. Dissemination and implementation (D&I) science has been heralded as a solution to the persistent problem of poor quality services and has, to some extent, improved our understanding of the contexts of delivery systems that implement effective practices. However, there are few studies demonstrating clear, population-level impacts of psychological interventions on children. Momentum is growing among communities, cities, states, and some federal agencies to build "health in all policies" to address broad familial, social, and economic factors known to affect children's healthy development and mental health. These health policy initiatives offer a rare opportunity to repurpose D&I science, shifting it from a primary focus on evidence-based practice implementation, to a focus on policy development and implementation to support child and family health and well-being. This shift is critical as states develop policy responses to address the health and mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on already-vulnerable families. We provide a typology for building research on D&I and children's mental health policy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Mental health, mental capacity, ethics, and the law in the context of COVID-19 (coronavirus).

The emergence of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic in late 2019 and early 2020 presented new and urgent challenges to mental health services and legislators around the world. This special issue of the International Journal of Law and Psychiatry explores mental health law, mental capacity law, and medical and legal ethics in the context of COVID-19. Papers are drawn from India, Australia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Portugal, and the United States. Together, these articles demonstrate the complexity of psychiatric and legal issues prompted by COVID-19 in terms of providing mental health care, protecting rights, exercising decision-making capacity, and a range of other topics. While further work is needed in many of these areas, these papers provide a strong framework for addressing key issues and meeting the challenges that COVID-19 and, possibly, other outbreaks are likely to present in the future.

"It's about how much we can do, and not how little we can get away with": Coronavirus-related legislative changes for social care in the United Kingdom.

The coronavirus pandemic, referred to here as Covid-19, has brought into sharp focus the increasing divergence of devolved legislation and its implementation in the United Kingdom. One such instance is the emergency health and social care legislation and guidance introduced by the United Kingdom Central Government and the devolved Governments of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in response to this pandemic. We provide a summary, comparison and discussion of these proposed and actual changes with a particular focus on the impact on adult social care and safeguarding of the rights of citizens. To begin, a summary and comparison of the relevant changes, or potential changes, to mental health, mental capacity and adult social care law across the four jurisdictions is provided. Next, we critique the suggested and actual changes and in so doing consider the immediate and longer term implications for adult social care, including mental health and mental capacity, at the time of publication.several core themes emerged: concerns around process and scrutiny; concerns about possible changes to the workforce and last, the possible threat on the ability to safeguard human rights. It has been shown that, ordinarily, legislative provisions across the jurisdictions of the UK are different, save for Wales (which shares most of its mental health law provisions with England). Such divergence is also mirrored in the way in which the suggested emergency changes could be implemented. Aside from this, there is also a wider concern about a lack of parity of esteem between social care and health care, a concern which is common to all. What is interesting is that the introduction of CVA 2020 forced a comparison to be made between the four UK nations which also shines a spotlight on how citizens can anticipate receipt of services.