Mental and Psychosocial Health of Individuals - Essay Example

Health Policy Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Mental Health Policy Introduction Mental Health Policy is formulated in the context of enhancing mental and psychosocial health of individuals. Conflicts across families and community environment prove to be the preliminary cause of various mental conditions that resultantly reduces the quality of life leading to the development of debilitating conditions. The mental health policy caters to these requirements and facilitates the process of recovery from the psychosocial and mental diseases among the affected patients. This health policy further safeguards the rights of the mentally ill patients and allows them effective collaboration with healthcare professionals and psychologists during the course of treatment interventions. The mental health policy extends provisions related to the prophylactic and preventive treatment of psychological conditions of individuals across the community environment. The policy proactively identifies the underprivileged and impoverished sections of society and recommends measures for enhancing their social and mental well-being. This policy advocates the equitable administration of healthcare interventions to all sections of the society for reducing the burden of diseases and reciprocal enhancement of health outcomes. Evidence-Based Scope and Significance of the Health Policy Evidence-based clinical literature advocates the contention related to the exacerbation of mental diseases under the influence of potential psychosocial conflicts and natural calamities (Jenkins, Baingana, Ahmad, McDaid, & Atun, 2011). Mental conditions possess the potential for intensifying the manifestations of the pre-existing disorders, thereby creating room for the development of mental health policies for stabilizing the psychosomatic and emotional status of the affected patients. Literature review conducted by Sinha & Kaur (2011) reveals 10% attribution of neuropsychiatric diseases among adult individuals across the Indian subcontinent. Furthermore, inequitable medical assistance to the mentally ill patients belonging to the poor sections of society warrants the configuration of effective mental health policy for elevating the awareness of these individuals regarding clinical manifestations of mental disorders and mitigation of the treatment gaps. Mental health policy across the Australian subcontinent advocates the requirement of multidisciplinary integration of healthcare services for treating the episodes of substance abuse and other mental conditions encountered in the state of medical emergencies (Grace, et al., 2015). The conventions of the mental health policy encourage the extension of primary care as well as diagnostic interventions to the patient population with the objective of identifying the mental illnesses at their preliminary stages in the context of providing requisite treatment and referring the cases of acute mental conditions to the concerned neurologists or psychiatrists for enhancing the patient outcomes and reducing the progression of psychosocial conditions across the community environment. The objective of the mental health policy attributes to the enhancement of effective coordination between healthcare professionals and the patient population for minimizing the space between observed and perceived healthcare requirements (Salvador-Carulla, Costa-Font, Cabases, McDaid, & Alonso, 2013). The other aim of this policy relates to the enhancement of quality of rendered mental care services to the eligible subjects. The mental health policy advocates the utilization of evidence-based healthcare principles for acquiring the health outcomes. The policy encourages mutual collaboration between healthcare practitioners and social workers in the context of providing qualitative psychosocial care to the patients affected with mental conditions. The elements of mental health policy include the provision of extending primary care services to patients to facilitate secondary prevention strategies for reducing the burden of mental diseases across the community environment (Gentil, 2011). The policy encourages the organization of psychosocial attention centers with the provision of psychiatric beds for treating the conditions attributing to substance abuse, bipolar disorder, panic states and anxiety. Evidence-based research literature describes the state of economic loss in relation to the untreated mental conditions leading to elevated absenteeism and dropouts across work and school (NGUI, KHASAKHALA, NDETEI, & ROBERTS, 2011). Limitations in terms of accessing mental healthcare facilities result in the state of consistent suffering among patients as well as their families. The mental health policy attempts in effectively surpassing these inequalities in healthcare of mentally ill patients in the context of reducing the burden of mental diseases and their associated implications across the community environment. The consistent deficits in the treatment of mentally ill patients’ results in the development of life threatening conditions and premature deaths that the mental health policy attempts to mitigate with the effective implementation of healthcare interventions and associated legislations. The prioritization of the individualized requirements of mentally ill patients warranted in accordance with the stipulations of mental health policy for effectively enhancing the health outcomes. Integration of psychiatric care services across primary health centers assists in the early identification of mental health problems among individuals for their timely treatment. The mental health policy advocates the deployment of additional psychiatrists across the primary care centers and the provision of training programs for primary care physicians in the context of enhancing their potential for identifying and treating mental disorders at their initial stages of development. The research study by Bressington, Mui, Hulbert, Cheung, Bradford, and Gray (2014) evaluated the effectiveness of health improvement screening program for enhancing the mental status of the patients affected with serious psychiatric problems across Hong Kong. The findings of the research study advocate the significance of health screening program in enhancing the health outcomes among patients affected with serious mental conditions. The mental health policy incorporates this health screening approach in clinical practice for effectively tracking and treating the mental manifestations of patients across the community environment. Research literature provides evidence in relation to the absence of an appropriate mental health policy for reducing the burden of mental illnesses among pediatric patients across the Canadian locations. Indeed, lack of an adequate mental health policy results in the intensification of mental conditions and considerable development of their manifestations and related mortalities among the affected individuals. This affects the health of individuals at the community level that reciprocally extends economic as well as psychosocial deficits across the societies. Evidence-based research literature advocates the contention related to the implications of mental disorders in terms of elevating the burden of diseases across the globe (Ssebunnya, 2012). The mental health policy provides significant mandates in terms of extending mental healthcare services to the underdeveloped nations as well as countries dominated by people of middle and low-income groups. The evaluation of the progression of age related mental manifestations warranted by the mental health policy in the context of equitably extending healthcare services to the patient population. Furthermore, the provision of extending person-centered care and therapy to the elderly patients affected with mental conditions advocated by the mental health policy in the context of enhancing the life expectancy and quality of life of these individuals across the community environment (Hulatt, 2014, p. 82). The proactive determination of risk factors for mental conditions assists healthcare professionals in extending prophylactic and preventive treatment to individuals predisposed to the development of psychosocial manifestations. Effective mental health policy incorporates the provision of these prophylactic strategies for decreasing the proportion of mental illnesses across the society. Research findings by Drake & Lactimer (2012) reveal the dissatisfaction of American patients affected with mental conditions to the mental care services rendered by the healthcare professionals. This dissatisfaction might result from the incapacity of these services in producing the desirable outcomes or lack of compliance to the proposed interventions by the patient population over a predefined period. The mental health policy takes into consideration these significant factors while configuring healthcare approaches for the mentally ill patients. The mental health policy advocates the requirement of extending community based interventions to the elderly patients affected with psychosomatic disabilities. The policy warrants the requirement of effective coordination between health care professionals from multiple clinical specialties for rehabilitating the physically challenged and mentally ill patients across the community environment. The objective of an effective mental health policy attributes to the facilitation of a speedy recovery of mentally ill patients with the enhancement of their quality of life and provision of family interventions. The mental health policy provides conventions and care pathways for enhancing the health profile of mentally challenged individuals (NCCMH, 2011). These pathways provide stipulations for dealing with scenarios requiring referrals and psychiatrist consultation across the community based and primary care settings while reducing the barriers to mental health services for the eligible subjects. The attributions of mental health policy warrants the inclusion of the refugee population in the context of extending mental care services for enhancing the health outcomes (Minas, et al., 2013). The accomplishment of this objective requires the configuration of mental care interventions across any particular location while evaluating the cultural diversity of that region and the contentions of the local residents for equitably providing these interventions to the mental patients irrespective of their origin, nationality and background. Mental care reforms in accordance with the mental health policy require the formulation of transcultural conventions for extending empathy and social assistance to the patients affected with various mental abnormalities. The mental health policy configured to determine the root cause of mental disorders and their negative influence on the occupation of individuals in the context of proactively eliminating these determinants for reducing the progression of mental manifestations across the community environment. Mechanisms for Implementing Mental Health Policy Effective collaboration between state health authorities and local communities is necessarily required in the context of implementing the conventions of mental health policy across the community environment. Healthcare practitioners need to configure patient friendly and person-centered environment while extending healthcare interventions to the patients affected with mental morbidities and co-morbid states. This will facilitate the effective implementation of the elements of mental health policy while experiencing minimum resistance from the patient population. Healthcare professionals require gathering clinical facts from medical emergencies and complicated healthcare scenarios and seek assistance from the conventions of mental health policy for minimizing the burden of mental abnormalities across the community environment. The provision of extending education sessions to patients and their caretakers regarding attaining awareness of various mental manifestations and associated complications will facilitate their compliance to the recommended treatment conventions in the context of reducing the length of patients’ stay across the mental care facilities. Furthermore, enhancing the knowledge of primary care practitioners regarding the effective tracking of psychosocial abnormalities will assist them in referring the mentally ill patients to the concerned specialists at the initial stage of disease progression. Empathizing with mentally ill patients is necessarily required to elevate their compliance to the ingredients of mental health policy during the course of mental care interventions. The extension of the provision of mental health care services to patients’ homes will enhance their accessibility to the recommended interventions and reciprocally increase their predisposition towards recovery from the debilitating mental manifestations. The effective coordination between occupational therapists, psychiatrists, nurses, paramedical personnel, physicians and other healthcare teams during the course of mental care interventions will facilitate the implementation of mental health policy across the clinical settings. Periodic sessions between healthcare teams and patients and their families warranted in the context of spreading awareness regarding the positive implications of mental health policy and its associated benefits in the context of enhancing its compliance among healthcare teams as well as patient communities. Conclusion Inequalities in treating patient population affected with mental abnormalities require effective mitigation with the implementation of mental health policy for elevating the scope of patient outcomes. However, the potential barriers encountered in the implementation of mental health policy require effective tracking for configuring strategies in the context of surpassing these barriers during the course of mental care interventions. Enhancement of the level of awareness regarding the stipulations of mental health policy among physicians as well as the patient population facilitates its implementation across the targeted locations. Coordinated interventions by the governmental as well as social agencies warranted in the context of implementing comprehensive and multidisciplinary approaches of mental health policy for promoting the psychosocial health of the affected patients. The mental health policy advocates the early identification of individuals experiencing risk of developing complex mental conditions for extending preventive interventions to enhance the wellness outcomes. The conventions of mental health policy provide evidence-based pathways for treating the mentally ill patients and reducing the scope of relapse of mental conditions following the successful extension of healthcare interventions. Respecting the rights and dignity of mentally ill patients, and provision of equitable health care services prove to be the significant attributes of mental health policy warranted to elevate the quality of mental care interventions and subsequent patient outcomes. 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