Mental Health Care Policy Analysis

As a mental health and substance abuse provider for the last fifteen years, knowing the history, judicial content of our federal laws, as it relates to Connecticut’s policy will be important. Policies have a big impact on people’s mental health and addictions services. They control how much we have to pay for treatment, what providers are available, and how our care is coordinated and supported(Karger, & Stoesz, 2014) . In addition, policies also control important accommodations and supports in areas like employment, housing, criminal justice, and education. Consequently, mental health and substance abuse are major public health problems,and a large portion of drug treatment is funded by local, State, and Federal governments. The history

Out of that report came the era of deinstitutionalization which led to an overhaul of the mental health policy for the last hundred years. Deinstitutionalization efforts at first was a reflection largely on the international movement facilitated by the development of a variety of antipsychotic drugs (Garcia, 2010). In addition to reform the asylum-based mental health care system and move toward community-oriented care, based on the belief that psychiatric patients would have a higher quality of life if treated in their communities rather than in large, unformed, and isolated mental hospitals(Karger, & Stoesz,

These issues are longstanding and were detailed in another report in 2001 by the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Mental Health. Furthermore, the problems of the mental health and substance use delivery system that existed in 2000 are identical to those facing us today(OHA, 2013). Problems like gridlock in state hospitals and in the emergency rooms and inpatient units of our general hospitals and the need for more community options in order that children and adults may receive appropriate services in the least restrictive environment, needs immediate