Mental illness prevention

Invent medicines that go beyond treatment to provide cure or prevention of life-limiting conditions and diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer s disease, mental illness, and diabetes. 

Lickey ME, Gordon B. (1991). Medicine and Mental Illness. New York W. H. Freeman and Company. Linde K, Ramirez G, Mulrow CD, Pauls A, Weidenhammer W, Melchart D. (1996). St. John s wort for depression—an overview and meta-analysis of randomised clinical trials. BMJ. 313(7052) 253-58. Lingjaerde 0, Foreland AR, Magnusson A. (1999). Can winter depression be prevented by Ginkgo biloba extract A placebo-controlled trial. Acta Psychlatr Scand. 100(1) 62-66. 

The second force is the desire to ameliorate, prevent, and cure mental illness. Mental illness is the cause of enormous human suffering, both to the victims and their families and friends. Beyond that, the social and economic costs are huge. 

Although the Brady Bill failed in its first attempt at passage in 1991, Congress passed the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act in November 1993. The law established a five-day waiting period, after which the gun could be sold if the purchaser met an expanded list of requirements. (In addition to barring convicted felons and the mentally ill, the law also barred from gun purchase anyone who was currently under a court order for stalking or harassment.)... 

The first half of the 20th century brought further attempts to use drugs and other therapies to treat mental illness. For example, tests were conducted on the effectiveness of giving amphetamines to depressed and narcoleptic patients, and carbon dioxide inhalation procedures were used in the treatment of illnesses referred to as psychoses and neuroses. Also used in the treatment of psychoses were antihistamines, insulin shock, and psychosurgery. Electroshock therapy was used to treat severe depression (a procedure still used today). Finally, in 1949 an Australian physician named John Cade discovered that the alkali metal lithuim successfully moderated manic conditions, although concerns about toxic reactions to it prevented its approval for use in the United States until 1970. Lithium remains a mainstay in the treatment of bipolar illnesses today. 

Paul GI, Menditto AA Effectiveness of inpatient treatment programs for mentally ill adults in public psychiatric facilities. Applied Preventive Psychology 1 41-63,1992... 

Therapeutic activity refers to the successful prevention, diagnosis and treatment of physical and mental illnesses, improvement of symptoms of illnesses, as well as beneficial alteration or regulation of the physical and mental status of the body and development of a sense of general well-being. 

Attimes, it can be challenging to gather needed information from patients suffering from mental illness, as their condition prevents them from fully cooperating with the assessment. A range of strategies can be used to gather the needed... 

Of all the psychotic disorders, schizophrenia is often considered the most devastating (Breier, 1996) and to date no known prevention or cure exists (Carpenter, 1996). At a conference to update professionals on the newer antipsychotic medications several speakers who were psychiatrists stated that because of managed care and its handling of those clients few professionals would compete to serve psychotic disordered clients. The authors sadly concur with the truth of these statements, as there is indeed little interest in building practices that primarily assist clients who suffer from this type of mental illness. 

The suspicion that, in the final analysis, mental illness is a disease sui generis, unique among diseases, is confirmed by the fact that it is the only disease believed to be capable of causing and excusing crime. In possessing this property, mental illness combines functions previously attributed to the Devil and God. Also, mental illness is the only disease that justifies, as hospitalization, the preventive detention of persons deemed dangerous to themselves and/or others and the incarceration of persons deemed to be sexual predators who have served their prison sentences. 

Vitamin C has also been recommended in the treatment or prevention of the common cold, mental illness, infertility, cancer, and AIDS. These treatments have aroused great controversy and are more or less discountenanced by the mainstream of medical opinion. 

From the foregoing we may safely conclude that psychiatric opinion about homosexuals is not a scientific proposition but a medical prejudice. It is pertinent to recall here that the more attention the inquisitors paid to witchcraft, the more the witches multiplied. The same principle applies to mental illness in general, and to homosexuality in particular. Zealous efforts to eradicate and prevent such disorders actually create the conditions in which the assumption and ascription of such roles flourish. 

Suspect problems with weighing where Ben s answers either keep overlooking inportant issues, or he seems too inpulsive in choosing an outcome. Mental illness may prevent him from giving adequate weight to inportant arguments, e.g. 

Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration—Programs concerned with the prevention and treatment of alcoholism, drug addiction, and mental illness are conducted by this agency. 

Public concern over the deficiencies of current systems of care for the mentally ill grew in the 1950s and culminated in the landmark Community Mental Health Centers Act of 1963, which emphasized services in the community. Prevention of mental illness through consultation and education was one of the ultimate goals, and schools were seen as ideal settings in which to implement these aims (Caplan, 1970). 

Sponsoring Agency. The Children s and Communities Mental Health Services Improvement Act of 1992 authorized the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families Program (ccmhp), which is administered by the Center for Mental Health Services/Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (samhsa). samhsa is mandated to improve the quality and availability of prevention, treatment, and rehabilitative services for mental illness and substance abuse in order to reduce illness, death, disability, and other societal cost caused by these problems (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2002). The Center for Mental Health Services (CMHs), placed within samhsa, aims to improve the availability and accessibility of high-quality care for people affected by or at risk for mental disorders and works toward the development of an effective community-based mental health infrastructure for the nation (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2002). 

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