SHATTERING THE STIGMA HEALTH CARE | BY TIM LOUIS MACALUSO
or much of the last century, the subject of mental health has been locked away in the public psyche, to be dragged out only after tragic events seize national attention: the student who walks into school with a loaded gun, the mother who drowns her children in the bathtub, or the veteran who kills his family and then commits suicide after months of coping with post-traumatic stress. But after years of being viewed somewhat disjointedly from physical health, mental health is finally being seen as equally important. Advances in medications and therapeutic approaches have made most mental illnesses treatable, experts say. But promoting good mental health is a complex, multifaceted challenge, especially in lower-income communities where many individuals may not have health insurance and access can be difficult. “In general, we have a good array of mentalhealth services in Monroe County,” says Patricia
This is the first installment of a two-part series on mental health attitudes, research, and available services in the Rochester region.
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DECEMBER 11-17, 2013
Woods, president and CEO of the Mental Health Association’s Monroe County office. “Where we’re weakest is in prevention. The system is designed to have you get very sick first, and then we’ll treat you. It mirrors in many ways the physical health system.” To address this, researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center are pioneering new ways to deliver mental-health services. While many people still visit a professional in the traditional clinical office setting, URMC has been creating treatment models built on a reverse premise: that mental health professionals need to bring treatment to the people. Many of URMC’s mental-health professionals are getting out of the medical center’s offices and venturing into the Rochester community. Dr. Eric Caine, chair of the URMC’s Department of Psychiatry and a national specialist on suicide prevention, refers to this new model as an “alternate mental health system.” Instead of running a community clinic, he says, the community is the clinic. This first installment of a two-part series examines the state of mental health treatment in Rochester, what’s being done to provide quality services to large numbers of people who need help but aren’t getting it, and how new research may encourage healthier communities across the country.
Mental illness is increasingly widespread in the US,
affecting roughly one in five adults every year, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Nearly 46 million adults had a diagnosable mental illness in 2011, with depression and anxiety topping the list, according to NAMI. But not everyone seeks or receives treatment. In a 2007 study, the US Centers for Disease Control found that only 38 percent of people with serious psychological disorders had received treatment that year. Getting people into treatment has been hampered historically by the stigma surrounding mental illness. It is not only feared, but it also has an uncanny ability to co-exist with other health disorders. Most troubling is the mistaken belief that mentally ill individuals are violent, dangerous, and poised to erupt without notice or cause, when research clearly shows that’s not true. People