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Mental Health

Application For 72-hour Detention For Evaluation And Treatment

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DEFINITIONS

GRAVELY DISABLED

“Gravely Disabled” means a condition in which a person, as a result of a mental disorder, is unable to provided for his or her basic personal needs for food, clothing and shelter. SECTION 5008 (h) W & I CODE “Gravely Disabled Minor” means a minor who, as a result of a mental disorder, is unable to use the elements of life which are essential to health, safety, and development, including food, clothing, and shelter, even though provided to the minor by others.

SECTION 5585.25 W & I CODE Mental retardation, epilepsy, or other developmental disabilities, alcoholism, other drug abuse, or repeated antisocial behavior do not by themselves, constitute a mental disorder.

PEACE OFFICER “Peace Officer” means a duly sworn peace officer as that term is defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2 of the Penal Code who has completed...

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Substance Abuse & Mental Health Toolkit

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INTRODUCTION

Stress, depression, anxiety, chemical dependency, substance abuse, and other mental health conditions and impairments among law students are problems that continue to spark a national dialogue among faculty, administrators, and students. While students enter law school suffering from clinical stress and depression at a rate that mirrors the national average, the rate sharply increases during the first year of law school. Through the duration of their legal education, the rates of law students grappling with substance abuse and mental health problems increase dramatically. If unrecognized and untreated, these issues can carry into their professional careers.

Consider the following from the 2014 Survey of Law Student Well-Being:
- 89.6% of respondents have had a drink of alcohol in the last 30 days.
- 21.6% reported binge drinking at least twice in the past two weeks.
- 20.4% have thought seriously about suicide sometime in their life.
- 6.3% have thought seriously about suicide in the last 12 months.

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Complementary & Alternative Medicine for Mental Health

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This outline is a comparative research-based approach to that question. While some activities, like exercise, are good for everyone who is physically able to do them and have no uncontrollable side effects, most decisions about CAM treatment options, and especially the decisions faced by people coping with serious mental health conditions, involve trade-offs. Nonetheless, 40% or more of Americans treat themselves with CAM without professional supervision, often without disclosing it to their psychiatrist or primary care provider. Moreover, many patients who use CAM remedies also take prescription antidepressants, risking potentially dangerous adverse herb/drug interactions. While most natural psychotropics are generally safe, they are not risk free, and the common public misconception that natural products are inherently safe has been refuted by predictions and reports of toxic reactions from these agents, which may be due to intrinsic toxicity, ,, or interaction with other herbs or drugs...

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Mental Health Outcomes Measuring for Quality and Accountability

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With accountability pressures and growing concerns about quality of services, managers, practitioners, and system planners need resources to measure the outcomes of the services they provide and should be aware of the best efforts to measure client outcomes and services effectiveness. This newsletter provides resources for program administrators, managers, policy makers, and others about the implementation and use of outcome measurement. The drive toward accountability that is occurring in the mental health field is explored, as are other reasons for measuring client outcomes. Outcome measures and instruments developed as part of multi-site studies sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) are described inside; and can serve as a valuable resource in planning an evaluation or quality assurance initiative. Also included is a set of considerations when planning and conducting a program outcome evaluation....

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Covert Behavior And Mental Terms: A Reply To Moore

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In a recent paper, Moore (2001) compares the behavior analytic treatment of so-called mental phenomena with other behaviorist approaches, in particular, with logical behaviorism and conceptual analysis (see also Moore, 1980, 1981, 1995). Moore concludes that behavior analysis gives a more adequate account of the phenomena than the other positions. In this note, I will argue that the behavior analytic treatment has itself some fundamental shortcomings. These problems are avoided if we adopt a behaviorist theory that has the following features: (i) it only accepts the existence of entities (factors, events, states, etc.) if this existence is supported by empirical evidence, (ii) it is based on Quine’s materialist repudiation theory which assigns no role at all to mental entities, (iii) it acknowledges the well documented fact that organisms can acquire new behavior not only by operant conditioning but also by being exposed to the pairing of two (salient) stimuli.

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Criminal Justice Standards On Mental Health

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PART I: THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM AND THE MENTAL HEALTH SYSTEM

Standard 7-1.1. Terminology

(a) Unless otherwise specified, these Standards adopt the definition of “mental disorder” found in the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association.* In the settings addressed by the Standards, mental disorder is most likely to encompass mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorders; developmental disabilities that affect intellectual and adaptive functioning; and substance use disorders that develop from repeated and extensive abuse of drugs or alcohol or some combination thereof.

(b) “Mental health professional,” as used in these Standards, includes psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and psychiatric nurses and other clinicians with expertise in the evaluation and treatment of mental disorders.

(c) “Mental health evaluation,” appearing throughout the Standards as “evaluation,” means an evaluation by a mental health professional of an individual accused of, charged with, or convicted of a criminal offense or detained by the police for the purpose of assessing:

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Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Parity

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The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) of 2008 requires health insurers and group health plans to provide the same level of benefits for mental and/or substance use treatment and services that they do for medical/surgical care. MHPAEA was expanded to ensure that qualified plans offered on the Health Insurance Marketplace cover many behavioral health treatments and services.

Introduction

The Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA) is a federal law that generally prevents group health plans and health insurance issuers that provide mental health or substance use disorder (MH/SUD) benefits from imposing less favorable benefit limitations on those benefits than on medical/surgical benefits.

See Also: The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA)

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Long-Term Consequences of Adolescent Gang Membership for Adult Functioning

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Research has consistently shown that gang membership has proximal adverse consequences during adolescence that, in turn, lead to significant social and economic costs. Active gang members are much more likely than their nongang peers to engage in criminal behavior, especially serious and violent offending; in addition, they are more likely to be involved in drug use and selling,5 have more difficulties in school, and are more likely to be violently victimized.3 However, with few exceptions, there is scant research on possible broader, long-term public health consequences of gang membership. Levitt and Vankatesh,8 in a 10-year follow up of a sample of Chicago youths, found that those who reported being in a gang during adolescence were more likely to be arrested and incarcerated as adults, were more likely to rely on illegal income, and had obtained less formal education than their nongang peers. When they controlled for background characteristics such as home environment and early school performance, only the relationship between...

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Gangs and Adolescent Mental Health: a Narrative Review

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Abstract

This study presents a narrative review of the literature on gang culture and its association with mental health, including an in-depth overview of the topic area and reference to key systematic reviews and meta-analyses. This review will define gang culture, discuss the multiple interacting reasons (biological, psychological and social) why some young people may be attracted to gangs; and the psychiatric morbidities associated with being part of a gang. Gang culture and some adolescent mental health problems are intricately linked. This paper highlights ways in which research, practice and policy could be extended to minimise the injurious effects of gang culture on adolescent mental health

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Gang Members 25% More Likely To Develop Mental Health Disorders Due To Perpetual Violence

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Gangs and gang violence are a major public health problem. Violence is necessary for building and maintaining group cohesion in gangs, and is instrumental for robberies and intimidation, a major way by which gang members make a living. Violence is also essential to their control of illegal drugs markets. So gangs are not just friends hanging out; they are serious menaces to society.

But are gang members also menaces to themselves and their mental health?

A new study of 4,664 men aged 18 to 34 in Britain served to identify associations between violent behaviors and mental issues or use of mental health services, highlighting the specific effects of gang membership.

Of the men surveyed, 70 percent reported that they had not been violent in the past five years, 27 percent said they had assaulted another person or been involved in a fight, and two percent, or 108 of the men, said they were currently a member of a gang. Using these

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Preserving Mental Health During Unemployment

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Our nation is facing unprecedented rates of unemployment as well as job insecurity and dissatisfaction. Recent figures put the national jobless rate at close to 10%, not including those who left the workforce or those staying in unsatisfying jobs. In a culture that values the work role and external signs of status, wealth and achievement above all else. it is not surprising that rates of anxiety and mental disorders are increasing and that more prescriptions for anti-anxiety and anti-depressant medications are being written every day.

Effects on Communities

Foreclosures affect the property values of surrounding homes and lack of money for home maintenance can lead to neglect. Public schools that rely on charitable contributions from parents for enrichment activities, aides, and additional study materials may be forced to offer less well-rounded educational programs and special needs services when parents can no longer afford these contributions. Parents who have...

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Poverty and Mental Health

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There is a growing contribution of mental health problems to the global disease burden - neuropsychiatric disorders now account for about 13% of the total.[1]

The link between individual poverty and mental health is well known.[2]The relationship between poor mental health and health inequality within neighbourhoods is, however, more complex.

One study found that living in neighbourhoods with the highest levels of income inequality was significantly associated with better mental health. The authors forwarded several explanations for these somewhat surprising findings. These included an increase in social capital (the collective value of social networks) in areas with low deprivation and a reduction in the risk of stress experienced by persons living in deprived areas.[3] The 'social capital' concept is supported by a study which found that older people in Hertfordshire, UK, who had a strong sense of cohesion within their neighbourhood and reported fewer neighbourhood problems, had higher levels of mental well-being.[4]

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Position Statement 22: Involuntary Mental Health Treatment

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Policy

Mental Health America (MHA) believes that effective protection of human rights and the best hope for recovery from mental illness comes from access to voluntary mental health treatment and services that are comprehensive, community-based, recovery-oriented and culturally and linguistically competent. It is essential that the rights of persons with mental health conditions to make decisions concerning their treatment be respected. MHA urges states to adopt laws that reflect the paramount value of maximizing the dignity, autonomy and self-determination of persons affected by mental health conditions. Voluntary admissions to treatment and services should be made more truly voluntary, and the use of advance directives should be implemented.

MHA believes that involuntary treatment should only occur as a last resort and should be limited to instances where persons pose a serious risk of physical harm to themselves or others in the near future and to circumstances when no less...

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Mental Health Grantmaking

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In the paper “What Do We Really Know About Foundations' Funding of Mental Health?” Ruth Tebbets Rousseau and Andrew D. Hyman present findings from their brief scan of quantitative data from the Foundation Center and qualitative information from foundation leaders. The authors note that grantmaking for mental health continues to decline as a proportion of health funding through 2006, with the top ten grantmakers in this area providing nearly 50% of grant dollars.

How can the mental health community and funders address this decline in giving, and identify areas to focus on? As mentioned in our last blog post, the nonprofit sector is gravitating toward integrated systems to assess nonprofit impact at the field level, and these approaches may help discover successful mental health programs and priority areas where more funding can be directed to.

In addition, Brousseau and Hyman note that since mental health is often an aspect of broader program areas, tracking and anal

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Urbanization and Mental Health

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Urbanization, defined as the increase in the number of cities and urban population, is not only a demographic movement but also includes, social, economic and psychological changes that constitute the demographic movement. It is a process that leads to the growth of cities due to industrialization and economic development (M. Tayfun Turan, Aslı Besirl 2008). The rapid increase in urban population worldwide is one among the important global health issues of the 21st century. According to the projections of the United Nations Population Division, by 2030, more people in the developing world will live in urban than rural areas; by 2050, two-thirds of its population is likely to be urban. The scenario in India is also affected by this trend. In India approximately 28% of the India’s population lives in cities and this is expected to increase to 41% by the year 2020 (UN World Urbanization Prospects 2008).

Urbanization brings with it a...

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The Impact of Mental Illness Stigma on Seeking and Participating in Mental Health Care

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Court-based problem-solving initiatives seek to address the growing number of mentally ill defendants that have entered the criminal justice system by focusing on the immediate pressures that have led to the development of the mental health court strategy, as well as the challenging applications for this therapeutically oriented judicial approach.

Links to related online resources are listed below. Non-digitized publications may be borrowed from the NCSC Library; call numbers are provided.

Mental Health Court Performance Measures (MHCPM). MHCPM is a set of 14 performance measures that offers court managers and administrators a tool to monitor the performance of mental health courts.

Developing a Mental Health Court: An Interdisciplinary Curriculum. The National Center for State Courts partnered with Council of State Governments to develop this free curriculum for courts wishing to develop a mental health court.

Waters, Nicole L. State Standards: Building Better Mental Health Courts. (2015). As formal mental health courts (MHCs) enter their third decade in existence, policymakers...

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