MENTAL HEALTH

Mental Health

Table of Contents

Background1

Literature Review3

Key Research Findings4

Crossing the Boundaries: Why Interdisciplinary Research is Needed7

Nursing Models for Mental Health Practices8

Strategies and Activities10

Current Trend/Development within Mental Health Practices11

Statutory and Non-Statutory Initiatives for Mental Health Promotion11

Case Studies15

Case Study 115

Description of Subject's Mental Health Promotion Needs15

Implementation and Outcomes17

Case Study 217

Development20

Social Context21

Training22

Themes, Priorities, and Recommendations23

Priority Area 1: Basic Science and the Development of New Interventions24

Priority Area 2: Intervention Development, Moving From Efficacy to Effectiveness24

Priority Area 3: Intervention Deployment, Moving From Effectiveness to Dissemination25

Major Recommendations26

Conclusion27

References29

Appendices31

Student Self - Assessment on Course Learning Outcomes31

Initial Interview between student & designated medical supervisor (DMP)33

Midpoint Interview with DMP35

Final Interview with DMP37

Date----1st March, 201237

Consultation skills37

Prescribing Practice40

Competency40

Professional practice42

Sign Off Form45

Clinical Management Plan46

Patient # 1: Claire46

Patient # 2: Mary47

Mental Health

Background

The development of two incongruent bodies of evidence in the 1990s created a context in which renewed attention was paid to the problems faced by children and adolescents with mental disorders. The first of these involved new scientific discoveries in both basic and clinical research. Basic research pointed to the plasticity of the brain and, in certain neural systems, to the ability of the environment to influence neural circuitry during childhood. Progress in developmental neuroscience and genetics, for example, illuminated how the brain functioned at the molecular, cellular, and neural systems levels. These discoveries led to excitement in psychiatry because of their potential for uncovering new treatments or preventive strategies. Significant discoveries were also made during the 1990s demonstrating that genes and the environment interact throughout children's development in ways that are not simply additive, and, further, that certain genes may confer susceptibility to certain psychiatric disorders. Again, the potential application of these findings for early identification and treatment was noteworthy. At the same time as these discoveries were being made in the neurosciences, new clinical research evidence was accumulating to demonstrate that a variety of treatments, spanning behavioral, pharmacological, and combined modalities, could positively alter children's outcomes and developmental trajectories. Yet intervention development has occurred quite independently of the evolving knowledge base in the basic sciences.

The second (more societally driven) body of evidence, however, was no less forceful but far more sobering. This involved recognition of the unrelentingly high rates of mental illness experienced by children and adolescents in the United States and the mounting evidence of the personal and societal burdens that these illnesses impose. In fact, the rates of mental disorders among children and adolescents in this country have remained consistently high over the past two to three decades, despite significant scientific advances in neuroscience and in clinical treatment. Complicating this gap between the increasing scientific knowledge base and the high prevalence of mental illness in children is the continued fragmentation of the service system. Repeated concerns have been voiced at the highest levels of government about the disconnections between research-based treatments and their adoption into clinical practice. In consequence of these developments and the ethical imperative to make science usable and to deploy science for improving practice, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), under the directorship of Steven ...