Mental Health

Question 1

Mental Health

Answer 1

a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realize their abilities, learn well and work well, and contribute to their community

Question 2

Mental Disorder/Illness

Answer 2

“health conditions involving changes in emotion, thinking or behavior (or a combination of these). Mental illnesses can be associated with distress and/or problems functioning in social, work or family activities

Question 3

Medical

Answer 3

mental disorders are a ____ probelm

Question 4

Why is it hard to create policy around mental health?

Answer 4

• hard to cover all areas of mental health
• Hard to tackle mental health, because there are so many policies in every aspect of life that would need to be implemented

Question 5

Why is it hard to separate mental and physical health?

Answer 5

Many of them follow in the scope of mental, and physical
mental disorder may oresent physical symptoms, vice versa

Question 6

____ Canadians experience mental illness in a given year

Answer 6

1/5 (20%)

Question 7

What age group in Canada is more likely to experience mental illness?

Answer 7

Age 15-24

Question 8

Do all Canadians experience mental illness by the time the reach adulthood?

Answer 8

By the time Canadians reach age 40, 1/2 (50%) have - or will have experienced - a mental illness

Question 9

Which vulnerable group is most likely to suffer from mental disorder/illness?

Answer 9

Canadians in the lowest income group are 3-4x more likely than those in the highest income group to report poor to fair mental health

Question 10

Which age group should be targeted for mental health interventions/education policies based on statistics?

Answer 10

age 15-24
- education and intervention in highschools and post secondary schools

Question 11

What are the main causes of disability in Canada?

Answer 11

Mental illness and substance use disorders

Question 12

Are Canadians more likely to seek help/disclose physical or mental illness?

Answer 12

3x less likely to want to disclose a mental illness like depression than a physical one like cancer

Question 13

How does mental health affect the economy?

Answer 13

• Health care costs
• lost productivity
• reductions in health-related quality of life related to mental illness in Canada are estimated to cost $50 billion per year

Question 14

How does mental illness affect life expectancy?

Answer 14

Mental illness can cut 10-20 years from life expectancy

Question 15

How many Canadians die by suicide each year?

Answer 15

About 4,000 Canadians die by suicide per year (men representing 75% of suicides)

Question 16

Do Canadians have proper access to mental health services?

Answer 16

• less than half of Canadians who wanted mental health service received it

Question 17

Promises by the liberal government surrounding mental health policies

Answer 17

• Separate money that can only be used for mental health
• Canada Mental Health Act Transfer - hasn’t been introduced yet
• Reassess mental health tax credits - like the government gives for those with disabilities
  -n implement mental health education into occupational health and safety
• fully fund national suicide hotline
• ensure timely access to mental health services

Question 18

Suicide crisis hotline in Canada

Answer 18

implemented in 2023
988

Question 19

Ontario government mental health policy promises

Answer 19

Roadmap to wellness - wanted to address:
- Wait times for mental health services
- Barrier to access - where to get help
- Poor coordination across system
- Funding
- Uneven quality
- Lack of data
- Want to create a center for addictions within Ontario health

Question 20

Problems surrounding diagnosing mental health disorders

Answer 20

stigma, discrimination
- What distinguishes ‘normal’ from ‘abnormal’, ‘order’ from ‘disorder’, ‘healthy’ from ‘pathology’?
- What are the consequences of attributing psychological distresses to mental ‘disorders’ when those distresses have predictable and common sources - poverty, inequality?
Where is the line?

Question 21

What guidelines are used to diagnose mental illness/disorder?

Answer 21

International Classification of Diseases (ICD)

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) - published by the American Psychiatric Association

Question 22

Example of policitical/social influence on mental illness

Answer 22

Homosexuality
- DSM-1 (1952) - Homosexuality listed as a “sociopathic personality disturbance”
- DSM-2 (1974) - Homosexuality no longer listed as a “sociopathic personality disturbance”, now listed as a “sexual orientation disturbance”

–> now not considered a disorder/illness at all

Question 23

Mental health services financial coverage in Ontario

Answer 23

• Psychotherapy, for example, is covered by OHIP if provided by a physician (family doctor or psychiatrist) or other health professionals (psychologists, psychotherapists, social workers) working in government-funded hospitals, clinics, or agencies
• private is not usually covered

Question 24

e-mental health

Answer 24

• The use of electronics and the Internet to provide assessment and intervention virtually

Policy perspective - since we have this program maybe we don’t need to focus on it as much anymore

Question 25

Mental Health Act

Answer 25

• sets out the criteria for voluntary, informal and involuntary admissions to designated psychiatric facilities, as well as for the management of psychiatric outpatients under community treatment orders

Question 26

Form 1 under the Mental health act?

Answer 26

Form 1 = application for psychiatric assessment
With or without consent

Question 27

Form 3 - Certificate of involuntary admission

Answer 27

• admit someone involuntarily (without their consent)

Question 28

Box A

Answer 28

serious harms test

the physician is required to admit the patient on an involuntary basis if they believe that the mental disorder will result in:
- harm to patient
- harm to others
- serious physical impairment of patient

Question 29

Box B

Answer 29

• future harms test

Question 31

Community treatment order

Answer 31

• not involuntarily put into psychiatric facility
• Obliged to follow the steps by physician
• there are penalties if they don’t
  description of a community treatment planned based on physicians opinion and facts about patient

Question 32

Example of mental health policy at western university

Answer 32

SRA = policy

Benefits
- don’t have to go through wait times
- reduce burden
- allowed for flexibility