Changes to Mental Health Care in the U.S.

The Mental Health Reform Bill which was recently passed will help provide more psychiatric beds, additional child psychiatrists, and a new federal position for the assistant secretary for mental health services. The bill’s passing is said to help improve mental health care throughout the United States.

Legislators called for the immediate passage of the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act in the Senate. “The legislation aims to make mental health a national priority and coordinate how mental health care is delivered,” said Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., a psychologist who treats patients with PTSD and traumatic brain injuries and the author of the bill.

With a licensed Psychologists or Psychiatrists filling the new position of Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use and overseeing the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, approaches to mental illness treatments will be tested and qualified. An advisory board from the National Mental Health and Substance Use Policy Laboratory would also analyze treatments and services to help decide which ones should be expanded.

The passed bill will also help ensure more treatment services and options to address the nation’s lack of resources to treat severe mental illnesses. It’s also a way to bring light to the stigmas made against people with mental illnesses and prevent the jailing of people battling it.

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