Introduction:

Mental health has become an important focus in the recent past and constitutes one of the significant gaps in present day policy. With increasing cases of anxiety, depression and other disorders cutting across the globe, it has become very important to have sound health care policies that will top up on the mental aspect of people. But how can the healthcare system right transform to meet this silent epidemic issue? Now let us look at the gaps and potential opportunities present which will trigger the curiosity to engage and look for solutions to them.

The Silent Burden of Mental Health Disorders

However, mental health continues to be considered off limits, even in the twenty first century, when much has been discovered about human anatomy. As suggested by World Health Organization (WHO), mental health disorders are or will be a concern of one quarter or the global human population. However, mental well-being remains a marginalized field within the fiscal and institutional paradigms of heath care intersects. This imbalance raises a pressing question: where and why is there inequality for mental health problems?

Majority of the mental illnesses incur economic and social impacts. The consequences extend far beyond the individual, ranging from work absenteeism to having a negative impact on a loved one. Nevertheless, the existing policies of healthcare do not go beyond providing a few primary preventive services or making an attempt to provide affordable and quality treatment. This oversight has left many people wondering: is it possible to talk about comprehensive health care and not include mental health?

Bridging the Gap between Physical and Mental Health

One of the main concerns of current healthcare policies is the more or less falsely divided between the somatic and the psychic. Typically, healthcare systems have been designed with entrenched beliefs that the human body and the human mind can be separated.

Sadly, this has in years created a problem of distortion where the two segments have been differently funded and resourced. 

However, available literature does not support this view of the world. There is clear evidence to suggest that both physical health and psychological health are meaningfully related. Depression or anxiety may go hand in hand with chronic diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. So, why is there such a reluctance to integrate mental wellness into primary healthcare?

Out-patient services or one-stop health centers in which persons receive mental and physical treatment are beneficial to the lives of the affected persons. Pre-screening mental health should be part of the agenda that requires physicians to screen for mental health during annual and other physical checkups. Is it not high time we noted that a sound physical state cannot be considered without a sound state of mind? 

Accessibility: The Achilles heel of Mental Healthcare

Nowadays, getting accessible and affordable mental health treatment still remain one of the biggest challenges. While cities have specific clinics and caregivers, there are almost no mental health facilities, or scarce ones, in the countryside. This disparity raises an uncomfortable question: are heath care policies as currently instituted allowing for the compartmentalization of the population between urban and rural?

Telehealth and digital solutions are two stakeholder groups that have risen to the challenge and show potential for filling this gap. But they still stay dormant due to policies penetration, ignorance of its usefulness, and poor technology investment. Think how much of a difference it would make if people could arrange an appointment with a mental health care specialist as easily as with a general practitioner online. Such a transformation is possible though it must be brought about by progressive polices that promote use of digital mental health services.

The Role of Employers and Workplace Policies

Workplace stress is a common cause of mental health problems in the workspace and often remains an area unaddressed by healthcare policies. While burnout has become more and more a social acceptable reality in the contemporary workplace, to what extent should policies of health care concern themselves with mental well-being at the workplace?

Modern organizations have been implementing measures such as Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), mental health days and even counseling services in workplace. One can hardly name these initiatives as typical.

Government can also help by providing policies that require employers in especially demanding companies to ensure mental well-being in the offices. One can only envision a scenario where people’s mental health is included and respected as much as, let’s say, evaluations. Is this the secret to removing the social disgrace that is synonymous with mental health? 

The Funding Dilemma: Prioritizing Mental Wellness

Hospitals operate scrape budgets and mental health rarely rates high on the spending list. This raises a perplexing question: why is something as crucial as the mental wellbeing of these population groups always understaffed?

Mental health investment is something that will expand opportunities throughout multiple spheres of life. Thus studies show that the bang for a buck for mental health interventions can be as much as four bucks in terms of workforce productivity and healthcare cost saving. However, decision-makers rarely tend to view this as a long-term benefit. It would perhaps be interesting to think about what would happen if governments around the world set a fixed percent of their health budget for mental well-being programs? Could this be the particularistic strategy of change that we have been looking for? 

Education and Awareness: The Pillars of Prevention

Another neglected aspect of health care policies is the part of education as a mediator of mental health. The level of mental health literacy is extremely poor, and a vast population is still ignorant of the symptoms of such mental health problems as depression, anorexia, and so on. This result in low awareness and often causes early diagnosing and timely treatment.

School and community curriculums act as change agents. Suppose people were made to learn about emotions and how to handle stress as much as students are taught mathematics and science. Would not such a preventive measure produce a generation capable of efficiently dealing with mental related issues?

The Stigma Conundrum: Breaking the Chains

Stigma is arguably the hardest nut to crack when it comes to encouraging and achieving mental health. Even though people become more open-minded, many people with some problems are not ready to turn to someone for help because of the stigma. This stigma is learned and reinforced at most societal levels and not supported with sufficient policies.

This can be prevented through health care policies that create nationwide anti-stigma campaigns virtually as well as having incentive programs that encourage organization to erode prejudices regarding mental illnesses.

Can you picture yourself or someone you know going to therapy as often as he/she goes to the dentist? Can such a cultural shift be already in preparation?

The Path Forward: Policy Innovation and Public Involvement

If there is to be improvement in mental wellness policies the society has to involve government, health workers, and the people. Policies require regular updates in the light of societal requirements as well as in terms of the available technology. But how can we make certain that such policies stay progressive as well as suitable?

Public involvement can sometimes be also considered critical. Thus, the governments will be able to make the policy that would meet the real needs of patients and mental health advocates. Let me introduce the idea of several policies that are not introduced from above but are developed together with the target audience. Isn’t that the true nature of democracy?

Conclusion: A Call to Action

The absence of what might be described as, the state of mental wellness, in many of the current healthcare policies should be considered as a highly concerning deficiency. This came as no surprise as the field presents numerous opportunities for improvement concerning mental health; be it integration of mental and physical health services, adoption of technology and eradication of stigma. But these changes cannot just be wished for; they have to reach the level of constructive policies, adequately financed, that treat mental illness as one of the focal spheres of human existence.

It is high time that as individuals we supported these changes and ensure that the policy makers are implementing them. Well, a society that embraces mental health is and more than that; it is a happier, and a more humane society. Isn’t it time we moved away from viewing mental health as an added bonus or a privilege but more as a necessity? It is the future of healthcare.