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Volume
7: No. 1, January 2010
EDITORIAL
Bridging Mental Health and Public Health
David Satcher, MD, PhD; Benjamin G. Druss, MD, MPH
Suggested citation for this article: Satcher D, Druss BG.
Bridging mental health and public health. Prev Chronic Dis 2010;7(1):A03.
http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2010/
jan/09_0133.htm. Accessed [date].
A decade ago, the Surgeon General’s office released its first report on mental health (1), calling for the full integration of mental health into the nation’s public health system. The report synthesized the scientific literature on mental illness, concluding that mental disorders are among the most
prevalent and costly conditions and that effective treatments can reduce their
prevalence and decrease
their adverse effect on other health conditions. The report took a broad public health
approach, focusing not only on clinical diagnosis and treatment of mental illness but also on surveillance, prevention,
and promotion of mental health
(2).
The Surgeon General’s report described research developments from the 1990s, the “Decade of the Brain,” that helped establish the biological underpinnings of mental disorders and move mental health into the mainstream of research and specialty practice. The subsequent decade saw a dramatic rise in the proportion of the US population receiving mental health care
(3) and a shift in the locus of treatment for mental illness away from specialty settings and toward primary care
(4).
During the same period, strategies for moving medical and psychiatric treatment from research into routine practice settings were developed and disseminated. In particular,
research showed that integrated approaches could improve quality and outcomes of care in clinical settings on the interface of primary care and mental health
(5). This research laid the groundwork for a broader strategy to integrate mental health and public health at a population level. The passage of the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 was a step toward this goal.
As the lead government agency for the nation’s public health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) can play a central role in these efforts to integrate mental health and public health.
Articles in this issue of Preventing Chronic Disease were developed by an expert panel convened by CDC’s Division of Adult and Community Health on behalf of the National Center
for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP). The panel was charged with
examining how mental health should fit within NCCDPHP’s mission. The articles provide the background for the panel’s recommendations and cover a spectrum of public health activities, including surveillance, prevention and promotion, and the system and policy context for these proposed changes.
Freeman et al (6) provide a mixed report on the mental health surveillance systems available in the United States. Existing systems offer
data about the prevalence and severity of mental disorders in the United States and their relationship to other chronic diseases and health behaviors, but they are limited by differences in methods, priorities, and lack of input from
end users. Better coordination across and in the federal agencies that field
these surveys could improve the value of the information, reduce redundancy, and increase the use of the data by researchers and policy makers.
Whereas the medical model focuses on understanding and treating disease, public health approaches take a broader view of health that includes both sickness and well-being. Manderscheid et al (7) describe health and illness not as a single continuum, but as distinct states that can exist simultaneously. This premise is compatible with the idea of recovery as a permanent condition that allows people to live fulfilling lives despite ongoing mental or physical symptoms. The recovery model has
become central to the mental health advocacy and policy communities and was a guiding principle for the recommendations in the
President’s New Freedom Commission report
(8). Recovery promotes a strength-based, public health approach that could easily be expanded to many people with chronic medical conditions.
Although public health activities must include surveillance and interventions across large populations, they must also account for differences across regional and cultural subgroups. The supplement to the Surgeon General’s report,
Culture, Race, and Ethnicity, noted that even greater racial and ethnic disparities exist for mental health care than for other types of health services
(9) and that reducing these disparities will require close attention to issues of racial
and cultural diversity. Primm et al (10) note that these disparities result not only from bias but also from social factors such as
disadvantages in housing and income. Fully resolving these disparities will therefore require expanding beyond the formal health system and understanding the social determinants of mental health and well-being.
Given the decentralized and complex nature of mental health care, improvements must rely on partnerships at multiple levels. Primary care providers need to work more closely with mental health centers to ensure coordinated treatment (11). Counties need to develop relationships between mental health, medical, and local public health agencies (12). State public health agencies need to work more closely with mental health agencies (13). Finally, federal agencies need to better coordinate their
efforts (14). In particular, CDC and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which have historically functioned in parallel but unconnected tracks, are now collaborating more closely on activities, such as jointly funding the surveillance of mental health and mental illnesses. Leaders from SAMHSA’s Center for Mental Health Services were represented on the expert panel and are advising NCCDPHP on integrating mental health into its mission.
The nation is now poised to take the next step toward realizing the vision of integrating mental health and public health described a decade ago in the Surgeon General’s report. Spiraling health
care costs and the rising number of uninsured Americans have built momentum for health care reform, and it is clear that a population-based, public health approach — one that encompasses mental health — will be needed as a foundation for that reform
(15).
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Author Information
Corresponding Author: Benjamin G. Druss, MD, MPH, Rollins School of Public Health,
Emory University, 1518 Clifton Rd NE, Atlanta, GA 30322. Telephone: 404-712-9602. E-mail:
bdruss@emory.edu.
Author Affiliation: David Satcher, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia.
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References
- Mental health: a report of the Surgeon General. US Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; 1999. http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/mentalhealth/home.html. Accessed August 10, 2009.
- Wallace RB, editor. Maxcy-Rosenau-Last public health and preventive medicine. 15th edition. New York (NY): McGraw-Hill Medical; 2007.
- Kessler RC, Demler O, Frank RG, Olfson M, Pincus HA, Walters EE, et al.
Prevalence and treatment of mental disorders, 1990 to 2003. N Engl J Med 2005;352(24):2515-23.
- Wang PS, Demler O, Olfson M, Pincus HA, Wells KB, Kessler RC.
Changing profiles of service sectors used for mental health care in the United States. Am J Psychiatry 2006;163(7):1187-98.
- Wagner EH, Austin BT, Von Korff M.
Organizing care for patients with chronic illness. Milbank Q 1996;74(4):511-44.
- Freeman EJ, Colpe LJ, Strine TW, Dhingra S, McGuire LC, Elam-Evans DE, et al. Public health surveillance for mental health. Prev Chronic Dis 2010;7(1).
http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2010/jan/09_0126.htm.
- Manderscheid RW, Ryff CD, Freeman EJ, McKnight-Eily LR, Dhingra S, Strine TW.
Evolving definitions of mental illness and wellness. Prev Chronic Dis 2010;7(1).
http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2010/jan/09_0124.htm.
- New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. Achieving the promise: transforming mental health care in America. Final report. US Department of Health and Human Services; 2003. http://www.mentalhealthcommission.gov/reports/FinalReport/toc.html. Accessed August 10, 2009.
- Culture, race, and ethnicity: a supplement to mental health: a report of the Surgeon General. US Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; 2001. http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/mentalhealth/cre/. Accessed August 10, 2009.
- Primm AB, Vasquez MJ, Mays RA, Sammons-Posey D, McKnight-Eily LR, Presley-Cantrell LR, et al.
The role of public health in addressing racial and ethnic disparities in mental health and mental illness. Prev Chronic Dis 2010;7(1).
http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2010/jan/09_0125.htm.
- Druss BG, Mays RA Jr, Edwards VJ, Chapman DP. Primary care, public
health, and mental health. Prev Chronic Dis 2010;7(1).
http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2010/jan/09_0131.htm.
- Freeman EJ, Presley-Cantrell LR, Edwards VJ, White-Cooper S, Thompson KS, Sturgis SL, et al. Garnering partnerships to bridge gaps among mental health, health care, and public health. Prev Chronic Dis 2010;7(1).
http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2010/jan/09_0127.htm.
- Sammons-Posey D, Guerrero R, Perry GS, Edwards VJ, White-Cooper S, Presley-Cantrell LR. The role of state health departments in advancing a new mental health agenda. Prev Chronic Dis 2010;7(1).
http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2010/jan/09_0129.htm.
- Power AK. Ensuring the nation’s mental health: the role of federal agencies. Prev Chronic Dis 2010;7(1).
http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2010/jan/09_0128.htm.
- Oberlander J.
Great expectations — the Obama administration and health care reform. N Engl J Med 2009;360(4):321-3.
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