The Mental Health and Addiction Service Development Plan

In the National context of Mental Health in New Zealand during 1800 and 1900, almost 50% of people living in New Zealand are experiencing of some form of Mental Illness. The first lunatic asylum opened in New Zealand on 1854 is in Karori, Wellington. A mentally ill person is being held in the prison at first because there is no place to care for each of them. Around 1860s and 1870s, the government is starting to build more asylums around the country and they usually built it on the edges of the towns. The Karori, near at the Wellington on 1854, Dunedin and Sunnyside, Christchurch 1863, The Whau, Auckland 1867, Seaview, Hokitika 1872, and Nelson 1876.

In 1950 they have discovered new drugs that they believe to treat mental illnesses and some psychotherapy are the things that are used more often in the asylums. They are hoping that those new drugs will cure and transform the lives of the people who are experiencing a chronic illness. Like, injecting a too much insulin to regulate in their brain and they will do a what they called “ Prefrontal Leucotomy”, it is a brain surgery for the person with mental illness but both of them is producing a side effects to the body and brain of the patient. So, they have decided to discontinue that treatment. They do more research on how to transform a person with mental illness and they come up with the Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT), it is using a chemical to persuade a seizure. As of the moment the ECT is still present at some mental hospitals and they are doing it more safely and more modified rather than the first ECT used in the asylums. In 1950s they started to found drugs that can treat a depression, mania, anxiety and psychosis. Most of the staff in the first asylums that are built ages ago do not have any medical training or do not have medical background. Restraint are often used in the asylums like locked cloths or gloves, it is a soft jacket made of cloth that doesn’t allow any movement from the arms of the patient with mental illness and also they are secluding a patient who are dangerous and having a challenging behaviour. They are starting to develop the treatment that are used in the asylums and as time goes by the patients with mental illnesses are manage and stabilised. They are being discharge from the mental hospitals sooner compared the time of being discharge before but some are being re admit again in the mental hospitals because their actions and behaviours is back.

Ministry of Health is providing a compulsory treatments and assessments for the people who are considered having a mental illness. Protecting the persons with mental disorders who are posing to harm, hurt and can make a serious risk about their own self or to others. The Ministry of health is promoting the safety and protections of the mental health consumers in a way of explaining and clarifying the role of the clinicians and services. They are also aiming for the treatment and care of the alcoholics and drug addicts that are also being confined in the rehab where they can learn how to control their own self and how to know they limitations while undergoing in the treatments assigned to them. The Ministry of Health is providing an accurate level of care for the persons who are in the mental hospitals and for those persons who are drug addict or the alcoholism.

The government is funding the health and disability services anywhere in New Zealand. They are giving a free outpatient and inpatient hospitals which are open to public and services that the people with mental illness or disabilities needs. Some are not qualified to use the services funded publicly but they can still use the services, they just only have to pay for their own bill because it is not free for them and they can also get some insurance in case that something happened to them and they don’t have extra money on that moment, the insurance will help them to pay for the bill that they have. The District Health Board is also funding the mental health illnesses and the addiction. They are helping those people who have an addiction and alcoholic problems and also those people who are experiencing a mental illness. They are helping to and providing the services that they need to ensure the health and safety of the person. Their aim is to provide the accurate treatment to treat them.

Terminology, is a terms that are used in a special subject, science, business, or art. There are also terms that people usually call the person with mental illness like; Lunatic, A person who is ill mentally. Imbecile and idiot, a person which is stupid and madness, a person who cannot think in a right way and doing some action which are not appropriate for a normal person to do.

Discrimination and stigma is one of the most identified attitudes of the society towards the person with mental illness. Stigma has an impact to the person with mental illness especially if they are the one who is stigmatizing their own self called self stigmatizing which they turned against on their own self. It is happening on both self stigma and public because they are just letting the self esteem and confidence of a person by showing and having a prejudice mind towards the others. Most of the person who has or have a mental illness are already experience discrimination in the society. In a way of cannot go to normal school because some children will tease them, not having a job because they are not being trusted because of their actions, social dignity and having a relationship. They are not just the only person who is experiencing discrimination in the society but also the family of the person with mental illness. We all know that news can easily spread and the family will be affected also because the society is discriminating and judging them about having a family member who has a mental illness or addiction.

The stereotypes of a person with mental illness is the society knows that a person has a mental illness, addict, and alcoholic; they will stay away from them because they are judging that they will get hurt because in their mind they just think that those person will hurt them because they cannot think normally. There is also a barrier to every person who has a disability because they cannot socialize with a normal people, they were also afraid that they will get hurt by the normal people because they have a disability. They are just losing the confidence to face other people. Most of them feel afraid to face everyone because some of them do not know how to trust because even their own family member is just hurting them if they lose their patience on taking care the person with mental illness. We all know that a person with mental Illness some are the result and symptoms of their mental illness but also some are the side effects of the medication. Like, if they were given an anti psychotic drugs and the side effects are getting drowsy and confuse. They will think that someone will hurt them, or having a paranoia. Their instinct as a human being is to protect their own self that is the reason why they are starting to hurt someone or will have a challenging behaviour.

The Rising Challenge about the Mental Health and Addiction Service Development Plan of 2012-2017 which provides the guide to the Mental Health and addiction sector, and also in this plan they include the funders, clear path on plans and the providers of the Mental Health and addiction services on the priority areas of the government for the development of each services that they provide. They are also focusing on the better resources of the materials used to the person with a mental illness, providing the needs that each person in the hospitals, rehabs, and mental hospitals. They are just not focusing on the adults with illnesses or addiction but all of the ages are their priorities even if they are infants or a child.

There are many government agencies that are funding the Mental Health. One of them is the Mental Health Foundation; they work to influence and bring awareness to the family/ whanau of the person with a mental illness and also they are improving and sustaining the mental health of the person with mental illness to gain and show their potential. The Ministry of Health is funding the plan, and provides health services including public health services, hospitals within the location. They are also supporting and funding services in the disability sector, mental health service, screening programs, maternity services and any kind of services related to the health of a person. Most of the funds are coming from the taxes of the workers in New Zealand, each worker has an equivalent percentage of tax depending on their annual salary but most of the salary has a 10.5 percentage of tax if their annual salary is 60,000 New Zealand dollars and that is where all the funds are coming from. So most of the workers around New Zealand have participation on funding the public hospitals or for the people having a disability or mental illness.

References

Warwick Brunton. ‘Mental health services’, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 9-Nov-12 URL:

http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/mental-health-services

Warwick Brunton. ‘Mental health services – Lunatic asylums, 1840s to 1900s’, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 13-Jul-12 URL:

http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/mental-health-services/page-2

The Porirua Hospital and Museum.( 1997). The Origins of Mental Health Care in New Zealand andWellington. Retrieved from:

http://poriruahospitalmuseum.org.nz/history/the-origins-of-mental-health-care-in-new-zealand-and-wellington/

Miriam Webster dictionary. (2015). Dictionary: Terminology. Retrieved from:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/terminology

Oxford University Press.(2015).Oxford Dictionaries: Lunatic and Imbecile. Retrieved from:

www.oxforddictionaries.com

Ministry of health.(2012).Guidelines to the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act1992. Wellington: Ministry of Health. Retrieved from:

www.health.govt.nzis

Ministry of health.(2011).Publicly funded health and disability services. Wellington: Ministry of Health. Retrieved from:

www.health.govt.nzis

The Guardian.(2011). Mental Health: Attitudes improving towards mental illness,. Retrieved from:

www.theguardian.com/society/2011/jun/08/attitudes-mental-health-survey

Ministry of Health.(2012-2017).Rising to the Challenge: The Mental Health and Addiction Service Development Plan 2012-2017.Wellington:Ministry of Health. Retrieved from:

www.health.govt.nz/publication/rising-challenge-mental-health-and-addiction-service-development-plan-2012-2017

Mental Health Foundation.(2015).Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand: Different Government agencies. Retrieved from:

www.mentalhealth.org.nz

Ministry of Health.(2014). Funding: New Zealand’s health and disability system is mainly funded from general taxation. Retrieved From:

www.health.govt.nz/new-zealand-health-system/overview-health-system/funding