Health advocacy and the funding of mental health services reform

Lithium the magic ion: Restoring and preventing?

“…The result has been a hardening of political support for a morally untenable and logically contradictory policy of punishing victims of crime in order to deter the perpetrators of crime. Allison et al (2014) take up this element of persuasion when they refer to 'personal relationships' and politicians being open to persuasion when they have 'direct experience with a condition and understand(s) the impact'. As above, this can be a double-edged rhetorical sword, since some personal experiences may turn an individual towards a negative, stereotyped view of mental illness, leaving the person impervious to an alternative view.…”

Should lithium be added to the drinking water?

“…Mauer et al (2014) demonstrate that, on a population level, the presence of trace lithium in the drinking water is associated with a lower incidence of dementia, along with lower than expected rates of suicide and homicide and reduced mortality. This brings us to the Viewpoint by Allison et al (2014), which addresses the issue of influencing public health policy. This is not just a chance association: they describe some of the mechanisms of lithium's neuroprotective actions.…”

“…Mauer et al (2014) also look at long-term, low-dose lithium and demonstrate similar benefits. Allison Whilst many of us advocate for individual patients, advocacy on a more general public policy level has its difficulties, and Allison et al (2014) highlight some of these. The evidence is perhaps not strong enough yet to suggest that we should add low-dose lithium to our morning fish oil, but who knows … Jorm proposes that there should be a National Strategy for the Prevention of Mental Disorders, saying that this is 'all a matter of political will'.…”

What should psychiatrists be doing to improve the mental health of the community?

“…Allison and colleagues (2014) have taken some of these issues forward in responding to an initial piece in the Journal by Jorm and Malhi (2013) and subsequent articles by Carr and Waghorn (2013), Whiteford and colleagues (2013) and Castle (2013). The initial call was to reflect on where psychiatric services are going, in Australia.…”

“…Allison et al (2014) are quite correct to take the 2014 Federal budget as something of a watershed, as it seems to have within it overt or covert challenges to many aspects of our society, not least welfare, education and health. Of course, psychiatrists should vociferously advocate for our patients in response to the proposed budget cuts in as far as they are likely to have a negative impact on people with a mental illness.…”