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Despite increased advocacy and investments in mental health systems globally, there has been limited progress in reducing mental disorder prevalence. In this paper, we argue that meaningful advancements in population mental health necessitate addressing the fundamental sources of shared distress. Using a systems perspective, economic structures and policies are identified as the potential cause of causes of mental ill-health. Neoliberal ideologies, prioritizing economic optimization and continuous growth, contribute to the promotion of individualism, job insecurity, increasing demands on workers, parental stress, social disconnection and a broad range of manifestations well-recognized to erode mental health. We emphasize the need for mental health researchers and advocates to increasingly engage with the economic policy discourse to draw attention to mental health and well-being implications. We call for a shift towards a well-being economy to better align commercial interests with collective well-being and social prosperity. The involvement of individuals with lived mental ill-health experiences, practitioners and researchers is needed to mobilize communities for change and influence economic policies to safeguard well-being. Additionally, we call for the establishment of national mental wealth observatories to inform coordinated health, social and economic policies and realize the transition to a more sustainable well-being economy that offers promise for progress on population mental health outcomes. [phrase omitted] Malgre une meilleure sensibilisation et des investissements accrus dans A pesar del aumento de la promocion y las inversiones en sistemas de salud mental en todo el mundo, los avances en la reduccion de la prevalencia de los trastornos mentales han sido limitados. En este documento, sostenemos que para lograr avances significativos en la salud mental de la poblacion es necesario abordar las fuentes fundamentales de la angustia compartida. Mediante una perspectiva sistemica, las estructuras y politicas economicas se identifican como la posible causa de los problemas de salud mental. Las ideologias neoliberales, que priorizan la optimizacion economica y el crecimiento continuo, contribuyen al fomento del individualismo, la inseguridad laboral, el aumento de las exigencias a los trabajadores, el estres parental, la desconexion social y una gran variedad de manifestaciones bien reconocidas que perjudican la salud mental. Insistimos en la necesidad de que los investigadores y los defensores de la salud mental se impliquen cada vez mas en el discurso de la politica economica para atraer la atencion sobre las implicaciones para la salud mental y el bienestar. Pedimos un cambio hacia una economia del bienestar para alinear mejor los intereses comerciales con el bienestar colectivo y la prosperidad social. Para movilizar a las comunidades en favor del cambio e influir en las politicas economicas con el fin de salvaguardar el bienestar, es necesaria la participacion de personas que han padecido enfermedades mentales, profesionales e investigadores. Ademas, pedimos la creacion de observatorios nacionales de bienestar mental que sirvan de base a las politicas sanitarias, sociales y economicas coordinadas y permitan la transicion a una economia del bienestar mas sostenible, que ofrezca perspectivas de progreso en los resultados de salud mental de la poblacion. [phrase omitted] A pesar del aumento de la promocion y las inversiones en sistemas de salud mental en todo el mundo, los avances en la reduccion de la prevalencia de los trastornos mentales han sido limitados. En este documento, sostenemos que para lograr avances significativos en la salud mental de la poblacion es necesario abordar las fuentes fundamentales de la angustia compartida. Mediante una perspectiva sistemica, las estructuras y politicas economicas se identifican como la posible causa de los problemas de salud mental. Las ideologias neoliberales, que priorizan la optimizacion economica y el crecimiento continuo, contribuyen al fomento del individualismo, la inseguridad laboral, el aumento de las exigencias a los trabajadores, el estres parental, la desconexion social y una gran variedad de manifestaciones bien reconocidas que perjudican la salud mental. Insistimos en la necesidad de que los investigadores y los defensores de la salud mental se impliquen cada vez mas en el discurso de la politica economica para atraer la atencion sobre las implicaciones para la salud mental y el bienestar. Pedimos un cambio hacia una economia del bienestar para alinear mejor los intereses comerciales con el bienestar colectivo y la prosperidad social. Para movilizar a las comunidades en favor del cambio e influir en las politicas economicas con el fin de salvaguardar el bienestar, es necesaria la participacion de personas que han padecido enfermedades mentales, profesionales e investigadores. Ademas, pedimos la creacion de observatorios nacionales de bienestar mental que sirvan de base a las politicas sanitarias, sociales y economicas coordinadas y permitan la transicion a una economia del bienestar mas sostenible, que ofrezca perspectivas de progreso en los resultados de salud mental de la poblacion., Introduction Mental health systems are under-resourced, fragmented, inefficient and unable to meet the demands of the growing burden of mental and substance use disorders. Despite the intensive advocacy and action [...]

Australia's mental health system is failing young people. Calls for accountability, strategic long-term policy planning, and regional leadership have been identified as solutions to guide mental health reform. Developing system dynamics models using a participatory approach (participatory systems modelling (PSM)) is recognized as a useful method that can support decision-making for strategic reform. This paper reports evaluation findings of a youth mental health PSM process conducted in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). Baseline and follow-up mixed-methods evaluation data were collected in 2022 across diverse stakeholder groups to investigate the feasibility, value, impact, and sustainability of PSM. Although youth mental health system reform was viewed as desirable and a necessity across all stakeholder groups, shared perceptions of disabling powerless was observed regarding their ability to influence current decision-making processes to improve the youth mental health system. This suggests greater accountability is required to support systemic reform in youth mental health. PSM offers promise in improving transparency and accountability of decision-making for youth mental health, as exemplified in the ACT. However, more support and time are required to facilitate transformational change. Future research should investigate empowerment strategies to complement the implementation of findings from dynamic models developed through PSM, as well as the effectiveness of regional youth mental health policy decision-making supported by systems modelling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the recent Productivity Commission report into mental health, the previous Federal Government announced its intention to produce a new national agreement that lays the platform for Australia's sixth national mental health plan. It has been recommended mental health move to a more regional model of governance and planning, away from a centralised, top‐down approach, partly in response to broader reforms affecting health care, and partly in direct response to consistent inquiry evidence that the mental health system remains in crisis. The past 30 years of mental health planning have been centralised. Successive national plans set a broad framework, with real decisions about mental health funding and service allocation made in the health departments of our capital cities. Will the next plan sponsor or inhibit regionality in mental health planning? This paper assesses Australia's historical approach to health planning particularly as it affected mental health and the costs arising. In learning these lessons, we propose the necessary ingredients to facilitate a regional, innovative, and effective approach to decentralised planning, for better mental health outcomes. We cannot afford to replicate the failed planning approaches of the past. Summary at a glance Mental health has been challenged to replace historical, centralised approaches for decentralised regional planning approaches to foster choice, innovation, and effective service provision. The past 30 years of central planning have demonstrated its limitations. Federal and State governments should create an enabling environment to free‐up local implementation and operationalise a social determinants approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This paper compares the evolution of the psychosocial sector in two Australian regions pre and post introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme – a major reform to the financing, planning and provision of disability services in Australia, intended to create greater competition and efficiency in the market, and more choice for service users. Methods: We used a standardised service classification instrument based on a health ecosystems approach to assess service availability and diversity of psychosocial services provided by non-government organisations in two Primary Health Network regions. Results: We identified very different evolutionary pathways in the two regions. Service availability increased in Western Sydney but decreased in the Australian Capital Territory. The diversity of services available did not increase in either Primary Health Network 4 years after the reform. Many services were experiencing ongoing funding uncertainty. Conclusion: Assumptions of increased efficiency through organisational scaling up, and a greater diversity in range of service availability were not borne out. Implications: This study shows the urgent need for evaluation of the effects of the NDIS on the provision of psychosocial care in Australia. Four years after the implementation of the NDIS at vast expense key objectives not been met for consumers or for the system as a whole, and an environment of uncertainty has been created for providers. It demonstrates the importance of standardised service mapping to monitor the effects of major reforms on mental health care as well as the need for a focus at the local level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This analysis identifies the significant problem of ambiguity, variation and vagueness in relation to the intervention described as 'psychotherapy'. Its purpose is to raise international awareness of this problem and alternative solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]