1. Mental Health in Aotearoa New Zealand: Rising to the Challenge of the Fourth Wave?
- Author
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Williams, Mei Wah, Haarhoff, Beverly, and Vertongen, Robyn
- Subjects
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MENTAL health services , *MENTAL health , *MENTAL depression , *CONTEXT effects (Psychology) , *DEINSTITUTIONALIZATION - Abstract
Over the past three decades, New Zealand's mental health system has gone through a number of significant transformations. Professor Mason Durie characterises the current stage as the fourth wave of mental health development. Increased understanding of the critical role of good mental health in the well-being and quality of life for the individual, the community, and of society have contributed to these changes. Efforts to destigmatise mental illness have reduced the barriers to seeking mental health services, and people seek care at an earlier stage, preventing deterioration into a spiral of chronicity and negative life situation. Prevention and early intervention are now one of the cornerstones of the mental health system. Yet, for those who have mild to moderate psychological conditions support services remain elusive and evidence-based interventions for high prevalence disorders in New Zealand are meagre. The demand for these services in the current mental health system is growing, yet inequity of access for certain populations is undeniable. This article will outline the transitions that have occurred since deinstitutionalisation (between the second and fourth waves) in mental health services in New Zealand, providing a background to identifying the challenges inherent in the fourth wave of mental health services. The escalating demand for mental health and wellness throughout the continuum of the lifespan is placing considerable strain on the current model of mental health care, and this paper examines how equipped the mental health service is to meet these challenges. This article, as a companion to the previous paper documenting ways England and Scotland have responded to the social, economic, and personal burden of mental illness, addresses the sustainability of the New Zealand mental health system in the context of a greater emphasis on low intensity psychological interventions across the lifespan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2017