Germanwings tragedy implies mental health issues, remedies begin in each community

By Ronald Lawrence

Sunday, April 19, 2015 | 2:02 a.m.

When Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz intentionally flew a passenger jet carrying 150 people into the French Alps, the world shook. It is believed at this time that Lubitz suffered from a serious mental health issue that may have played a role in his actions. Today, the story has slipped away from the headlines as those affected begin the process of healing. However, the topic of mental health needs to stay in the news until functional remedies for mental illness become fact.

With the World Health Organization declaring that major depression will be the second-largest cause of human impairment by the year 2020, mental illness must be acknowledged as a worldwide problem and each community must participate to remedy the situation.

The current state of mental health services continues to be one of the biggest issues facing adults and children in Nevada. In addition to being underfunded, here are seven key issues and how we can work to turn things around and better serve those suffering from mental health issues.

Mental health patients continuously circulate in a revolving door of hospitals, emergency rooms and various holding facilities without being connected to proper treatment. By directing these individuals to effective psychotherapies and medication management, which are the only true answer to recovery, they can be removed from the cycle of emergency care.

Numerous care management organizations often offer an inadequate number of treatment sessions, which can lead to premature discharge and patient relapse. Such relapses result in higher costs in the end. The number of required sessions should be increased, especially for the seriously mentally ill, who should not exit treatment until they show improvement.

With the current system, mental health and substance abuse treatments still lack integration with each other as well as with the patients’ medical care. By providing piecemeal treatments, we fail to treat the “whole” person. A state task force should be established to review models of integrated care in other states and propose changes in Nevada that promote compliance and fiscal efficiency in caring for the chronically mentally ill.

One of the leading issues with mental health agencies and practitioners is inadequate compensation for their work, which discourages professionals from entering the field and causes struggles for survival in community agencies. Compensation rates must be elevated to ensure fiscal survival of mental health providers.

Practitioners from other states often are forced to complete redundant credentialing by the state’s licensing boards to obtain or renew licenses to practice. Due to this time-consuming process, professionals back away from bringing their services to Nevada. By developing more effective, expedient and efficient ways of evaluating potential practitioners and their experience, the licensing boards can ease the transition. Additionally, the state may wish to consider deeper integration of the various licensing boards to eliminate territorial disputes. Such disputes only disquiet, discourage and stress mental health professionals. Licensing boards also should include practitioner advisory panels to assist in staying up to date with the issues and diversity of the field.

Individuals who have received treatment and are ready to exit care often are returned to dysfunctional living systems that promoted or condoned their addiction or mental illness. This can cause pressure to relapse or leave care. By incorporating family therapy with all treatment efforts, patients have a greater chance of success. To ensure family therapy is included in all treatment regimes, sessions should be fully compensated by grant-funding organizations and insurers.

Nevada is experiencing an overwhelming need for clinicians in the mental health field. To meet this need, professional organizations that nurture these disciplines should form a coalition. Serving a multifunctional purpose, it would support advancement of cutting-edge treatments, work to increase the number of clinicians, offer more training to encourage specific skill sets such as newer treatments and methodologies, cross-train clinicians to develop a deeper understanding of the various roles within the treatment system, encourage skilled diagnostics, and through these efforts facilitate appropriate referrals and interdisciplinary treatment team approaches.

Such a coalition also could promote essential public awareness of mental health issues and resource education.

As more details of the Germanwings crash and Lubitz’s mental condition are uncovered, many are asking what more could have been done to prevent this disaster.

How can we ensure that mental illnesses are being properly treated before additional senseless tragedies occur? To see at least an improvement in the issue, each community must work to make mental health treatment and services a top priority.

Ronald Lawrence is the founder and executive director of the 25-year-old, private nonprofit Community Counseling Center of Southern Nevada, which provides support and treatments to under- and uninsured individuals suffering from mental illness, substance abuse, HIV/AIDS and co-occuring disorders.