Mental Health Economics and Public Mental Health Policy: Mental Health Services Costs, Quality and its Impact on Reducing the Burden of Mental Illness

Mental disorders are burdensome, costly to society and cause negative outcomes at economic, social and health levels. The growing number of people affected by mental health problems requires efficient investments in a complex network of social and mental health services.

Mental Health Economics has emerged as a branch of Health Economics aiming to guide mental health policies for the best choices among treatments and mental health services modalities optimizing the resource use and ultimately producing a positive impact on mental health and quality of life of people suffering from mental illness.

Mental health services are organized in a complex and heterogeneous services network combining goals for reducing the burden caused by mental illness, combating discrimination and stigma, promoting social inclusion, empowering and guaranteeing the human rights of people with complex needs in mental health. The investments in mental healthcare involve a deep analysis of the organization and delivery of mental health services and the effects of packages of care to meet patients’ needs.

Mental healthcare requires hybrid and complex packages of care involving professional teams with different backgrounds and specialties according to the target population and local context. The efficiency of mental health systems depends obviously on investments but also on how mental health care delivery meets patient's needs. There is no clear consensus on defining the quality and the cost-effectiveness of mental health services to produce greater benefits (outcomes) for the patients. There is a need to conduct studies, especially, in the real-world context to analyze the efficiency of such services in achieving the main goals of mental healthcare

This Research Topics is focused on studies linking health economics, mental health policy, mental health services and people`s mental health needs, including the following issues:
• Investments in mental health services producing positive impacts on reducing the burden of mental disorders
• Comparison of costs and mental health impacts among different mental health services modalities and its implications for the mental health policy
• The relationship between mental health service costs, quality of care, and patient´s needs
• Mental health patient´s profile, health services utilization, mental healthcare pathways and their relationship with mental health service costs.
• Economic evaluations of mental health package of care focus.

Keywords: community mental health services, health economics, costs, economic evaluation, burden of mental disorders, quality of mental health services, mental health resource allocation, mental health policy, efficiency, social determinants of mental health

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