The Dilemma of Mental Health Services for the Poor

Abstract

The basic issue in mental health intervention is behavioral change. This is influenced by the family, the community and social institutions. In the long run, a major focus of activity must be in the area of education and prevention, the development of tools for self-help in the population served, and positive social and community change. Services must be accountable to the people of the community. The poor, as well as the well-to-do must have the right to exercise options in obtaining the best possible services in accord with their own perceptions of needs. Public facilities seem unable to adequately provide such services or to allow choices. New models must be developed. The mental health and other health programs must be viewed as important community institutions with their own set of perspectives and skills; the major focus must be on the integration of health behavior and those social influences and institutions which influence that behavior.