Mainstream health advice has historically focused on the physical body. But in recent years, it’s becoming increasingly important to recognize how physical and mental health are linked — and how the quality of mental healthcare system needs to provide optimal levels of patient care in treating both sets of conditions.
In fact, according to the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences, “As medical science and technology has advanced at a rapid pace, the health care delivery system has floundered in its ability to provide consistently high-quality care to all.”
While mental illness is prevalent across the world, the quality of care offered to mental health patients in today’s dominant healthcare model do not match the extent to which patients of physical afflictions are treated. There is a considerable treatment gap across the world — though statistics vary by regions — that needs to be recognized and corrected.