Ten years integrated care for mental disorders in the Netherlands

Authors

  • Christina M van der Feltz-Cornelis Tilburg University, GGZ Breburg, Trimbos Instituut

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5334/ijic.567

Keywords:

mental disorder, integrated care, bio psycho social model, psychiatry, disease management, collaborative care

Abstract

Background and problem statement: Integrated care for mental disorders aims to encompass forms of collaboration between different health care settings for the treatment of mental disorders. To this end, it requires integration at several levels, i.e. integration of psychiatry in medicine, of the psychiatric discourse in the medical discourse; of localization of mental health care and general health care facilities; and of reimbursement systems.  

Description of policy practice: Steps have been taken in the last decade to meet these requirements, enabling psychiatry to move on towards integrated treatment of mental disorder as such, by development of a collaborative care model that includes structural psychiatric consultation that was found to be applicable and effective in several Dutch health care settings. This collaborative care model is a feasible and effective model for integrated care in several health care settings. The Bio Psycho Social System has been developed as a feasible instrument for assessment in integrated care as well.

Discussion: The discipline of Psychiatry has moved from anti-psychiatry in the last century, towards an emancipated medical discipline. This enabled big advances towards integrated care for mental disorder, in collaboration with other medical disciplines, in the last decade.

Conclusion: Now is the time to further expand this concept of care towards other mental disorders, and towards integrated care for medical and mental co-morbidity. Integrated care for mental disorder should be readily available to the patient, according to his/her preference, taking somatic co-morbidity into account, and with a focus on rehabilitation of the patient in his or her social roles.

Author Biography

Christina M van der Feltz-Cornelis, Tilburg University, GGZ Breburg, Trimbos Instituut

Full Professor of Social Psychiatry, Tilburg University, the Netherlands; Deputy director of psychiatry residents training, GGZ Breburg, Tilburg, the Netherlands; Director of Program of Diagnosis and Treatment, Trimbos Instituut, Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Correspondence to: Christina M. van der Feltz-Cornelis, Dept. Of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences Tilburg University, PO Box 90153, 5000 LE Tilburg, The Netherlands. Phone: 013-4662167.

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Published

2011-03-24