What is Community Psychiatry ?

Definition of Community psychiatry

Communitypsychiatry: Community psychiatry is a discipline of medicine that focuses on the early diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of emotional and behavioral issues as they occur within a society.

community psychiatry associates: community psychiatry associates means the association that providing community mental health services to the persons and families with mental illness within the community using community resources. It’s the national group of community psychiatrists and others committed to promoting health, recovery, and resilience in people, families, and communities.

Rajnesh Kr. Yadav, Community Psychiatry, Unit-III, Paper-IV [EB/OL]. https://www.lkouniv.ac.in/site/writereaddata/siteContent/202004221613338445rajnesh_sw_Community_Psychiatry.pdf

History of Community Psychiatry

• The United States has offered a variety of interventions to people dealing with mental illness from the late 18th century up to the present. These methods have included institutional care and community-based initiatives, including the use of asylums.

• In America in the 1700s the general medical Pennsylvania Hospital began to offer services for those with mental illness (though in its basement), and colonial Virginia opened the first mental health asylum in Williamsburg designated specifically for citizens with mental illness.

• In the late 1800s and early 1900s, other reforms and treatments in mental health blossomed that set the stage for the evolution of institutional care ultimately transitioning to community-based care.

• In the late 1940’s a clubhouse model of psychosocial rehabilitation burst on the scene in 67 New York City. Based on the belief that those with mental illness were capable of helping each other, The Fountain House, a membership organization run for and by persons with mental illness, was established.

• During the latter part of the 90’s and into 2000 and beyond, the major focus of treatment has shifted from symptom control to rehabilitation to recovery, “with the goal to help people pursue independence, self-management, personally meaningful activities and better quality of life.”

• As the first decade of the 21st century draws to a close, two salient forces are converging on the horizon: an increasing understanding that medications are not the be all end all in the treatment of serious mental illness; instead it is now being embraced that medications can be effective but unless recovery orientated services are established (funded and coordinated) and the consumer supported in the community, any success is fleeting.
  
• Today, there are many organizations and websites established by community psychiatry associates around of the world, such as the American Association of Community Psychiatrists (AACP).

The major areas and objectives of Community Psychiatry

• the development of comprehensive clinical services in the community, with emphasis on outpatient and extramural services to keep as many people as possible out of mental institutions;

• the development of a community program uniting the efforts of all nonpsychiatric organizations and individuals whose work has a bearing on mental health, including general hospitals, health departments, schools, welfare and family agencies, churches, industries, labor unions, legislative bodies, courts and prisons, lay leaders, and volunteers;

• the promotion of epidemiological research focused on the natural history, distribution, and incidence of mental disorders in the population in order to isolate social and environmental factors that contribute to these disorders (as in the case of pellagra and general paresis);

• the development of a corps of psychiatrists to serve as mental health consultants, or community mental health specialists, working on either a client-centered or a program-centered basis. In his client-centered activities, the psychiatrist is concerned with diagnostic evaluation and recommendation of treatment.

Principles of community psychiatry associates

For community psychiatry associates this includes the principles and procedures necessary to provide mental health care to a local population. They consist of the following:

• Stabilizing population-based treatment and care requirements.
• Connecting a variety of resources with sufficient capacity while operating in remote regions.
• Providing people with mental problems with therapies based on scientific facts.
• Although to varying degrees, the "principles" of community psychiatry have been deemed to be essential and helpful in the process of establishing the field.

The following are some examples of these guiding concepts:

• The responsibility to take care of a particular group of people, often those who reside in a specific location.
• Owing to its location, care that is readily available to the patient
• Cooperation between several fields and areas of expertise
• Persistence in seeking medical help
• The Role The Customer Plays
• Integrated care services

Mehnaz Zafar, Neema Preman. Community mental health services undergo digital revolution to provide high quality accessible care [EB/OL], https://www.cerner.com/ae/en/blog/community-mental-health-services-undergo-digital-revolution-to-provide-high-quality-accessible-care

TMS in Community Psychiatry

TMS is a safe, non-invasive, non-systemic FDA-cleared treatment for Major Depressive Disorder and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. The TMS device generates a pulsed magnetic field, similar to that of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine. There is no sedation involved and there is no downtime. Since its FDA-clearance in 2008, TMS has been well-regarded by the medical community as a safe and effective alternative treatment for depression and does not have any of the side effects commonly seen with medication.

TMS is changing the future of psychiatry through advanced technology that gives patients relief from major depression. TMS is covered by most insurance companies for major depression.

For community psychiatry associates, the combination of TMS and community psychiatry can be extremely helpful to people, both patients and residents.TMS has been adopted in many places and achieved considerable results.

（1）Community Psychiatry Now Offers TMS Treatment for Major Depressive Disorder in Greater Sacramento, California^[1]

On March 02, 2020,SACRAMENTO, Calif. Community Psychiatry Management, LLC, the largest outpatient mental health organization in California with more than 40 offices, including one of the nation's most experienced Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) treatment centers in Calabasas and Simi Valley, is pleased to announce that TMS therapy is now available through Community Psychiatry’s practice in Sacramento, California and will soon be added to centers in Davis and Folsom, California.

“We are thrilled to see Community Psychiatry offering TMS treatments,” said Dr. Abhijit Ramanujam from Community Psychiatry’s practice in Sacramento, CA. “This life-changing treatment is going to help our patients who are suffering from depression sleep better, feel better, and enjoy life again.”

（2）Community Psychiatry Opens Four New TMS Treatment Centers in California^[2]

SACRAMENTO, Calif., August 12, 2020 —Community Psychiatry Management, LLC, today announced the availability of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) therapy through Community Psychiatry’s practices in San Jose, Roseville, Davis and Del Mar, California. This is in addition to the TMS Treatment Centers in Sacramento, Calabasas and Simi Valley.

“The opening of our new TMS centers brings Community Psychiatry to the forefront of exceptional mental health care in California and highlights what we value above all: compassion, trustworthiness and excellent patient care,” said Priyanka, M.D., the company’s medical director. “We are committed to expanding access to TMS treatment and proud to offer this groundbreaking technology patients who need it most.

Reference:

[1] Mindy M. Hull, Allie Gavan, Community Psychiatry Opens Four New TMS Treatment Centers in California[EB/OL]. https://www.prweb.com/releases/community_psychiatry_opens_four_new_tms_treatment_centers_in_california/prweb17321795.htm
[2] Kimberly Hobson, Community Psychiatry Now Offers TMS Treatment for Major Depressive Disorder in Greater Sacramento, California[EB/OL], https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200302005900/en/Community-Psychiatry-Now-Offers-TMS-Treatment-for-Major-Depressive-Disorder-in-Greater-Sacramento-California
[3] Jacqueline M Feldman, History of Community Psychiatry. Available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265749802