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PRINCIPLES REGARDING MENTAL HEALTH

The American Medical Student Association:

1.             URGES that mental health-care services not be withheld from individuals in need of such services regardless of ability to pay. (1987)

2.             OPPOSES discriminatory practices by insurance companies which either set higher deductibles, provide for a lower level of reimbursement, or both, for mental health care compared to physical health care. (1987)

3.             RECOGNIZES that behavior is an essential aspect of mental health and is of fundamental importance to the pathogenesis, severity and recovery from the vast majority of physical illnesses. (1997)

4.             RECOGNIZES psychiatry's increased focus on diagnosis and scientifically based treatments and its increased effectiveness in treating patients with behavioral as well as pharmacological modalities.  In light of this, AMSA encourages continuing research into the causes of and treatment of mental illness.

5.             SUPPORTS and ENCOURAGES efforts to educate the public about the prevalence and treatability of mental illness in order to eliminate the stigma that prevents the diagnosis and successful treatment of the mentally ill.

6.             OPPOSES health care policies which determine a psychiatric patient’s discharge date based solely upon his/her source of funding and without regard to attainment of any defined treatment goals which would indicate a good prognosis for recovery following discharge. (1987)

7.             SUPPORTS the continuing importance of interpersonal skills training that is central to total patient care and should remain an integral part of the psychiatric training.  And therefore, strongly SUPPORTS the continuing inclusion of psychodynamic techniques in medical education. (1997)

8.             SUPPORTS mental health policies that are scientifically substantive, socially valuable, and place the individual above the disease. (1997)

9.             RECOGNIZES the fundamental importance of the community setting for the development and treatment of mental illness and therefore ENCOURAGES the improvement of housing, education, and community health as a means to improve the mental well-being of the community. (1997)