Fed: Mental health institutional model must be examined: Nelson

AAP General News (Australia)
04-15-2008
Fed: Mental health institutional model must be examined: Nelson

BRISBANE, April 15 AAP - Federal Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson has called for public
debate on a return to treating the mentally ill in institutions.

Dr Nelson today said more money needed to go into fighting mental illness, including
psychiatry and community support schemes.

But institutions must also be reviewed, he said.

"I also think as a society we need to have a serious debate about whether or not we
need to go back toward an institutionalised model for a lot of these people," he told
ABC Radio today.

He said society had to look at how deinstitutionalisation had helped and hindered those
with mental health issues.

"I think in hindsight it's fair to say ... as a result of psychotropics - the drugs
that we introduced to treat people - we had significant improvements in the treatment
of mental illness and their behaviour.

"The argument was we could put these people out into the community.

"Then of course the money that was tied up in those magnificent residences that our
forebears had put aside for them didn't follow them into the community, they went into
other things."

He said many difficulties existed when people were treating themselves in the community
and he himself had been threatened by psychotic patients during his time as a GP.

Mental illness was also a major factor in the housing crisis, affecting about 30 per
cent of people who regularly sought support for homelessness.

AAP jmm/pjo/maur/bwl

KEYWORD: MENTAL NELSON

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.