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Show Dnicl Conliii Gooto: Un Community-based treatment of the mentally ill is increasing and the numbers of mentally-ill persons kept in large institutions is declining but the total cost of mental health programs is steadily rising, according to Utah Foundation, Foun-dation, the private, nonprofit research institution. PATIENTS treated in the Utah State Hospital declined more than 50 percent between 1962 and 1974, while the number treated in decentralized community-based community-based facilities in the state increased nearly 18 times over the same time-span, the Foundation noted in a research report released this week. Utah's experience is not unusual, but corresponds to experience elsewhere in the nation and the world. The magnitude of the problem is indicated by the National Na-tional Institute for Mental Health estimate es-timate that one out of every ten persons in the United States will suffer some form of mental illness at some time in their lives. APPROPRIATIONS for Utah's mental health program for the 1965-1967 bien-nium bien-nium were $5.4 million, an average of $2.7 million a year, and 99 of the money went to the State Hospital. In 1975 the one-year appropriation for mental health was $9.7 million, with 52 of that total going to the State Hospital and most of the remainder for community-based programs, the Foundation reported. A number of factors contributed to the increased cost, including inflation. Not only has the over-all cost of living steadily risen over the years (56 increase between 1965 and 1974) but the cost of hospital and health services has been one of the fastest-rising components of the over-all consumer price index. Also, Utah's over-all mental health program has greatly expanded in size in recent years. PROBLEMS OF mental illness were recognized from early territorial days in Utah, and provision was made in the states enabling Act and Constitution for a land grant to support the building anu operation of an "insane asylum," but it was not until 1967 that the state's Division of Mental Health came into being as a separate entity, with jurisdiction over all aspects of the mental health program. Previously, the State Hospital (the "insane "in-sane asylum" was officially re-named "Utah State Hospital in 1927) had been under the jurisdiction of the Department of Welfare and other aspects of the program under the Department of Health. THE MENTAL Health Division was created at a time when modern mental health theory was becoming fully established, es-tablished, placing emphasis on treatment in the community and returning as many as possible mental patients to normal life patterns. Discovery and development of drugs which greatly reduce the anxieties of mentally-ill persons was a major factor in bringing about the change, the Foundation Founda-tion notes. EXPANSION of community-based facilities has not eliminated the need for large central institutions such as state hospitals, where intensive treatment facilities can be provided for the most serious cases of mental illness. Mental health authorities say that the need for such institutions may never end. "Some legislators feel that as community com-munity mental health centers increase, State Hospital costs should decline," said Utah's director of mental health. "This has not happened, and it is doubtful if it ever will. The hospital must be there to back up community programs. "THE BASIC question becomes: how much of what is available should we spend on hospital services and how much on community programs? I personally feel that we should spend as much as we can spare on preventive-type programs in the community. They can reduce and theoretically even eliminate the institutional insti-tutional care problem in the future." |