This is the first of several articles intended to unravel some of the mystery surrounding government sponsored treatment programs for people with mental health conditions. These articles will attempt to explain different funding sources, conditions treated, and program and service treatment options. Even if you do not have a loved one receiving these types of services, it is in your interest to have a basic understanding of how our local government services deal with mental health. Your tax dollars are paying for it.
Three broad categories of patients receive Community Mental Health Ottawa County (CMHOC) services including those with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD or I/DD), Mental Illness, and Substance Use Disorders (SUD).
I/DD means intellectual and developmental disabilities. Examples include patients with Down’s syndrome, cerebral palsy, fetal alcohol syndrome, and autism. These conditions are typically visible at birth or very young ages, and unlike mental illness, these conditions are generally not caused by traumatic experiences. People with these types of conditions will usually require some level of support and care throughout their lives depending on the severity of their condition. Like people without disabilities, they have the ability to learn and grow, but unlike people without disabilities, they plateau at physical and/or cognitive levels well below average adults. With support, people with I/DD can be successful in certain jobs and live fulfilling and productive lives with friends and family.
Mental illness is a broad category that covers everything from anxiety, depression, obsessive compulsive disorders, eating disorders, sleep disorders, mood disorders to schizophrenia. Mental illness conditions are characterized by issues regarding mood, thoughts, and behavior. Often times these conditions can be linked to traumatic life events. With counseling, many people with these conditions can learn to change their behaviors and thought processes in ways that enable them to control their conditions.
SUD means substance use disorder. Most people think of this as drug and alcohol addiction, but this disorder includes anyone experiencing withdrawal symptoms from any addictive substance. Many medications prescribed through medical establishments to treat mental illness and other medical conditions are addictive. If someone was prescribed sleep medication and stopped taking it, they are likely to experience withdrawal. This person would then qualify as someone experiencing SUD.
Dual diagnosis is when a person receives a diagnosis for more than one qualifying condition. This is very important, because some government grants and programs only cover people with certain categories of diagnoses. Receiving a dual diagnosis makes someone eligible for additional services. In return, government entities receive additional Medicaid payments for every billed service. For example, if a patient with autism is prescribed a sleep medication, but later experiences withdraw when stopping the medication, that patient now has a dual diagnosis (I/DD and SUD). If a 13-year-old girl with Down’s syndrome has mood changes when she first begins menstruating and is prescribed medication, she would also receive a dual diagnosis when she stopped taking the addictive substance and experienced withdraw symptoms. Common sense would tell us that these two examples are I/DD patients, but their SUD diagnoses could be used to justify allocating additional tax dollars toward programs that target substance use, skewing the Community Needs Assessment surveys and data. In addition, if the Community Needs Assessment and other data show it is common for people with I/DD to also be SUD patients, then I/DD patients would be considered “At Risk”. The “At Risk” categorization is also significant, because some grants and programs target “At Risk” populations.
Understanding these broad categories of conditions, dual diagnosis and At Risk, will facilitate understanding of the next few articles. Thank you for reading to the end of this one.