A community member asks a nurse, "People with mental illnesses used to go to a state hospital. Why has that changed?" Select the nurse's accurate responses. Select all that apply

Question

a. "Science has made significant improvements in drugs for mental illness, so now many people may live in their communities."
b. "A better selection of less restrictive settings is now available in communities to care for individuals with mental illness."
c. "National rates of mental illness have declined significantly. The need for state institutions is actually no longer present."
d. "Most psychiatric institutions were closed because of serious violations of patients' rights and unsafe conditions."
e. "Federal legislation and payment for treatment of mental illness have shifted the focus to community rather than institutional settings."

Answer 1

ANS: A, B, E
The community is a less restrictive alternative than hospitals for the treatment of people with mental illness. Funding for treatment of mental illness remains largely inadequate but now focuses on community rather than institutional care. Antipsychotic medications improve more symptoms of mental illness; hence, management of psychiatric disorders has improved. Rates of mental illness have increased, not decreased. Hospitals were closed because funding shifted to the community. Conditions in institutions have
improved.