A novel three-tiered approach to bridging the mental health treatment gap

Abstract

Mental health is a vast problem around the globe and poses a threat to population health and economic development both domestically and internationally. While mental health is a vast problem current treatment plans by States, Intergovernmental Organizations, and NonGovernmental organizations are not meeting the needs of populations around the world, particularly in low resources low-income areas. To close the treatment gap in mental health care in low resource low-income areas a novel Intervention model that combines mobile phones, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Lay-Health workers should be implemented. In this paper, I conduct a literature review of the current state of mental health and its possible treatments. In doing so, this paper focuses on CBT, mobile phones, and lay-health work treatments and looks at the benefits and weakness of each and how they might work together. While it is certainly difficult to treat mental illnesses in rural areas and developing states due to lack of resources and infrastructure, an intervention model that combines mobile communication technology, lay health workers and cognitive behavior therapy to create an effective agile program that can respond to a community’s mental health needs is possible. This paper concludes that this new intervention method that combines the three is warranted and is feasible.