Redefining mental healthcare: going multidisciplinary to manage multimorbidity

• Published in: British journal of sports medicine 2021-01, Vol.55 (1), p.7-8
• Main Authors: Rosenbaum, Simon, McKeon, Grace, Stubbs, Brendon, Teychenne, Megan, Parker, Alexandra, Stanton, Robert, Schuch, Felipe, Mistry, Amit, Steel, Zachary, Firth, Joseph
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: cardiovascular; Comorbidity; Diabetes; Diet; Editorial; Exercise; Funding; Health services; implementation; Lifestyles; Mental disorders; Mental health care; Mortality; physical activity; Physical fitness; Prevention; Psychiatry; Psychosis; Psychotropic drugs
• ISSN: 0306-3674; 1473-0480
• DOI: 10.1136/bjsports-2019-101691

Correspondence to A/Prof Simon Rosenbaum, School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia; [e-mail] People with mental illness are twice as likely to develop cardiovascular, respiratory, infectious and metabolic diseases compared with the general population.1This disparity in health occurs from the earliest presentation of mental ill health and affects people across the life span,1 reducing life expectancy by 15–30 years compared with the general population.2 This poor physical health, as well as the associated widening mortality gap,3 has been described as a ‘human rights scandal’.2 This problem led to a Lancet Psychiatry Commission1 on protecting the physical health of people living with mental illness, with a focus on prevention and early intervention across all levels of treatment. [...]a pathway of care should be tightly embedded within mental health services and target a range of health behaviours, including physical activity, healthy eating, smoking cessation and sleep hygiene. In the real world of clinical services, this can take many shapes and forms, but best practice examples from early intervention clinics include supervised gym training rooms and weekly cooking classes to engage young people with mental illness from the earliest stages of their treatment.5 This shift in what standard mental health treatment encompasses requires mental health services to redefine ‘standard’ mental healthcare to also include non-traditional mental health staff.