Management of people with mental illness

Many people with mental health problems do not get any meaningful treatment. Along with your regular healthcare responsibilities, there are several steps you can undertake to help (see also Figure 11.2):

• Identify all the persons with mental illness and epilepsy in the population covered by you.
• Provide necessary care including emergency care.
• Refer the identified persons to the next level health centre or hospital.
• Conduct regular follow-ups with the patient and their family members to check how they are doing, and to enquire about possible adverse effects of medication and adherence to treatment.

Each of these aspects of mental health management will be discussed in more detail in the remainder of this study session.