The Open Dialogue System

The economic principle I’m exploring is “Institutions are ‘the rules of the game’ that influence choices”

Source: discovermainstream.com

My research question to help me study the economic principle is “What are other countries’ systems for mental illness?”

The article published in ABC News Australia titled “Open Dialogue: Finland's alternative approach to mental illness” analyzes other countries’ methods for treatment of mental illness, specifically Finland and Australia.

Finland has created a new system they call the Open Dialogue system. The Open Dialogue system was created when a Finnish child was diagnosed with psychosis, and his mother sought to find a treatment without immediately going to medication or hospitalization. Open Dialogue therapy is a form of group therapy with health professionals and the patient’s family and friends that works with the patient to help them find solutions in their life. The system seeks to do what other forms of treatment does not, which is more personally analyzing those with mental health issues rather than grouping them into a category of depression, anxiety, or the like and treating all patients in each category similarly. Open Dialogue isn’t against traditional medication or hospitals, but it serves as a layer of defense that allows mental illness to be recognized and understood before medicating the patient. This system is widely used in all of Finland and is being adopted in Australia, specifically for patients of psychosis and schizophrenia, but it’s beginning to be used for all mental illnesses.

 The Open Dialogue system is a solution to many of the problems that the American system already has. As mentioned in the last post, the US lacks an early intervention system for mental illness, which Open Dialogue is. The system makes it easier to identify mental illness before it results in a severe incident. Unlike some other treatment options, Open Dialogue recognizes the importance of bettering the health of the patient, or it at least shows that it does more than other treatment options. I think America should begin to implement the Open Dialogue system because it seems to be a solution that many people could benefit from. There are a lot of people that hesitate medicating mental illness, so Open Dialogue could assess the severity of the illness and make people more at ease with medication, or find a treatment option without it.