Caregivers: The burden of Mexican families. Gabriela Cámara Graciela Cámara Voz Pro Salud Mental

Factors to deal with Families has to deal with different factors as emotional, economical, health services and stigma, when one of their members gets mentally ill. Emotional. To deal with mourning, the love one has change in behavior and conducts, symptoms has made him loose things and gain others. Loose dreams, plans and expectations for a future.They have to adjust to a new family psychodynamics.

Psychiatrist services The Mexican health sector is divided in four: Social Security for private business employees ISSSTE for government employees Public attention for general population. Popular social security Private health care Other health government institutions for especial departments as the army and the navy.

Psychiatrist services We have around 2,600 psychiatrist, only 2.7 per 100,000 habitants. 9 out of 32 states do not have psychiatrist services. Private or government medical insurances do not cover mental illness. We nearly don´t have rehabilitation programs. Medication is not always available. Psychiatric drugs are too expensive.

Psychiatrist services From the health budget we just spend 1% to mental health, the OMS advices at least 10%. We are placed in one of the latest place at psychiatrist services in the world. More than 15 millions Mexican need their services.

Stigma The most important institution for mental health in Mexico city are in just one zone, called Tlalpan. Health workers do not know about mental illness, often they refuse to give services to someone with mental illness. Mexican have a wrong idea about a mentally ill person and their families, tending to blame them.

Families face up a very difficult situation Absence of specialists and diagnosis. The fact that the medicine for mental illness treatment is not in the basic drug chart of public health institutions. Absence of regulation Not enough knowledge of mental illness at schools (neither teachers, psychologists nor doctors). Social stigma.

VOZ PRO SALUD MENTAL As family members that had to face up with all this burden, we founded VPSM since We are a net of NGO in Mexico, that found support with the Family To Family program by NAMI and support groups. We have giving the course to more than 800 hundreds families.

VPSM Services We had 84,000 visits into our home page. We have 531 members into the page. Have giving response to more than Take care of daily phone calls.

Mexican Caregivers 80% of the attendees to the FtF program are women. Most of them mothers, followed by sisters, fathers, brothers, daughters, sons, wives and husbands. One member usually gives the most to the ill member, sometimes resigning to their own life.

Mexican caregivers

Caregivers Most of the caregivers in Mexico are burn out financially, emotionally and in their health. Some of them have depression and other physical illnesses. Sometimes they have to stop working to look after the mental ill or reduce their labor capacity, letting aside their own lives.

Trying to make a change We are working with the Federal Congress. We hold the first Mental Health Forum in March Our Minister of Health Dr. Cordova Villalobos has raised the budget for mental health to 1% from the health budget. He is planning to open psychiatrists center in all states in Mexico. We are giving to politicians facts about how much they could save giving the right treatment to mental ill people.

Mental Health Forum on March 2006

Human Rights We are working with the Human Rights Commission and with National Handicap Commission in order to include in Mexican law brain disorders as neuropsychiatry handicap. Even the OMS rates of living with incapacity is 33% neuropsychiatrist, just depression represent 12%, the law do not considered it. The rates of contracting other diseases for a mentally ill are much higher, just in HIV is 44% more and diabetis is 23%.

Seguro Popular We had several press conferences to express the need to include all mental illness into the Seguro Popular (popular insurance), a new project of our government with the objective of giving health care to all the population. Our message is that everybody has the right to receive quick attention, proper diagnosis and an adequate treatment, under the governments responsibility.

VPSM GOALS Make physicians aware that parents should have very active role in their childrens treatment informed and of participating in the treatment Have more research in our country; we need actualized statistics, numbers about the economic cost for the families, about the medications side effects. Families should have a quick attention and a proper diagnosis of mental illness.

VPSM GOALS Doctors and paediatricians should be prepared for the identification of mental illness. To receive the medication alerts from our Ministry of Health and not from other sources. The media support to inform against stigma and to fight back to anti psychiatrist groups.

VPSM GOALS VPSM fights for the right that every patient with mental or neurobiological disorder has to receive the best treatment available. Our main goal is to change the societys and the politician´s attitude about all the issues concerned with mental disorders

VOZ PRO SALUD MENTAL ALONE WE ARE INVINSIBLE, UNITED WE ARE INVENCIBLES.