At the crossroads of health policy, health economics and family policy: whose interest to provide a family-orientated service?

<p>Policy on the family is enjoying a revival due to its place at the centre of the ‘communitarian’ agenda that is influencing policy discussions in the US and Britain (Etzioni, 1993). However, although politicians from all parties in Britain trumpet the importance of the family, most government effort appears to have been concentrated on reducing the costs of welfare payments to single mothers.

<p><p><p>Mental illness has long been a neglected area of health policy, and recent publicity has centred on a few public incidents<p><p>where someone with mental illness has caused direct harm to themselves of others. Much less attention has been given to<p><p>successful treatment of the majority of mentally ill people. It is no surprise that comparatively little consideration has been given to policies for caring for <b>families</b> with a mentally ill member.

<p><p><p>This chapter borrows arguments from health economics to examine issues confronting health policy as it relates to mental<p><p>health problems in families. We start with a summary of the scale of the problem and the family effects of mental illness. From three perspectives - markets, publicly-administered systems and professional relationships - we then highlight difficulties facing family policy, and suggest how the resource environment should be shaped to better meet society’s and individual’s needs.