Psychiatric Social Work and Effective Strategies to Reduce the Care Gap in Mental Health Services A Comprehensive, Cross-Sectoral, and Community-Oriented Look

Introduction: Despite the significant prevalence of psychiatric disorders and the high global burden of these, a large proportion of people with severe psychiatric disorders do not receive the services they need, which is called the care gap, and one of the goals of world health organizations is to reduce this gap. The purpose of this study is to review the most important global and regional strategies to reduce the care gap. Methods: This was a review method study. The search had done in following databases in the period 2010-2020: pubmed, science direct, proquest in English as well as sid, magiran, and noormags in Persian with the following keyword: mental health services, treatment gap, and accessibility, care gap, remote care, and long-distance intervention in English and also mental health services, remote care, treatment gap and access to services in Persian. A total of thirty-seven documents were studied and the findings of the strategies were summarized. Results: These studies pointed four general strategies to reduce the care gap. Includes integration of mental health services in primary health care; distance care; capacity building and useing trained non-specialists; and community-based care. These strategies are especially recommended for low and middle income countries, and various studies have examined their effectiveness. Conclusions: Integrating mental health care into the primary health care is the most important macro strategy in mental health system. Limiting psychiatric treatment to medication neglects other aspects that affect the incidence, relapse, and exacerbation. Psychiatric social workers need new approaches in working with these people. Psychosocial support and social workers are the missing link in the mental health care system.