AMA Journal of Ethics^®

Decision-making capacity can be preserved in patients with mental illness and should be formally assessed in the context of their values and past decisions.

Disparities in children’s mental health care could be addressed through expansion of school-based programs via passage of the Mental Health in Schools Act.

Efforts are underway to make posttraumatic stress disorder a condition for which the Veterans Administration will authorize coverage for use of service dogs.

Summary of federal and state autism-specific legislation that governs insurance coverage for those with autism spectrum disorder and their caregivers.

Movements to deinstitutionalize people with mental illness and to make institutionalization more legally difficult have resulted in a lack of space and resources for the care of those with severe mental illness, and many have ended up in jails and prisons.

The medicalization of addiction has greatly improved identification, early intervention, and referral to appropriate treatment.

There are many misconceptions about psychiatry as a science that contribute to the continued social stigmatization of mental illnesses.

Training in the humanities helps to provide psychiatrists with an insight into the human condition, as represented in literature, film, and other media forms.

Due to insurance company regulations, current restrictions on access to mental health care prevent many from obtaining needed care.

The Domenici Wellstone Equitable Treatment Act sought to increase access to mental health care services and improve the efficiency and fairness of insurance coverage for mental illness.