ABSTRACT
In this final chapter, we address the direction that the mental health system is taking and its impact on families. The future of families' relations with professionals, the mental health system, and consumer-run services, and the fulfillment of families' needs within the context of quality care for patients, are related to a range of interactive variables. These include fiscal issues, political orientations, research findings, and the shape and form of a managed health care system. The state of the national budget will obviously affect the monies available for all health care, as will the political inclinations of the legislators with respect to provision and prioritization of federally mandated services. Research findings—biologic, pharmacologic, and services research—may have an impact on the course of major psychiatric illnesses and/or their treat-ment. Discovery of more effective psychopharmacologic agents will affect service delivery to long-term clients. States may even be willing to pay for unusually expensive medications, such as clozapine, if they prove effective in returning dysfunctional persons to independent lives and tax-paying productivity. Research on the cost-effectiveness of various treatment and rehabilitation models will affect the scope, direction, and distribution of state investments in mental health services.
