The Israeli law for the rehabilitation in the community of persons with psychiatric disabilities: Achievements and challenges.

Objective: The Community Rehabilitation of Persons with Mental Health Disability Law (2000a) is one of Israel's most important pieces of social legislation. It grants persons with psychiatric disabilities the right to receive rehabilitation in the community. This article is a case study of the development and implementation of a policy that led to the Rehabilitation Reform and that has become an important component in Israel's comprehensive mental health reform.

UPSIDES Mental Health Peer Support in Face of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Actions and Insights.

The outburst of the COVID-19 pandemic challenged vulnerable populations such as individuals with significant mental illness. In this fresh focus, we describe the innovative development of the UPSIDES mental health peer support intervention, in face of the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel. While the research program is still ongoing, in this paper we focus on the processes and lessons learned from dealing with the rapidly changing circumstances of the pandemic.

Why do mental health consumers who receive rehabilitation services, are not using them? A Qualitative Investigation of Users' Perspectives in Israel.

A recovery-oriented approach to mental health involves creating person centered services and enhancing engagement in psychiatric rehabilitation. Israel's Rehabilitation in the Community of Persons with Mental Disabilities Law is a progressive initiative that shifted the locus of psychiatric care to community care supporting individualized rehabilitation and recovery-oriented processes. Yet over a quarter of applicants do not implement their assigned rehabilitation plans and services.

[Psychiatric advance directives--medical models into psychiatric medicine].

Since the year 2005, in the field of general medicine, the legislature in Israel determined ways to implement medically advanced directives according to the power of the law. Different states in the world had implemented parallel legislation for patients who suffer from mental illness. Psychiatric Advance Directives is a legitimate document which is valid in Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, England and in 25 countries in the U.

Attitudes, knowledge and preferences of the Israeli public regarding mental health services.

We examined the public's preferences regarding the site of provision of mental health care and the basis for those preferences. A representative sample of the adult Israeli population (N = 1,583) was interviewed by telephone about their knowledge and attitudes. Self-referral to mental health professionals and primary medical doctors for milder disorders was low.

Stigma experienced by persons under psychiatric care.

Mental health-related stigma causes suffering and interferes with care and social inclusion. This study explored stigma as experienced by mental health service users. Particular attention is given to their use of coping mechanisms.

Selecting and implementing evidence-based practices in psychiatric rehabilitation services in Israel: a worthy and feasible challenge.

Major recent conceptual and legal advancements in Israel have generated a profound shift in the services provided for people with severe mental illness. Perhaps the most influential development has been the passage of the act for the rehabilitation of persons with a psychiatric disability in the community in the year 2000. In this paper we argue that the psychiatric rehabilitation services defined by the recent legislation lack explicit standards or criteria for selection, and thus could benefit from incorporating interventions that evidence has shown to be effective in assisting clients to achieve desirable outcomes.

What is in a name? Professionals and service users' opinions of the Hebrew terms used to name psychiatric disorders and disability.

Objectives: Stigma constitutes the hidden burden of mental disorders. Its ubiquitous presence may be reinforced by iatrogenic factors, such as the terms used to name mental disorders and disability. This preliminary study examines opinions with regard to the use of these terms in Hebrew.

The subjective experience of people with severe mental illness: a potentially crucial piece of the puzzle.

Over the last two decades there has been growing interest in the subjective experiences of persons with severe mental illness (SMI). Despite this interest, little research has been carried out to understand whether and how such experiences are related to the course of SMI. In addition, few psychotherapeutic and rehabilitation interventions have been developed especially for persons with SMI that seriously take these persons' subjective experiences into account.

The SES setting of psychiatric hospitalization in Israel.

Objectives: This study examined the relationship between the SES level of localities and psychiatric hospitalization measures to determine the SES place in the planning of mental health services.

Methods: The unit of analysis in this study was the city. Data collected from Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), the National Insurance Institute and the national psychiatric hospitalization case register were used to investigate the association of SES for each city, the number of disability pension recipients for each city and the hospitalization measures: admission rates, length of inpatient episode and the length of tenure in the community.

On the way to Psychiatric Reform in Israel: notes for an ideological and scientific debate.

Israel has launched its program for Psychiatric Reform. However, the implementation of its three areas of action, as the Reform has been conceived thus far, is uneven. While the development of the rehabilitation component has progressed as planned, the one that refers to the insurance component remains stalled.

A program of supported education for adult Israeli students with schizophrenia.

This report describes a supported education program (SEP), a novel community-based program of rehabilitation for psychiatric patients, started in Israel in 1999. Objectives, target population and activities are described. In addition, initial findings of two program-related studies are presented.