MENTAL HEALTH IN VENETO REGIONAccording to the Italian health and social services legislation the responsibility for guaranteeing an equal minimum standard of mental health services to all citizens living in their territories lies on Regions. Regions carry out their duties in this field through Local Health Authorities: each LHA must have a Mental Health Department. The MHD is responsible for planning and coordinating all mental health services working in the LHA, including both hospital and community-based services and aiming at the integration between social and health services. The Veneto region approach to Mental Health services is based on the 1978 Italian Mental Health Act, which determined a radical shift from mental hospitals to community-care through the closure of existing Mental Health Hospitals, the provision of a few beds for acute psychiatric emergencies in general hospitals, the establishment of a wide range of community-based services and the definition of strict rules for compulsory treatment. The premises of the 1978 Act lies on a holistic (bio-psycho-social) approach to mental illness and the assumptions that mentally ill people pose no danger to society and hospitalization makes mental illness chronic instead of treating, curing or, at least easing it. Our view is that de-istitutionalization works were supported by a wide range of community-based services.
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