Psych CASC / OSCE · Foundations — social determinants of mental health
Housing, poverty and depression — CASC/communication station
CASC-style station combining engagement, SDMH formulation language, safety/housing planning, and interagency communication.
On this page
Study tools
Target exams
FRANZCPMRCPsychABPNMD-DNB
Prompt
You are the psychiatry registrar on a community team. You have 10 minutes with a 41-year-old man with recurrent major depression, recent job loss, eviction notice in 14 days, and two missed medication pickups. He feels 'lazy and weak'. A housing officer and GP will join for the last 3 minutes. Task: validate experience, reframe social determinants without dismissing illness, co-produce a multi-level plan, and brief the housing officer collaboratively.
Station brief
Format. Communication / joint planning station, approximately 8–10 minutes. Balance empathy with concrete multi-agency actions. [7]
Candidate instructions. Engage the patient; reframe self-blame using social determinants language without minimising depression as a treatable illness; screen risk (suicide, violence, child/others if relevant); agree a plan covering clinical care, housing, income, and follow-up; brief housing officer respectfully. [1][2][3]
References8ShowHide
- [1]Allen J, Balfour R, Bell R, Marmot M Social determinants of mental health Int Rev Psychiatry, 2014.PMID 25137105
- [2]Ridley M, Rao G, Schilbach F, Patel V Poverty, depression, and anxiety: Causal evidence and mechanisms Science, 2020.PMID 33303583
- [3]Lund C, Brooke-Sumner C, Baingana F, et al. Social determinants of mental disorders and the Sustainable Development Goals Lancet Psychiatry, 2018.PMID 29580610
- [4]Hatzenbuehler ML, Phelan JC, Link BG Stigma as a fundamental cause of population health inequalities Am J Public Health, 2013.PMID 23488505
- [5]Clement S, Schauman O, Graham T, et al. Impact of mental health-related stigma on help-seeking Psychol Med, 2015.PMID 24569086
- [6]Saxena S, Thornicroft G, Knapp M, Whiteford H Resources for mental health: scarcity, inequity, and inefficiency Lancet, 2007.PMID 17804062
- [7]Campion J, Javed A, Lund C, et al. Public mental health: required actions to address implementation failure Lancet Psychiatry, 2022.PMID 35065723
- [8]Thornicroft G, Mehta N, Clement S, et al. Evidence for effective interventions to reduce mental-health-related stigma and discrimination Lancet, 2016.PMID 26410341