In the US there is a major supply issue. I have a struggling 13 year old, dealing with depression and suicidal ideation. In my state the first stop is the Psych ER (that’s where the pediatrician sent us). My husband and my 13 year old spent 36 hours there with adults and children together, waiting until she could be fully evaluated. In the meantime, they were in a padded room with no phone access (to call work.) Luckily his boss understood the emergency but that is a barrier right there. Once she got evaluated we had to then find a therapist, and also a psychiatrist who could manage medication, it was a total of 4 months before she could get continuous care from the same therapist. Our health insurance deductible is maxed out, if we didn’t have insurance I have no idea what we would have done. Thank you for bringing awareness to this very real issue, your story you shared of your old friend is heartbreaking. Here’s to hoping it can lead to reform.
Oh wow. I’m so sorry you had to endure such a horrible experience.
Sadly, it’s not a lot better here. You hear a lot of good stories about people fortunate enough to access help. Admittedly I am one of those people. But it’s predominately self funded and not bloody cheap!
It’s just so wrong that people have different levels of access relative to their income or social status. If something else was having such a profound affect on so many lives, like car accidents for example, they would fund it to the hill.
Great point! We’ve come so far with education surrounding mental illness but because there is still that misunderstanding (what do you mean your kid won’t get out of bed she must be lazy/selfish/spoiled) of what it is for a lot of people it can be hard to gain broader support for solutions. Also, it’s hard to advocate for yourself when in the midst of a mental illness crisis. It’s a bad combo.
The fact is you don’t know how hard it is to get help until you need it…we closed all our psych hospitals in the 80’s in the U.S., for many well intended reasons, unfortunately none of the community support systems that were supposed to take their place were ever built up. So like you said, where is the funding, the support, etc. You shouldn’t have to pay to play for your mental health treatment.
You have my wheels turning now for how my husband and I can advocate for awareness and change in our little corner of the world…
It’s one of those things, right? None of us care enough about a particular illness or condition until it impacts us or someone we care about and that doesn’t make us bad people, we’ve just never had a need to understand in an age where we’re all so busy already.
I think a solution though could be in community. As the stigma dissipates, hopefully we see more people talk openly about their mental health issues as we create safer spaces to do so and and we can see more input from community groups. Obviously there’s a short fall in terms of health professionals so maybe, whilst not professional, it’s up to community groups to do what we can not to solve anyone’s problems or cure them, but just whatever we can. Provide support, judgement free space for people to talk, linking people with others we think can help them etc.
It's interesting that health inequity is the topic of the big health meetings, but nothing seems to be changing. It's not getting better, in fact it could quite possibly be getting worse? I don't know what the solution is, but I know that we all need to work together on it.
I agree. I think Breeny nailed it on the Sunday Sippers podcast this week. The top down stuff is all in place and while it's good and better than nothing, it's clearly not reaching everyone who needs it. He said, and I agree, that the bottom up stuff has to come from community. We can sit here and say "they" aren't doing enough, only when we truly feel like we have done all that we can. I would love to find more time to dedicate to making whatever difference/impact I can, but how do you do that when time is so scarce? It's so bloody complex and difficult.
Not really sure about adult psychological help. But I know for paediatric psychology the waiting list can be a very long time. Even over a year. And the cost on top of the rising cost of living makes it prohibitive. Our young fella needs it and even if we did get a call up from one of our waiting lists, I don't know how we'd find that money on top of everything else.
Yeah, i reckon cost would be a sticking point for a lot of people. The problem with the cost is you don't just need to go once. It takes a long time to create new neural pathways after a lifetime of ingraining old ones.
Could there be an issue with supply too? Like not enough health professionals meaning the good ones can charge more making it more out of reach for those in need? I think it's often lower and middle class people who need the help the most but can't seem to get it.
Yeah I definitely feel like it’s a service more readily available to the privileged and often the disadvantaged are the ones who need the most or best help available. The problem with the best help is, they can command big money from the people who have it, so why wouldn’t they do that?
Oh I agree! cost is a huge barrier. Health professionals charge through the roof because they can. I often remind myself that I'm paying for their knowledge not their time and tat my health is important. I have a respiratory specialist appointment coming up, the initial consult is $309.40 with $135.45 back on medicare, if it's a long consult it'll be $420 wit $236.95 back on medicare. I thought to myself, how do people who struggle to make ends meet afford this? I'm lucky I can go private, but if I was to go on the public waitlist, who knows how long I'd have to wait for this appointment.
Stigma is definitely a huge issue. Humans are incredibly judgemental, and this doesn't help. People are ashamed to get help, ashamed to not be okay because they feel like they should be okay and able to deal with what life is throwing at them. We have been conditioned to suppress emotions rather than to feel them.
That sounds like the dilemma I had with my psychiatrist late last year. Exorbitant fee's but he is very good and it would take far too long to get in with another one who would only charge similar rates anyway. Plus, there is security in returning to the same psych. If I went to a new one I would be starting from scratch and the previous appointments would be considered a bit of a waste of time. If I went to a cheaper one I fear I would "get what I pay for" in terms of quality so I am kind of stuck.
In the US there is a major supply issue. I have a struggling 13 year old, dealing with depression and suicidal ideation. In my state the first stop is the Psych ER (that’s where the pediatrician sent us). My husband and my 13 year old spent 36 hours there with adults and children together, waiting until she could be fully evaluated. In the meantime, they were in a padded room with no phone access (to call work.) Luckily his boss understood the emergency but that is a barrier right there. Once she got evaluated we had to then find a therapist, and also a psychiatrist who could manage medication, it was a total of 4 months before she could get continuous care from the same therapist. Our health insurance deductible is maxed out, if we didn’t have insurance I have no idea what we would have done. Thank you for bringing awareness to this very real issue, your story you shared of your old friend is heartbreaking. Here’s to hoping it can lead to reform.
Oh wow. I’m so sorry you had to endure such a horrible experience.
Sadly, it’s not a lot better here. You hear a lot of good stories about people fortunate enough to access help. Admittedly I am one of those people. But it’s predominately self funded and not bloody cheap!
It’s just so wrong that people have different levels of access relative to their income or social status. If something else was having such a profound affect on so many lives, like car accidents for example, they would fund it to the hill.
Great point! We’ve come so far with education surrounding mental illness but because there is still that misunderstanding (what do you mean your kid won’t get out of bed she must be lazy/selfish/spoiled) of what it is for a lot of people it can be hard to gain broader support for solutions. Also, it’s hard to advocate for yourself when in the midst of a mental illness crisis. It’s a bad combo.
The fact is you don’t know how hard it is to get help until you need it…we closed all our psych hospitals in the 80’s in the U.S., for many well intended reasons, unfortunately none of the community support systems that were supposed to take their place were ever built up. So like you said, where is the funding, the support, etc. You shouldn’t have to pay to play for your mental health treatment.
You have my wheels turning now for how my husband and I can advocate for awareness and change in our little corner of the world…
It’s one of those things, right? None of us care enough about a particular illness or condition until it impacts us or someone we care about and that doesn’t make us bad people, we’ve just never had a need to understand in an age where we’re all so busy already.
I think a solution though could be in community. As the stigma dissipates, hopefully we see more people talk openly about their mental health issues as we create safer spaces to do so and and we can see more input from community groups. Obviously there’s a short fall in terms of health professionals so maybe, whilst not professional, it’s up to community groups to do what we can not to solve anyone’s problems or cure them, but just whatever we can. Provide support, judgement free space for people to talk, linking people with others we think can help them etc.
It's interesting that health inequity is the topic of the big health meetings, but nothing seems to be changing. It's not getting better, in fact it could quite possibly be getting worse? I don't know what the solution is, but I know that we all need to work together on it.
I agree. I think Breeny nailed it on the Sunday Sippers podcast this week. The top down stuff is all in place and while it's good and better than nothing, it's clearly not reaching everyone who needs it. He said, and I agree, that the bottom up stuff has to come from community. We can sit here and say "they" aren't doing enough, only when we truly feel like we have done all that we can. I would love to find more time to dedicate to making whatever difference/impact I can, but how do you do that when time is so scarce? It's so bloody complex and difficult.
Not really sure about adult psychological help. But I know for paediatric psychology the waiting list can be a very long time. Even over a year. And the cost on top of the rising cost of living makes it prohibitive. Our young fella needs it and even if we did get a call up from one of our waiting lists, I don't know how we'd find that money on top of everything else.
Yeah, i reckon cost would be a sticking point for a lot of people. The problem with the cost is you don't just need to go once. It takes a long time to create new neural pathways after a lifetime of ingraining old ones.
Could there be an issue with supply too? Like not enough health professionals meaning the good ones can charge more making it more out of reach for those in need? I think it's often lower and middle class people who need the help the most but can't seem to get it.
Yeah absolutely supply can't meet demand. It's a real problem.
Bloody oath. People are dying. Doesn’t get any worse than that...
Yeah I definitely feel like it’s a service more readily available to the privileged and often the disadvantaged are the ones who need the most or best help available. The problem with the best help is, they can command big money from the people who have it, so why wouldn’t they do that?
It’s fucking tough.
Oh I agree! cost is a huge barrier. Health professionals charge through the roof because they can. I often remind myself that I'm paying for their knowledge not their time and tat my health is important. I have a respiratory specialist appointment coming up, the initial consult is $309.40 with $135.45 back on medicare, if it's a long consult it'll be $420 wit $236.95 back on medicare. I thought to myself, how do people who struggle to make ends meet afford this? I'm lucky I can go private, but if I was to go on the public waitlist, who knows how long I'd have to wait for this appointment.
Stigma is definitely a huge issue. Humans are incredibly judgemental, and this doesn't help. People are ashamed to get help, ashamed to not be okay because they feel like they should be okay and able to deal with what life is throwing at them. We have been conditioned to suppress emotions rather than to feel them.
That sounds like the dilemma I had with my psychiatrist late last year. Exorbitant fee's but he is very good and it would take far too long to get in with another one who would only charge similar rates anyway. Plus, there is security in returning to the same psych. If I went to a new one I would be starting from scratch and the previous appointments would be considered a bit of a waste of time. If I went to a cheaper one I fear I would "get what I pay for" in terms of quality so I am kind of stuck.