Explained: Mental Healthcare in America

Explained: Mental Healthcare in America

hey what’s up everyone so October 10th is World mental health day and it’s as good as time as any to reflect on the state of mental Healthcare in America when we talk about mental healthare it’s important to level set because mental health is such a broad term and encompasses tons of different uh diagnosis when we talk about mental health care we’re talking about patients who have been diagnosed with a wide range of conditions everything from depression anxiety bipolar neurodevelopmental conditions like edhd schizophrenia substance abuse disorder post-traumatic stress trauma obsessive compulsive and so much more there’s an entire book called the diagnostic and statistical manual mental disorders that psychiatrists rely on to treat patients and so that’s what we’re coming about with mental health lot of conditions very Broad and so it’s just important to recognize that when you look at the statistics it paints a pretty bleak picture a here in America these were compiled by Mental Health America which is a nonprofit group and their 2023 report is I opening according to them one out of five Americans have been diagnosed with a mental health condition but more than half of those adults don’t even receive treatment almost a third 28% of all adults with mental health condition reported that they were not even able to receive the treatment they needed 42% of adults said that they have been unable to receive necessary care because they can’t even afford it conditions like these that go untreated though they have a huge Downstream impact on the care delivery system for example 40% of those suffering from depression are likely to develop heart disease and there is a strong link between mental health and the prevalence of cancer diabetes arthritis and more mental health disorders Drive Americans to the emergency room more than any other cause of care outside of childb birth now we all know that the emergency room that is where the most expensive place to get care in America is and 12% of all emergency room visits are the result of a mental health dis Disorder so if not pretty and there could be any number of reasons for these Trends it’s really not a good system if you are a patient with a behavioral health problem it’s almost hard to design a worse system did he just say design a worse system that was Josh Isel MD during his appearance on the modern patient Experience Podcast Dr Israel is a clinical psychiatrist and Senior medical director of clinical quality at alidade which is a physician-based Accountable Care Organization and Dr Israel goes on to explain that there’s a few main factors leading to this terrible experience that he points out there’s a huge shortage overall of Behavioral Health Providers so it starts with that and then even within that those providers who are out there many of them have found that they can opt out of taking insurance so there’s even fewer available for patients who are trying to get health care with their own health insurance that they’ve essentially already paid for often through their employer if you are somebody with depression for example it’s just very hard to find somebody to help you depression as we know especially in more severe forms often comes with hopelessness so somebody may already be feeling doubtful that mental health treatment will even help so it doesn’t take a lot to put barriers in front of them to dissuade them from reaching out for care and then the system goes and does exactly that you know they may call one or two people they don’t get a call back if they are extra motivated they may contact their insurance provider and get a list of 20 people and call them all say are you taking my insurance a lot of time they won’t get any calls back or they may get a call back saying I can see you in 3 months it’s not a great system and people will often give up and not go get help for every 350 people in need of care there’s only one provider which is completely insufficient so the pipeline of psychiatrists and mental health professionals needs to improve and even if patients can find a provider actually turns out that most providers don’t take insurance and so that’s number two which is mental health it’s almost become an entirely self-pay industry and the expense is one that a lot of patients just cannot afford at all it can cost anywhere from 65 to $250 for an hour-long therapy session and most severe diagnoses can cost patients more than $10,000 an out of- pocket cost per year 10,000 and so according to to White House estimates about $280 billion was spent on Mental Health Services back in 2020 that’s the most recent year for data but in numerous studies cost is consistently cited as the biggest barrier to accessing a necessary Mental Health Care Services by patients it’s not good and so as it relates to mental health in the workplace as a result another Downstream impact uh of Mental Health disorders and untreated care is that patients end up missing a lot of work and even if they are at work they are not bringing their best professional self this can have huge consequences on patients because a lot of employers frankly are not empathetic to employees with mental health issues and it’s estimated that about $193 billion in the United States economy has lost in earnings each year due to mental health and I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately I just had a conversation with one of my co-workers and I want you to meet Jesse their experience working at axis one has made a huge difference for that I have had some swings both into mania and into some pretty deep depression while working at XS one the one good thing about Mania is you get a lot of work done the bad thing about Mania is that you will crash and the Crash can be pretty rough that’s one of the things I really have loved about a one is it feels like I can be open with like my manager my supervisor about hey I’m not doing great or I just need to take a day or two for like mental health or something like that and I don’t have to lie or try to come up with some kind of more valid excuse for why I need to like maybe leave early that day or take some time off it was nice to feel like my bipolar wasn’t going to make me lose my job yeah which hasn’t always been the reality for that’s why it’s really important to like get as much stability in your life as possible want to medication is not the only answer but it is what has worked for me so I found stability through medication and then also through work having a stable work and life balance is really important and aess one has really given that to me the listening to Jesse it made me realize just how underrated having a caring and empathetic employer a caring manager that accepts you for you and provides psychological safety really is for people being treated with mental health conditions but yes there is a lot that needs to happen to improve the system Dr Israel offered a few things which he said is look just changing the reimbursements to get more psychiatrists into the pipeline would make a huge difference and so yeah World Mental Health is just one day of the year but it’s important opportunity to reflect on what we can do to help not just the jesses of the world but also all the other people out there who are suffering in silence we need employers to offer great benefits like PTO and flexible work schedules we need to fix the psychiatrist Pipeline and reimbursement approach to get more mental health professionals into the system and this is honestly probably just the tip of the iceberg it’s going to take all of us to make a difference if you want to help I will list a few Charities you can donate to in the description of this video and if you’re a mental health provider or an organization that needs help making care affordable for your patients hit up access one you know where to find us uh and we’d love to talk to you we think we can help you make a difference uh for your patients when it comes to the cost of care making it more affordable thanks peace

In a word, mental health in America is not great. You could even say it’s a full blown crisis. Patients aren’t getting the care they need, out of pocket costs are becoming increasingly more unaffordable, and employers need to do more to support their workers.

To listen to the full episode of the Modern Patient Experience, featuring Dr. Joshua Israel go here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdRCLoyfu1g

Here are some charities/non-profits worth supporting to create a better mental health system in America:

National Alliance on Mental Illness
Mental Health America
The Jed Foundation
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
Child Mind Institute
StrongMinds
Brain & Behavior Research Foundation
Active Minds
Project Sanctuary

Finally, you are loved. If you need help, please call 988

Please check in on loved ones and make sure they are okay. ❤️❤️❤️

#mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealthmatters