Seeking
Access to Mental Health Services
There is an adage that goes
something like this, “There is nothing like a great meal, if you can afford it.”
So, it is with mental health services,
for those that need it there is nothing like great mental health services, if
you can afford it.
There is a strong belief
among those actively seeking mental health services that there are great
barriers to finding care.
Youth mental health is
worsening. 9.7 % of youth in the U.S.
have severe major depression, compared to 9.2% in last year’s dataset. This rate was highest among youth who
identify as more than one race, at 12.4%.
There is still unmet need
for mental health treatment among youth and adults. 60 percent of youth with major depression did
not receive any mental health treatment from 2016-2017 to 2017-2018. Even in states with the greatest access, over
38% are not receiving the mental health services they need. Among youth with severe depression, only
27.4% received consistent treatment.
23.6% of adults with mental illness reported an unmet need for treatment
in 2017-2018. This number has not
declined since 2011.
These beliefs of those
seeking mental health services are driven by several perceived barriers in
Americans’ ability to seek mental health treatment, including:
High Cost and Insufficient
Insurance Coverage: Forty-two percent of
the population saw cost and poor insurance coverage as the top barriers for
accessing mental health care. One in
four Americans reported having to choose between getting mental health
treatment and paying for daily necessities.
Several individuals blamed
the U.S. government and insurers for not providing
Here is the big hairy
audacious truth. People who have mental
health problems make others uncomfortable.
As an old hospital administrator, I used to marvel at how the various
health insurance companies would happily pony up $35,000 for an open-heart
surgical procedure but refuse to increase the payment for an outpatient mental
health counseling visit from $25.00 to $27.50.
People in polite company are hesitant to tell the truth, but here it
is. People with mental health conditions
are second class citizens. There is a
deep cultural bias against them and, while it is improving, it will probably
always be the case.
God forbid that you are poor
and need access to mental health care. Compared
to middle and high-income households, low-income Americans are less likely to
use a community center versus a qualified mental health center. Of the Americans that have not sought mental
health treatment, more than half, or 53% were in low-income households.
This will come up again in a
future article, but there is no question that many people benefit from “talk
therapy” or a one-on-one bond with a private psychiatrist
What most people are
unprepared for is in the first ten minutes of your first session with a private
psychiatrist you lean that a 40-minute session with the psychiatrist, once a
week, will cost between $300.00 and $500.00 per session. Accordingly, the best care available is only
accessible by the upper middle class
and above. What if you are a single Mom
working for the minimum wage and your child needs psychiatric care? What do you do? The medical economics of psychiatric care in
the United States create a dilemma.
The poor will scramble for
whatever is available in the tattered safety net of public mental health
services.
In addition, compared to
Americans living in urban and suburban areas, individuals living in rural areas
are less likely to proactively seek mental health specialists they need, and
instead go to their primary care doctors or community center for treatment. Rural Americans are also less accepting of
mental health services and care
The number of people
screening with moderate to severe symptoms of depression and anxiety has
continued to increase throughout 2021 and remains higher than rates prior to
COVID-19. In September 2020, the rate of
moderate to severe anxiety peaked, with over 8 in 10 people who took an anxiety
screen scoring with moderate to severe symptoms. Over 8 in 10 people who took a depression
screen have scored with symptoms of moderate to severe depression consistently
since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020.
More people are reporting
frequent thoughts of suicide and self-harm than have ever been recorded in the
MHA Screening program since its launch in 2014.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began to spread rapidly in March 2020, over
178,000 people have reported frequent suicidal ideation. 37 percent of people reported having thoughts
of suicide or nearly every day in September 2020.
Young people are struggling
most with their mental health. The
proportion of youth ages 11-17 who accessed screening was 9 percent higher than
the average in 2019. Not only are the
number of youth searching for help with their mental health increasing, but
throughout the COVID-19 pandemic youth ages 11-17 have been more likely than
any other age group to score for moderate to severe symptoms of anxiety and
depression.
Rates
of suicide ideation are highest among youth, especially LGBTQ+ youth. In September 2020, over half of 11-17-year-olds
reported having thoughts of suicide or self-harm or nearly every day of the
previous two weeks. From January to
September 2020, 77,470 youth reported experiencing frequent suicidal ideation,
including 27,980 OGBTQ+ youth.
The National Council for
Mental Wellbeing is the unifying voice of America’s healthcare organizations
that deliver mental health and addictions treatment and services. Together with the 2.900-member organizations
serving over 10 million adults, children and families living with mental
illness and addictions, the National Council is committed to all Americans
having access to comprehensive, high-quality care that affords every
opportunity for recovery.
The National Council
introduced Mental Health First Aid USA and more than one million Americans have
been trained. For more information,
please visit www.TheNationalCouncil.org.
Jan Ricks Jennings
Senior Consultant
Senior Management
Resources
JanJenningsBlog.
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