Mental Health System Needs A Lot of Help
Over at NakedMedicine.com, Dr. Rob posted about how the mental health system - especially the State mental health system - is a scary place to be.
Dr. Rob’s article touched upon several salient points that affect patients who suffer from mental illness:
- Many primary care doctors and family doctors have to become “amateur psychiatrists” now
- People may still fear going to see psychs because of social stigma and psychiatrists are often unavailable/short-staffed.
- State psych hospitals are places were the most critical patients are sent, yet as Dr. Rob pointed out, assumes an environment of “lack of hope.”
It’s important for both patients and drug companies alike to recognize that family doctors and primary care doctors do indeed see a significant number of mental health disorders. Sometimes diagnosis of some mental illnesses can’t be done in a few minutes’ time, but this is often the reality of a primary care setting (or at least this is what I’ve seen in a state with heavy managed care like California). Misdiagnosis will often lead to the wrong treatment… although (caution: my cynic is coming out) so many psych drugs have multiple indications now that some drug marketers may honestly believe their drugs work for huge clusters of mental ailments.
In a place where the toughest-to-treat (or perhaps even untreatable) patients reside, it’s important to secure funding for at least adequate environs that will not exacerbate already fragile mental conditions. For those dealing with psychic pain, what can possibly be worse than to be locked into a place that reeks with feelings of hopelessness and despair?
Comments
One Response to “Mental Health System Needs A Lot of Help”
Leave a Reply
[...] Mental Health System Needs A Lot of Help [...]