Future Docs Blog

Mental health care problems are among some of the most common issues that face many Canadians. In fact, research will show that almost half of all the patients will mental health issues don’t receive treatment. Well, this data alone is a sure cause for concern in the health industry in the country. Mental health illnesses like bipolar disorder, major depression, or schizophrenia is among the most common within Canadian citizens.

This article will highlight some five complicated issues that most Canadians with mental health problems face on a daily basis.

1. Financial barriers to mental health care

It is a fact that even after the Affordable Care Act was put in play that was meant to cover any and all citizens with behavioral and mental health care, the overall cost of treating these diseases is still quite steep and limits most people’s access to these mental health services. The lack of financial resources for most of the Canadian individuals to cater for and get treatment for these services has prevented them from getting treatment for these illnesses in the first place. For other citizens suffering from these mental illnesses, the lack of adequate financial resources has made them get inconsistent or even inadequate treatment.

2. Lack of adequate health professionals

Canada is currently facing a shortage of adequate qualified health professionals for the patients with these mental health issues. The overall shortage can also be as a result of many other different factors like the rural areas in the country have even fewer mental health professionals who can cater for the victims of such illnesses.

3. Mental health awareness and education

Physical illnesses and injuries are obvious. Either these victims don’t feel well, or perhaps some clinical test ends up showing an abnormality. But with mental illnesses, you find that most of the signs are always hard to recognize by the naked eye and can go for long periods before being noticed.

Most of the time, you will find that the mental illness symptoms are subtle and if not diagnosed properly, can be mistaken for attitude or even personality issues. And it can even get to the point where even some of the most dangerous mental cases are not as obvious to notice even when the person suffering from the illness is around you.

Overall, if you are suffering from some form of mental illness, but has no clue of identifying what is going on in his/her body, then it is highly likely that he/she will seek medical attention.

4. The social stigma that comes with mental health conditions

Multiple studies have also found that a lot of stigma surrounds mental illness issues in Canada, which always ends up, preventing many of the mental health victims from visiting the relevant health institutions to get treatment.

5. Racial barriers to all mental health care access

There are a lot of disparities when it comes to mental health care access in Canada among different ethnic and racial groups. A lot of studies have found that it is the white people who mostly get sufficient treatment in mental health-related illnesses compared to the other races which have also caused a lot of issues in the country.