Health Care in Canada, for those living with or experiencing a mental illness

For this blog I decided to research the topic of health care concerns for those who experience or live with a mental illness. I was able to find an article on Maclean’s magazine website concerning this issue. As we all have learnt in class and through some of the blog posts this semester that mental illness can be called the invisible disease. But as stated in this article this is not the fact at all it is seen in schools, homes, hospitals etc. (Belluz & Macqueen, 2011). Canadian Mental Health Association has stated that mental illness has or will affect all Canadians at some point i.e. through family members, friends, or coworkers (Canadian Mental Health Association , 2012). Also that 20% of Canadians will have a personal experiences at some point and it has no bias’s i.e. does not matter what ages you are, education or skills, income or culture (Canadian Mental Health Association , 2012) As well suicide in Canada is one of the most leading causes of death among men and women (Canadian Mental Health Association , 2012)When we look at these statistics and then again think about the phrase invisible disease it is hard to really compare the two.

            Canada is the only G7 country without a national mental health strategy, and discussed in the mclanes article is that they believe this is due because of lesser priority and lower funding when it comes to the proper treatment of psychiatric disorders (Belluz & Macqueen, 2011). The cost to the economy in 1998 was about $7.9 billion as well and added 6.3 billion was spent on uninsured mental health services or time taken off work because of a mental illness (Canadian Mental Health Association , 2012). This is a clear sign that this is an area that needs to be addressed. When we look at the stats again and compare it to the stats of who actually receives the proper treatment and health care it is astounding. Because of this many people who undiagnosed, suffer silently, turn to substance abuse. And when they do try to seek professional help they are likely to receive improper care and long wait times to find care (Belluz & Macqueen, 2011).

            As well in the article they quote the executive director of the Canadian Mental Health Association saying that only one in three adults get access to proper mental health care, and if you’re a child it’s about one in six (Belluz & Macqueen, 2011). As well as that higher your income the higher your chances are to receive care because of the privatization of most services and the cost (Belluz & Macqueen, 2011). I believe it’s important when discussing health care for those with mental illness to address the issues that concern children and youth because often for severe mental illnesses they develop around this age. It is estimated that 10-20% of Canadian youth suffer from a mental illness or disorder, as well as Canada’s youth suicide rate is the third highest in the industrialized world. It is the second leading cause of death for youth, and the second highest hospital care expenditure in Canada. But with this being said only one out of five children who need mental health services receives them (Canadian Mental Health Association , 2012). Only about 7% of governments health expenditures go to mental health and shockingly this is well under most developed countries (Canadian Mental Health Association , 2012).

            As of now the family physician plays the key role in mental health care for most Canadian, but they cannot meet the full needs of every patient living with or experiencing a mental illness (Canadian Psychiatric Association, 1996). Some of the issues that need to be addressed by the government is prevalence of mental illness by age, sex and other variables, risk and protective factors, impact of mental illness on quality of life, access to primary and specialist health care, impact of mental illness on economy and the workforce, as well as a number of other issues that face people living with mental illness (Health Canada, 2002).  

            The social democratic lens believe that for people to reach their full potential the environment needs to be created (Mallaly, 2007). It is obvious that this is not the way the Canadian government is addressing the policy issues that face those who live with or experience a mental illness. As well for the social democratic political ideology believe that government intervention is key therefore they would believe that the goal the government should have is to fix these issues in the public sector not the private (Mullaly, 2007).  

-Amanda

References

Belluz, J. & Macqueen, K. (2011, March, 22). Mental Health Care for a Few. Macleans. Retrieved from http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/03/22/mental-health-care-for-the-few/

Canadian Mental Health Association . (2012). Fast Facts . Retrieved November 15, 2012, from Canadian Mental Health Association : http://www.cmha.ca/

Canadian Psychiatric Association. (October, 4, 1996). Shared Mental Health Care in Canada/Position Paper. Retrieved from http://www.cfpc.ca/uploadedFiles/Directories/_PDFs/Shared%20Mental%20Health%20C     are%20in%20Canada.pdf 

Health Canada. (2002). A Report on Mental Illness in Canada. Ottawa: Health Canada Editorial   Board Mental Illnesses in Canada.

Mullaly, R. (2007). The New Structural Social Work. Canada: Oxford University Press.