In the 2004 Health Accord, the Government of Canada ear-marked $5 million to reduce wait times in 5 areas: joint replacement, sight restoration, cancer care, cardiac surgery and diagnostic imaging. What about severe mental illness?
We, the undersigned, call upon the Prime Minister and First Ministers of Canada to add the treatment of severe mental disorders to their priorities for wait-time reduction.
According to Health Canada, more than four million Canadians are suffering from an identifiable mental illness at any given time. Only one-third of them are getting treatment.
In a position paper published in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, the group argues that prompt treatment is essential because of the stigma associated with mental illness, and the disabling nature of conditions such as depression, schizophrenia, panic disorder and mood disorders.
"For most of us, the worry of 'losing your mind' is the most disabling thing that can happen to us," the paper states. It establishes maximum wait times for five "sentinel" mental illnesses: psychosis, mania, hypomania, postpartum mood disorder, major depression.
According to Dr. Blake Woodside, chairman of the Canadian Psychiatric Association and director of the eating-disorders program at Toronto General Hospital, what is truly tragic is that delays in treatment routinely result in a worsening of a person's condition and worse outcomes -- at great cost to individuals and the health system.
"Right now, if you show up in ER suicidal, you will get care, but if you want a consultation for a serious mental-health problem, it will take many months to be seen," Dr. Woodside said.
