Oct 24, 20223 min read

Common Barriers to Mental Health Care

Your overall health affects how you relate to your surroundings. Your physical, emotional, and mental well-being directly affect how you handle stressful situations, form meaningful interpersonal relationships, and make reasonable and appropriate choices. It is common to have trouble when dealing with tough situations. People often do not know when to ask for, or where to find help regarding their mental health. Despite the fat that mental health issues are more openly discussed and accepted today than they were several years ago, barriers surrounding mental health issues still exist.

Common barriers to mental health care include:

· Access: Lack of available mental healthcare providers makes it difficult, at best, to find the support needed to properly deal with any mental health concern you may be having. There are often long wait times for appointments due to the limited number of mental health care providers. Finding the right medication also creates an access issue should the first medication regimen fail. Finding the right medication in the correct dosage can take several visits.

· Affordability: Lack of health insurance can be a huge barrier to obtaining quality mental health care. Unfortunately, even individuals with health insurance find mental health care unaffordable due to disparities in coverage. Often, mental health services and medications are not covered the same as medical health services and medications. The difference between medical and mental health coverage places an undue financial burden on those requiring mental health services.

· Awareness: Some individuals may be unaware that they even have a problem. It is not uncommon to believe that the negative thoughts and feelings you are having are normal and will get better on their own. Everyone feels overwhelmed at some point in their life. However, when those feelings interfere with everyday life, there may be something more going on. We must provide education on mental health to people of all ages so they can recognize when there is a problem and understand that there are people who can help.

· Stigma: Although mental health issues are becoming more widely accepted, many people with mental health concerns do not seek help because they do not want to be labeled with a mental health condition by employers, family, and friends.

Overcoming Mental Health Barriers By:

· Asking your local and state representatives to assess your community’s need for mental health providers and programs and to lobby for the funds need to provide those services

· Supporting legislation that stresses equality of medical and mental health services and medications

· Providing education on signs and symptoms of mental health conditions and available treatments

· Encouraging awareness and supporting education in schools and throughout the community

Help Yourself and Your Community

Being physically, emotionally, and mentally fit allows you to appropriately handle difficult situations, form meaningful relationships, and make rational decisions. There are several ways to get involved in your community to improve advance education for mental health awareness. Find out what you can do to help improve the mental health conversation in your community.