Why Aren’t People With Medical Problems Given Mental Health Care?

Photo by Bermix Studio on Unsplash

I opened my first psychiatric office in 1989 right across the street from our local hospital. I joined the hospital staff, did consultations on in-patients and, joined the local medical society. In other words, I was visible.

My plan was to make my presence as a psychiatrist known to the medical community. This, I hoped, would coincide with the blossoming knowledge about psychiatric problems among medical patients. Physicians were just beginning to learn that cancer, cardiac, and rheumatology (arthritis) patients, among others, commonly had depression, anxiety and other mental health issues. This may seem obvious now, but was not always so; or at least was not treated seriously enough to carefully study.

Although I did receive many patient referrals, the flood of people with these medical conditions never materialized. Not even in the following 23 years of my practice. Little did I know that I would join not one, but two classes of these patients: rheumatology and cancer. In an unplanned way, many important journeys unfold, I would learn about this issue from both sides.

I am disappointed to report — from both sides of the issue — that medical patients develop mental health issues frequently (especially those with certain diagnoses) and that they are mostly not attended to. What was…