Why is it so hard to get help for mental illness in Canada

In Canada, only one in five people with depression gets appropriate treatment. And in Ontario, only one in three patients discharged from psychiatric hospitalization will get a follow-up within the month. Why is Canada doing so poorly in helping people with mental illness? Dr. Paul Kurdyak and Sanjeev Sockalingam explain why treatment is so difficult to come by.

Paul Kurdyak is an expert advisor with EvidenceNetwork.ca, a psychiatrist and clinician scientist at CAMH (the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health).

Sanjeev Sockalingam is a psychiatrist and Deputy Psychiatrist-in-Chief at the University Health Network and Associate Professor at the University of Toronto.

Interview by Mélanie Meloche-Holubowski, journalist intern at EvidenceNetwork.ca, and journalist with Radio-Canada.

This Podcast appeared in the Treatment of Addiction publication

  appropriate treatment, Canada Health Act, mental disabilities, Mental health, mental health strategy, mental illness, mental illness help, pharmaceutical policies in Canada, Podcasts, prescription drug, Private health benefits, Private health care, psychiatric hospitalization, Psychiatrist

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