Just heard a bit about another segment of the healthcare industry that I hadn't really had much experience with except with the occasional client and it got me thinking. And wow, has my troubled mind gone off on a tangent about it. So, I decided to go ahead and write a bit about it, even though my last blog post only received a measly 24 views. :)
When one finds a small lump and it is determined that it needs a biopsy, one goes for a biopsy. During this whole process, one is treated with great respect and friendliness. At that point the cells get read by pathology. If the result is cancer, ones tumor is screened a whole team of experts who decide on the next possible treatment.(in my community's main healthcare system) Additionally, one is assigned a patient navigator who helps one navigate the future treatment and appointments. They will even go to doctor's appointments with you and follow you until remission or death.
Due to great strides and money into research for cancer, there are many cancers that are highly treatable and have good success rates if caught early.
Contrast this with treatment resistant mental illness which often has higher equal or higher death rates than certain cancers. With treatment resistant mental illness, one is shuffled from one provider to the next. Sometimes you are treated by someone who has no expertise in the field. Imagine a cancer patient only being treated by their primary doctor with no input or time with an oncologist. Some therapists say that certain illnesses are too difficult to treat unless they are better controlled by meds, but then the meds aren't working either so you are left in hopeless limbo land. Some doctors then might try to shuffle you on to ECT where one can become severely brain damaged. There is no team of experts that tries to figure out the best course of treatment and one receives NO navigation to help you with the system even though ones decision making and thinking skills are highly impaired by the illness. One is often treated in a condescending and disrespectful way by many professionals who get frustrated that one isn't 'getting better' and that their magic bullets are not working. And since the treatment is often initiated in our medical system, providers are not taught to help people connect with solutions that might not fit tidily into the medical model. (like trauma treatment or community resources)
These illnesses are NOT highly treatable and many go from medication to medication to therapy to therapy with absolutely no relief. In the US, 41,760 women died from breast cancer in 2019 and 48, 344 people died from suicide.
When one gets diagnosed with cancer, one gets casseroles, sympathy, and often an outpouring of support. When one gets diagnosed with a mental health condition that is not very treatable one gets pushed away by their community who certainly doesn't want you to talk about your condition or know how to support you so they choose just to ignore you or let you fade away.
Those of us with these types of mental health conditions need a team approach that is holistic, respectful and kind. We also need navigators that will help us connect to medical and community resources as well as find alternative non-medical solutions when there are no good medical solutions. Treating our conditions deserves the same respect, time and effort as treating cancer. Instead of isolation, we need community and help with navigating the system just as much as any cancer patient. It enrages me to see the disparity in treatment between the two, both on a community level and a medical level.
