{"id":3938,"date":"2026-10-08T15:25:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T15:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/?p=3938"},"modified":"2026-10-08T15:25:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T15:25:13","slug":"navigating-my-mental-health-crisis-was-hard-finding-proper-care-was-somehow-worse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/?p=3938","title":{"rendered":"Navigating my mental health crisis was hard. Finding proper care was somehow worse."},"content":{"rendered":"


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<\/p>\n

\n

So what exactly is happening to our mental health system?<\/p>\n

1. A psychiatrist and mental health provider shortage <\/strong><\/p>\n

America has a severe shortage of psychiatrists and mental health providers even despite the surging public demand for mental health services. Federal data<\/a> shows over 137 million Americans living in a mental health professional shortage area. And according to statistics, it\u2019s getting worse<\/a>. <\/p>\n

According to Crawford, the shortage of psychiatrists is the result of several factors, including the rising demand of mental health services, continued stigma surrounding the profession and inadequate reimbursement from insurance companies. Low reimbursement rates can make it difficult for mental health professionals to justify the years of education and training required to enter the field, contributing to some professionals leaving the workforce.<\/p>\n

According to Pallavi Yetur<\/a>, a licensed therapist in California, in addition to people leaving the field due to poor reimbursement rates that are not in line with the time and cost of training, providers also leave due to chronic burnout<\/a>, a professional epidemic that comes from patient load, fighting to be validated in a stigmatized field and navigating the frustrating insurance system from the provider side.<\/p>\n

2. Cost and insurance barriers<\/strong><\/p>\n

Experts say insurance is a huge problem. <\/p>\n

Caitlin Hochul<\/a>, senior vice president of policy and government relations at Inseparable, a mental health advocacy organization, said the system is designed by insurers to put profits ahead of people. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re seeing an issue where providers are being squeezed out of the system,\u201d Hochul said. \u201cIt’s very costly to even get the education, the training, the licensure to become a provider. And then once they are licensed and in practice and a network, insurers essentially make it very difficult for them to make a living wage. So that drives a lot of providers out, leading to gaps in the care that people need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Snow described a similar reality. Even after decades of changes, like mental health parity laws<\/a>, requiring health insurance plans to cover mental health and substance use care the same way they cover physical medical and surgical care, she said people seeking mental health care are still \u201cwaiting longer, they’re paying more and they have a fewer choice of providers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Insurance can also shape whether providers participate in networks in the first place.<\/p>\n

Psychiatrist Rinat Tal, M.D.<\/a>, said that psychiatrists can face inadequate reimbursement, administrative burdens and insurance audits, leaving many psychiatrists to ultimately choose not to participate in insurance networks at all. And because there are so few providers, psychiatrists can opt out of insurance and still maintain full patient rosters.<\/p>\n

The problem is that many people simply can\u2019t afford the out-of-pocket cost of psychiatric care. The result is a system in which access to specialized mental health care can become a privilege reserved for those who can afford it.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot every person out there can afford hundreds of dollars a week for treatment,\u201d Tal said. \u201cThey’re trying to put food on the table.\u201d<\/p>\n

And even people with insurance often find that having coverage doesn\u2019t necessarily mean having access to care. Hochul said insurers may deem certain treatments \u201cnot medically necessary,\u201d decline to cover the full scope of care someone needs or offer networks filled with providers who are no longer available, a problem known as \u201cghost networks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA person might look to see who is in the network, they start calling around and they’re met with messages that say that this provider is no longer practicing,\u201d Hochul said. \u201cSo they’re being faced with these ghost networks, where they’re not able to find somebody who’s in their network. And then say they do eventually find a provider, usually their next available appointment time might not be for months down the road. Meanwhile, that person’s mental health is continuing to get worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

The result is a cruel paradox: You can have health insurance and still discover that the provider you desperately need is effectively unavailable to you.<\/p>\n

3. Stigma has changed, but the system hasn\u2019t <\/strong><\/p>\n

While the stigma surrounding mental health has diminished over the years, making more people more willing to seek help, the system meant to support them hasn\u2019t kept pace.<\/p>\n

According to Crawford, part of the problem is that mental health conditions have historically been treated as separate from physical health conditions, creating a divide not only in how we think about mental health but also in how people access and receive care.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause it’s been viewed as a separate entity, there aren’t as many resources put into mental health support out in the community as there has been with primary care and more physical medical issues,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Without access to adequate outpatient mental health care \u2014 and with so many barriers to finding a psychiatrist or other provider \u2014 some people don\u2019t receive treatment until their condition deteriorates to the point that they end up in an emergency room.<\/p>\n

But even then, accessing appropriate psychiatric care can be complicated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is where the difference between mental health and physical health really gets further highlighted,\u201d Crawford said. \u201cWhen you present to the emergency room for a medical condition and you need to be admitted, you just go upstairs in the hospital to a bed. That’s not the case for psychiatric conditions because a lot of psychiatric units have been closed in a number of hospitals across the country. So people have to wait for a bed to be available at a random hospital, sometimes hours away from their home.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a system without enough outpatient care, the emergency room can become the default entry point for people who needed help long before they reached an emergency.<\/p>\n

The result is a troubling contradiction: We\u2019ve spent years encouraging people to ask for help, but we haven\u2019t built a system equipped to help everyone who finally does.<\/p>\n

And while the stigma surrounding mental health has improved, Crawford said it hasn\u2019t disappeared, and its effects extend beyond those seeking treatment. Stigma can also discourage people from pursuing careers in mental health, further straining a workforce already struggling to meet demand.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho wants to enter into a stigmatized profession?\u201d Crawford said.<\/p>\n

In other words, stigma doesn\u2019t just make it harder for people to ask for help. It can also contribute to a shortage of the very people they\u2019re being told to ask.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So what exactly is happening to our mental health system? 1. A psychiatrist and mental health provider shortage America has a severe shortage of psychiatrists and mental health providers even despite the surging public demand for mental health services. Federal data shows over 137 million Americans living in a mental health professional shortage area. And according to statistics, it\u2019s getting worse. According to Crawford, the shortage of psychiatrists is the result of several factors, including the rising demand of mental health services, continued stigma surrounding the profession and inadequate reimbursement from insurance companies. Low reimbursement rates can make it difficult for mental health professionals to justify the years of education and training required to enter the field, contributing to some professionals leaving the workforce. According to Pallavi Yetur, a licensed therapist in California, in addition to people leaving the field due to poor reimbursement rates that are not in line with the time and cost of training, providers also leave due to chronic burnout, a professional epidemic that comes from patient load, fighting to be validated in a stigmatized field and navigating the frustrating insurance system from the provider side. 2. Cost and insurance barriers Experts say insurance is a huge problem. Caitlin Hochul, senior vice president of policy and government relations at Inseparable, a mental health advocacy organization, said the system is designed by insurers to put profits ahead of people. \u201cWe’re seeing an issue where providers are being squeezed out of the system,\u201d Hochul said. \u201cIt’s very costly to even get the education, the training, the licensure to become a provider. And then once they are licensed and in practice and a network, insurers essentially make it very difficult for them to make a living wage. So that drives a lot of providers out, leading to gaps in the care that people need.\u201d Snow described a similar reality. Even after decades of changes, like mental health parity laws, requiring health insurance plans to cover mental health and substance use care the same way they cover physical medical and surgical care, she said people seeking mental health care are still \u201cwaiting longer, they’re paying more and they have a fewer choice of providers.\u201d Insurance can also shape whether providers participate in networks in the first place. Psychiatrist Rinat Tal, M.D., said that psychiatrists can face inadequate reimbursement, administrative burdens and insurance audits, leaving many psychiatrists to ultimately choose not to participate in insurance networks at all. And because there are so few providers, psychiatrists can opt out of insurance and still maintain full patient rosters. The problem is that many people simply can\u2019t afford the out-of-pocket cost of psychiatric care. The result is a system in which access to specialized mental health care can become a privilege reserved for those who can afford it. \u201cNot every person out there can afford hundreds of dollars a week for treatment,\u201d Tal said. \u201cThey’re trying to put food on the table.\u201d And even people with insurance often find that having coverage doesn\u2019t necessarily mean having access to care. Hochul said insurers may deem certain treatments \u201cnot medically necessary,\u201d decline to cover the full scope of care someone needs or offer networks filled with providers who are no longer available, a problem known as \u201cghost networks.\u201d \u201cA person might look to see who is in the network, they start calling around and they’re met with messages that say that this provider is no longer practicing,\u201d Hochul said. \u201cSo they’re being faced with these ghost networks, where they’re not able to find somebody who’s in their network. And then say they do eventually find a provider, usually their next available appointment time might not be for months down the road. Meanwhile, that person’s mental health is continuing to get worse.\u201d The result is a cruel paradox: You can have health insurance and still discover that the provider you desperately need is effectively unavailable to you. 3. Stigma has changed, but the system hasn\u2019t While the stigma surrounding mental health has diminished over the years, making more people more willing to seek help, the system meant to support them hasn\u2019t kept pace. According to Crawford, part of the problem is that mental health conditions have historically been treated as separate from physical health conditions, creating a divide not only in how we think about mental health but also in how people access and receive care. \u201cBecause it’s been viewed as a separate entity, there aren’t as many resources put into mental health support out in the community as there has been with primary care and more physical medical issues,\u201d she said. Without access to adequate outpatient mental health care \u2014 and with so many barriers to finding a psychiatrist or other provider \u2014 some people don\u2019t receive treatment until their condition deteriorates to the point that they end up in an emergency room. But even then, accessing appropriate psychiatric care can be complicated. \u201cThis is where the difference between mental health and physical health really gets further highlighted,\u201d Crawford said. \u201cWhen you present to the emergency room for a medical condition and you need to be admitted, you just go upstairs in the hospital to a bed. That’s not the case for psychiatric conditions because a lot of psychiatric units have been closed in a number of hospitals across the country. So people have to wait for a bed to be available at a random hospital, sometimes hours away from their home.\u201d In a system without enough outpatient care, the emergency room can become the default entry point for people who needed help long before they reached an emergency. The result is a troubling contradiction: We\u2019ve spent years encouraging people to ask for help, but we haven\u2019t built a system equipped to help everyone who finally does. And while the stigma surrounding mental health has improved, Crawford said it hasn\u2019t disappeared, and its effects extend beyond those seeking treatment. Stigma can also discourage people from pursuing careers in mental health, further straining a workforce<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3939,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}