Mental health is out of the closet.

Now that we’ve opened the door, time for a closer look at what’s been out of sight for so long.

Yes, the stigma has faded, but traditional barriers to treatment are only getting worse.

To understand the gap, consider how efficient our public health care system has become at treating physical versus psychological conditions.

Thanks to medicare, no one with a physical ailment goes untreated (and almost no one gets special treatment). If waiting lists grow too long, the public complains, the press clamours for action, physicians cry foul and politicians swing into action.

Mental health, however, is still a different story. Long waiting lists that would never be tolerated for surgery or cancer care are the norm for psychiatry, with many patients unable to get urgently needed followup appointments.

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