Open AccessPublic Funding of Evidence-Based Psychotherapy for Common Mental Disorders: Increasing Calls for Action in Canadian Provinces
Author(s) -
HelenMaria Vasiliadis,
Jessica Spagnolo,
Alain Lesage
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
healthcare policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.391
H-Index - 22
eISSN - 1715-6580
pISSN - 1715-6572
DOI - 10.12927/hcpol.2021.26437
Subject(s) - mental health , action (physics) , face (sociological concept) , covid-19 , public health , population , call to action , public relations , psychology , psychiatry , medicine , political science , business , economic growth , nursing , environmental health , sociology , economics , marketing , physics , quantum mechanics , social science , disease , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty)
Canada's provinces are without a publicly funded psychotherapy program for common mental disorders despite evidence that psychological services help reduce the length and number of depressive episodes, symptoms of post-traumatic stress and associated negative outcomes (hospitalizations and suicide attempts). Studies also show that including psychological services as part of the service package offered under the public health plan for those without access pays for itself. We posit that a publicly funded psychotherapy program in Canada, including digitized self-guided psychotherapy platforms for common mental disorders, will lead to improved population health useful in the COVID-19 context and beyond.