Contributor: Heather Aspras, WG’08
To learn more about Heather, click here.
By the time you read this issue of the Wharton Healthcare Quarterly, we will already have rung in the new year. As 2023 opens, I can’t help but reflect on the journey we’ve all collectively been on over the past 3 years. Though a lot of life has returned to somewhere near normal, one area in which we’re seeing long-lasting impact is in mental health.
Prior to the pandemic, 11% of U.S. adults had symptoms of anxiety or depression. After nearly a year of the pandemic, that number shot up to 41%. Though the impact has subsided slightly, in 2022 a full third of U.S. adults were still experiencing symptoms. That means a large number of us reading this letter have personally experienced anxiety or depression in the past year, or if we haven’t experienced them directly, our loved ones certainly have.
And it’s not difficult to understand why. There have been the direct effects of the pandemic, with many people losing loved ones and experiencing the stress of trying to avoid getting ill and getting long COVID. There has also been the “meta” stress of having to constantly reevaluate a changing situation to determine what you’re comfortable with, along with the stress of navigating relationships with family and friends who may evaluate the risk differently. In addition, everyone has experienced their lives being disrupted for years, missing celebrations, and missing rites of passage, as well as missing the small day-to-day interactions that make up “normal” life.
Even before the pandemic, the U.S. had too few mental health providers to meet the needs of people with anxiety and depression. According to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation, more than 25% of the population in the U.S. lives in an area with a shortage of mental health professionals.
The causes are many. The U.S. population has grown faster than the number of residency slots required to train enough doctors in psychiatry. In addition, providers are retiring, given that about two-thirds of psychiatrists are 55 and older.
But there are signs of hope. The number of available psychiatric residency spots has been increasing, as have the number of applicants. Telehealth has also made mental health services more accessible. Virtual visits eliminate the need to take as much time to travel to the therapist’s office physically, making it much easier for people to integrate appointments into their lives. In addition, people who live in underserved communities have access to more providers when untethered from physical location. Unsurprisingly, as telemedicine has declined to a much lower portion of overall healthcare, about 40% of mental health services are still being delivered virtually.
There is still more work to be done and more progress to be made. But the growing recognition of mental health as something that impacts everyone and something that is important to care for, is an important first step.
Kind regards,
Heather Aspras, WG’08
President, Wharton Health Care Management Alumni Association
Contact Heather at:
[email protected]