The American Psychological Association reported last year that 7 in 10 psychologists with a wait list said it had grown longer since the start of the pandemic. 'This trend is not going away.'
This summer, Massachusetts General Hospital had a staggering 880 people on its wait list for psychiatric services. The list had grown so large that the hospital issued an unusual plea to its physicians: Stop referring psychiatry patients for non-urgent care.
Jeffery Huffman, clinical director of MGH's department of psychiatry, said the demand for mental health care has been "so unprecedented" that the hospital doesn't have enough staff to keep up. He said he expects things to improve "over the next two months" with new hires.The hospital is not unique in its backlog.
"It's so unorthodox, but I don't know what else to do," she added. "People are desperate, and therapists who got into this because they want to make a difference are also desperate." Several therapists said they have added evening and weekend hours to meet demand. Others said they have hired interns or therapists in training to help. Some have stopped accepting insurance, which means less paperwork, better pay and more time to see patients. But it also means their services are less accessible for people who can't afford to pay out of pocket.
"This means that folks that would typically be inpatient or at intensive outpatient treatment hospital programs are spilling out into private practice care," Curl said. "I feel this is indicative of a larger mental health crisis." When the child's medications ran out, there was no doctor to write a new prescription for a month, and the girl attempted suicide again. "We went through this cycle of no one would take her because of her age, no one would prescribe, no one was taking referrals," Martha said.Last year, more than 129 million people lived in a federally designated mental health care "professional shortage area," and fewer than one-third of the U.S.
Therapists said that, in general, the more specialized the care, the more difficult it is to find a provider.