CANADA by Aly Ladd

I. COUNTRY:

Canada

II. TOTAL POPULATION:

35,344,962 ("Home page — Statistics Canada")

III. POPULATION DEMOGRAPHICS: (men, women, kids, ethnicities):

(http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/demo10a-eng.htm)

IV. ESTIMATED NUMBER OF PEOPLE WITH MENTAL ILLNESS:

One in five adult Canadians (21.3 percent) will suffer a mental disorder in their lives. This figure translates into between 4.5-6 million people. ("Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health / Mental Illness Awareness Week | Quick Facts")

In 2012, approximately 2.8 million people, or 10.1% of Canadians aged 15 and older, reported symptoms consistent with at least one of six mental or substance use disorders in the past 12 months. ("Canadian Community Health Survey: Mental Health, 2012")

V. RELIGION / CULTURAL BELIEFS / SOCIAL CONTEXT:

IMPACT OF BELIEFS / SOCIAL CONTEXT ON PERCEPTION OF MENTAL ILLNESS AND PEOPLE WITH MENTAL ILLNESS:

It seems as though there is a sort of social stigma behind mental illness in Canada. People with mental illnesses are more often than not stereotyped. Some of the stereotypes include the mentally ill being violent, though they are much more likely to be victims of violence. There is also the idea that those who claim to have mental illness are just lazy or have lack of willpower. A lot of the stigma shows itself in the workplace where people with mental illness can lose jobs or credibility if they admit to having the illness. It becomes worse if they have been hospitalized. Apparently there’s also a bit of stigma in the Canadian medical community when it comes to mental illness. People with mental illnesses who go to the emergency room for help with suicidal thoughts have been made to wait as others were helped before them. (Whalen) It may be because of the stigmas that only one in three Canadians report that they have sought help and treatment for mental health problems. (“The Facts”).

The Aboriginal people of Canada also face a higher percentage of mental illness than the rest of the Canadian population. However, Aboriginal peoples are actually more likely to report their mental illness and seek help and treatment for them. 17% of Aboriginal people seek treatment, compared to the Canadian average of 8%. (Kahn, 2008). The Aboriginal traditional views of well being didn’t separate mental illness from other aspects of health. Their ideas of health, mental illness included, did not focus on the individual as much as it did connections with others and nature. (“Institutional Links”).

 VI. METHODS OF SUPPORT FOR PEOPLE WITH MENTAL ILLNESS:

            As it is a country that employs a universal health care system, mental health care in Canada can be treated through the government. However, the amount of treatment they can get through the government varies throughout the Canadian provinces. All Canadian citizens have access to physician and hospital services, but it’s up to each province to decide if it wants to cover supplementary care (ie. dental, prescriptions, vision, etc). (Kliff, 2012). The problem with this however, is that the mental health services that are part of Canadian health care are often overlooked or underfunded. As many as a third of the Canadians who look for mental health services through the Canadian health care system find that their needs are only partially met, and this number is even higher with children and young adults. ("For Reporters"). Many Canadians find themselves paying for things like psychiatric care and drugs out of pocket.

            However there are several programs that are working to bring the necessity of adding the the budget and availability of mental health care to light. The Mental Health Commission of Canada supports and works to increase collaboration between all sectors of Canadian health care, whether they be physical or mental. One of the ways the MHCC is doing this is by providing training to primary care doctors that increases their capacity to recognize and deal with mental health issues. (“Issue: Primary Care”). The Canadian Mental Health Association recognizes the importance of community care as well as formal treatment and works towards improving the universal access, terms and conditions, and public administration of mental health care available to the Canadian people. The CMAA also promotes insurance, both governmental and supplemental, to include prevention activities, supportive living and housing arrangements, and access to prescription drugs. (“Mental Health Services”).

            There are also multiple programs and websites, the MHCC and CMAA included, that are strongly fighting to minimize the stigma that surrounds mental illness. Almost every search that includes the phrases “mental health” or “mental illness” and “Canada” will have a link that leads to lists of facts about mental illness, what it is or how many Canadians have mental illness or the ways mental illness affects peoples lives. The sites more often than not mention common misconceptions about mental illnesses and people with mental illnesses and give examples of, or ways that, the stigmas surrounding mental health can be overcome.

VII. PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS

I find that it can be difficult to judge what other societies think about pretty much any topic, including mental illness, when one has not grown up in that society or even been immersed in the society for an extended period of time. That’s why I think I struggled a little with the section of this assignment that asked about how society and cultural beliefs affected views on mental illness. I found myself having to piece together what the overall Canadian beliefs on mental illness might be based on websites and articles that were set up mainly to fight stigmas. They seemed to fill in plenty of blanks, but I still feel like there are grey areas about how Canadian’s view mental health that I would only be able to fill in by visiting the country myself.

Also, I was rather surprised to find that Canadian health care system, which I had previously heard only positive reviews about, had so many problems supporting Canadian citizens with mental illnesses. I was shocked to find that Canadians with mental health problems can really only find support if they’re hospitalized. I always figured the Canadian health care system would obviously encourage community care and out patients. Though, even with these problems, it still seems to me that the Canadian health care system still does better helping citizens with mental health and making living mental health more affordable than the American system does.

VIII. REFERENCES: (APA FORMAT)

Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health / Mental Illness Awareness Week | Quick

Facts. (n.d.). Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health Mental Illness Awareness Week RSS2. Retrieved June 5, 2014, from

http://camimh.ca/mental-illness-awareness-week-english/about-mental-illness/quick-facts/

Canadian Community Health Survey: Mental Health, 2012. (n.d.). Government of Canada,

Statistics Canada.Retrieved June 3, 2014, from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/130918/dq130918a-eng.htm

For Reporters. (n.d.). CAMH: Statistics on Mental Illness and Addictions. Retrieved June 5, 2014,

from http://www.camh.ca/en/hospital/about_camh/newsroom/for_reporters/pages/addictionmentalhealthstatistics.aspx

Home page — Statistics Canada. (n.d.). Government of Canada, Statistics Canada. Retrieved June

4, 2014, from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/start-debut-eng.html

Institutional links. (n.d.). The Human Face of Mental Health and Mental Illness in Canada 2006.

Retrieved June 6, 2014, from

http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/publicat/human-humain06/15-eng.php

Issue:Primary Care. (n.d.). Issue: Primary Care. Retrieved June 7, 2014, from

http://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/English/issues/primary-care?routetoken=88a92e35dda591ab299fdd992d9f69c3&terminitial=26

Kahn, S. (2008). Aboriginal Mental Health: The statistical reality. Visions Journal, 5(1),

6-7.

Kliff, S. (2012, July 1). Everything you ever wanted to know about Canadian health care in one

post.Washington Post. Retrieved June 7, 2014, from

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/07/01/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-canadian-health-care-in-one-post/

Mental Health Services. (n.d.). Canadian Mental Health Association. Retrieved June 7, 2014, from

http://www.cmha.ca/public_policy/mental-health-services/#.U5NkKJRdV-Y

The Facts. (n.d.). Mental Health Strategy. Retrieved June 5, 2014, from

http://strategy.mentalhealthcommission.ca/the-facts/

Whalen, David. B.A. “The Stigma Associated with Mental Illness.” Canadian Mental Health

Association. Retrieved June 5 2014, from http://www.cmhanl.ca/pdf/Stigma.pdf