Treatments in the Medical System

Because depression and anxiety are so common, there are many treatments available.

Because mental health is subjective, and human biology and environments are complicated, one treatment will not work for everyone. Additionally, it is very rare for one treatment to work on it’s own. Most of the time, treatments work better when paired with other treatments or lifestyle changes.

Treatments in the Medical System

In Canada, the medical system is heavily regulated, and is the responsibility of individual provinces and territories to administer. One commonality in all these provincial or territorial systems is that family doctors are generally responsible for referrals to other parts of the medical system (with a few notable examples). A family doctor, walk-in clinic, or community health centre can:

1. Provide prescriptions for many antidepressants
2. Provide referrals to psychiatrists
3. Provide referrals to psychologists
4. Provide referrals to inpatient hospital programs (if needed)
5. Sometimes offer advice on lifestyle changes that can help.

The notable exceptions referred to above are in the cases include outpatient and community mental health services that are often provided by health authorities. Google “Mental health <Your Community>” to find them.

Psychologists work within the medical system

They have earned a Medical Doctor degree, just like your family doctor, and have gone on to further training in mental health. They can provide types of talk therapy, diagnoses, and all prescription medications for mental health disorders. Services are covered by provincial or territorial healthcare. However, there can be longer waits or low availability in some communities.

Finding treatments in the medical system

In Canada, family doctors are the main point of access for the rest of the healthcare system. So, if someone have a family doctor, this is usually a good place to start.

However, if someone does not have access to a family doctor, or is not comfortable talking about mental health with them, other ways to access are:

• Walk-in clinics
• Nurse practitioners
• Searching the internet for programs provided by your local health authority. For example, if someone lives in Kamloops, a Google search of “Kamloops Mental Health Services” brings up:

All of these are good programs to look into.

One note about Google: the results at the top of the page are usually ads, and are mostly (but not always) private fee-for-service programs.