Demand and Supply - Curious Case of Psychiatry!

Phew – this has been giving me sleepless nights for a while now. What better way to lay this to rest, than pen a few lines down? You are free to respond 1-1 or on my FB Page, Blog Page or my Twitter Handle.

I have had the fortune or misfortune; whichever way, one can look at it for having to scout and set up a conversation for a loved one with a Clinical Psychologist and a Psychiatrist in the recent past. This look out brought to the fore facets, that I previously never paid any attention to. More about that in the post ahead.

The loved one was advised by the set of doctors to get a consultation done by a Clinical Psychologist and only if needed by a Psychiatrist. The suspicion of anxiety, stress & depression affecting recuperation loomed large. The doctors needed clarity, so did the loved one and I.

We had to now go ahead and get an appointment with one, before our next consultations with the doctors. I thought that would be easy, just like I had fixed up all previous appointments with other set of doctors. I was in for a rude shock – rude awakening, more than a rude shock.

Every Clinical Psychologist that I reached out to were booked for the next foreseeable month or two with no free slots. This baffled me to begin with but left my heart and mind with some very basic questions around demand and supply 😊. Are there not enough Clinical Psychologists/Psychiatrists to cater to the patients? Or are there way too many people with issues around mental health? Both, if true, should make us worried.

The only silver lining in this entire process - every Clinical Psychologist was willing to refer me to another, whom they thought could help. The loop seemed endless till I chanced upon one closer by home. That brought me to another observation – this was going to be a long haul with the possibility of weekly sessions. Hence proximity to home is super critical for continuity and convenience.

Apart from Lord Shiva (Neelakanta) himself, most of us would shy away from being the punching bag 😊. It needs great deal of patience, energy, enthusiasm, commitment and servitude towards the patient to firstly bring out the venom (anxiety, stress, anger, frustration, depression) and then turn it into a meaningful fodder for the patient to consume and improve. These bunch of Psychiatrists/Clinical Psychologists are beyond punching bags. They lend hope and meaning to life, which otherwise would just go downhill. I wonder, where do they get these levels of enthusiasm and commitment to get a patient out of their vortex of emotions that is continuously and viciously sucking them in every moment.

I was left teary eyed, while I partly sat through these sessions with my loved one. The sadness, the deep-rooted dogmas, the anxieties, the fears & the disappointments over many years leading to deep rooted insecurities. All of these coming out in front of a 3^rd person without inhibitions is an experience beyond words. For now, the burden on the shoulder seems to have reduced for the loved one.

This brings me to few basic questions and observations for self:

1.     We live in times of great uncertainties, limited attentions spans, impatience and impetuousness looms large, highly sensitive to become insensitive, compulsive behaviors and most importantly not enough empathy, compassion and love.

2.     What race are we running, if its ruining families, friendships & relationships?

3.     Yes, we are mortals and have limited time here. But that realization should help us better ourselves and everybody around us.

4.     Each one of us is fighting a battle/battles of our own. Some have been fighting it out for ages. What greater meaning or worthiness is to our life, than uplifting a needy. The next time in any interaction that you may have, please add in a bit of empathy, compassion and love. You will see how friction less the interactions become.

5.     By the waiting lists that I heard over the phone and the varied age groups of people I met or glanced at the center, we are staring at an alarming situation around mental health. It is scarier than COVID or SARS or any other viruses, as it seeds itself unattended, grows slowly gnawing at your basic emotions and then pushes you over the brink.

6.     We surely need more Psychiatrists and Clinical Psychologists. More so, we as people (individual and families) need to build a robust and open support system to help the ones in need, without judging them.

7.     We need to be ambitious & aspirational. Importantly, we need to support one another as humanity.

We all are a concoction of our perfections and imperfections. We all have our strengths and blind spots. We all have good and evil in us.

Let us use our perfections to correct somebody else’s imperfections.

Let us leverage our strengths to help others overcome their blind spots.

Let the goodness in us be of help to eradicate evil in others.

Parting thought on a Monday early morning: The next time at your workplace or home or on the road, if you find people stressed out, worried, angry, frustrated, disappointed, disgruntled, disillusioned and downcast, take them aside. Speak to them with love, care and empathy, for they need it the most. For all you know, you may be the reason for their current state! Lend a patient ear & offer any help that you can to make them feel better. Awaken the Human Psychologist in you 😊!