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Mental Health Care Must Be Part of Primary Care

Mental health conditions often go undetected for too long, which leads to worsening of symptoms and unnecessary suffering. Depression and suicide represent an illustrative example. And, yet, less than half of primary care patients with major depressive disorder are diagnosed in primary care, and only 9 percent receive adequate treatment. So it’s not surprising that eight years is the median amount of time between the onset of
depression symptoms and the start of treatment. Moreover, 45 percent of people who died by suicide had contact with primary care in the last month of their lives. (Source: Healthy Minds Policy Initiative)