Vancouver Province

November 3, 2000

The cause of Mental Health was much advanced when we learned that a genuine Canadian hero, General Romeo Dallaire, has Depression. As a mental health "consumer" myself, I have nothing but enormous admiration for this man of great professional and personal courage, who by dealing with his illness publicly, brings to the fight magnificent new and much needed artillery.

Old perceptions die hard. We’re only a relatively short time removed from the days when wealthy Londoners popped down to the Bedlam Mental Hospital to watch the "lunatics", much as one swatches the occupants of the monkey-house at the zoo. We may have come a long way but we’ve a long way to go.

Everyone is affected by Depression. With one in four or five Canadians clinically Depressed, though far too many not diagnosed and treated, it’s nigh impossible not to have a family member, a friend or a colleague with this malady.

I’m not talking here about the natural grief we all undergo at the loss of a loved one or job. These things we cope with given time. My definition of depression, which many psychiatrists accept, is "an ongoing inability to cope". It is not a character flaw – it is not something to be cured by a "stiff upper lip", a large scotch, or humming a few Bars of "Land of Hope and Glory." Moreover, it’s not simply a matter of some mysterious psychological mess up. Although we’ve a lot to learn there is, in fact, a strong physiological basis for most depressions – the brain simply doesn’t produce sufficient seratonin much in the same way that for diabetics the pancreas doesn’t produce enough insulin.

But is this serious enough to get all het up about?

You bet it is. The losses in broken homes, lost jobs and social expenditures is incalculably high. Without doubt much alcoholism and other drug dependencies is Depression related – the booze or the drug is the sufferer’s way of self-medicating.

Help is there for most. My own Depression, which takes the form of uncontrollable anxiety, has been dealt with most satisfactorily since I was diagnosed over 12 years ago. The problem is getting the sufferer to seek help, and making help available. The stigma of mental illness is much with us and we’re a long way from having a medical profession both equipped and willing to help.

What can be done? Well in fact the government can, with the stroke of a pen, take a gigantic step forward. Diagnosing clinical depression takes time. Often a lot. There are no CAT scans or MRIs to help. But the Medical Services Plan doesn’t compensate doctors for the extra time it takes so the mental patient is often sent home with a pep talk or referred to a psychiatrist for whom there is a 6-8 month waiting period. General Practitioners, instead of being encouraged to upgrade their skills to deal with Depression are discouraged by the system. When you consider the social pressures and sense of shame, it’s often a monumental task to get the sufferer to seek help in the first place; for that person to then learn that help isn’t there adds a scandalous cruelty to what is already a cruel disease.

It’s getting much better. There are more and more doctors like mine who do understand. But the labourer is worthy of his hire and the physician should be compensated for his services to mental health patients even though instead of using various physical tests, he must spend time.

And there is help. There are wonderful medicines – not drugs but medicines - which operate much as insulin operates for diabetics. Indeed, I feel no shame telling people I take glucophage because my body doesn’t manufacture enough insulin; why should I be embarrassed at taking medicine because that same body makes insufficient seratonin?

Let Premier Dosanjh and Gordon Campbell make this pledge – the Medical Services Plan will be amended so that doctors assessing mental patients will be compensated fully for their time so that those who have screwed up their courage to get help will find that help. Having help in place will, in turn, make it easier for the reluctant to take that tough first step. Having help in place will bring relief to millions and save, incidentally, billions of public dollars spent on the ravages of Depression. A minor reform with enormous beneficial consequences all around. And long overdue.