Addressing The Interplay Of Neurological Conditions And Mental Health

It’s time for employers to look below the surface of mental health

With more than 1 in 5 U.S. adults living with mental illness, impacting more than 57 million people, it’s no wonder that institutions of all shapes and sizes, from employers to the federal government, are taking notice. The Biden Administration’s latest step in addressing the country’s mental health problems is a proposal to strengthen requirements for insurance plans to cover mental health services in the same way they cover physical health.
 

It’s a logical step, but implementation is proving challenging, given the nation’s lack of qualified mental health providers. Over 160 million Americans live in areas that don’t have enough mental health providers to meet their needs.

This provider shortage puts a greater onus on employers to support their employees with mental health issues. And while many have started implementing benefits designed to address mental health, most are still failing to address other factors that exacerbate mental health issues.

Addressing Underlying Issues

Mental health issues don’t exist in a vacuum, and many are worsened as a result of the challenges that stem from other comorbidities. One common example is neurological conditions, like migraines and sleep disorders, which affect one in three people and are closely linked to anxiety and depression. Migraine patients are nearly six times more likely to develop depression and four times more likely to develop anxiety than someone without a migraine. Additionally, a study from Australia found that 73 percent of sleep apnea patients had clinically significant symptoms of depression.

Nearly everyone with a chronic condition has some degree of added stress that can negatively affect their mental health, but there are a variety of reasons why neurological conditions specifically are linked to declines in mental health.

For one, many neurological diseases, such as migraine, sleep disorders, chronic pain, epilepsy, or concussion, are invisible illnesses – meaning they don’t present visible symptoms. Because of that, coworkers often struggle to understand the lived experiences of a colleague with a neurological condition. Since many employees aren’t comfortable speaking about their condition due to fear that they may be stigmatized by their fellow colleagues and managers, many suffer in silence, to the detriment of their own physician health and mental well-being.

For those who do seek treatment for their neurological condition, many are underdiagnosed or misdiagnosed and, therefore, spend years cycling through different tactics that often don’t work. Even once a proper diagnosis is made, many neurological diseases lack cures and thus require ongoing management by the patient, including lifestyle modifications, physical therapy, new medications, or biologic injections, for example. Patients are then also tasked with following up with doctors and dealing with insurance companies in long, difficult cycles of trial and error.

With the unpredictable nature of attacks and the social isolation that can result, it’s easy to see how these factors can cause stress to mount and mental health to deteriorate.

Incorporating Digital Health Solutions for Common Chronic Conditions

Employers looking to help this population manage their neurological disease and, in turn, their mental health should focus on making it easier to get timely, quality care so that employees can start the right treatment quickly. The traditional care model makes this a challenge, as getting time with a neurologist is a common roadblock to proper care.

The shortage of qualified neurologists in the U.S. means that the average wait time to see a neurologist is four to six months, causing delays in treatment that add stress and make it more difficult for a patient to manage their symptoms and attacks. To provide better support for those with neurological conditions, the first step for employers is finding a better solution to address this access gap, to get people the quality care they need in a timely manner.

Telehealth is essential in accomplishing this. With digital solutions, employers can ensure employees have access to qualified specialists with significantly lower wait times, down to days rather than months or years, so they don’t have to suffer for so long before getting the care that they need. Access to timely care can be the difference between a confident patient who feels comfortable managing their disease and one who is anxious about what’s next.

These digital solutions that provide better access to care, when accompanied by an expansive formulary list that ensures employees have access to the medications they need and an accommodating culture, can be instrumental in helping an employee manage their neurological disease. Employers will quickly see the impact that better management of neurological conditions has on the mental health of their employees.

Author Bio

Elizabeth Burstein is the CEO and Co-Founder of Neura Health, an all-in-one benefits solution for 1 in 3 employees with a chronic neurological condition.