LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Is mental health something you want your GP to address at your next check-up?
About three in four American adults would like this to happen, according to a new Gallup poll. But about a third say they’ve never been asked about them.
Doctors describe what this says about the doctor-patient relationship.
“You never really know what the patient needs until they walk into the room,” says family physician Dr. Branden Turner of Kaiser Permanente Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw.
The doctor must exchange a lot of information in a limited time. So he gets to work on it right away.
“Why are you here today? What questions do you have today? And I usually follow that up with what brings you joy?” he said.
If the answer is, “Hmmm, I don’t know,” then Dr. Turner asks more questions about his patient’s emotional well-being because it makes all the difference to their physical health.
“If you’re depressed, do you take your diabetes medicine every day? Probably not. If you’re depressed, do you take your blood pressure medicine every day? Probably not. You’re just trying to survive,” he said.
The Gallup survey “does speak to the fact that we are more comfortable talking about those things,” Turner said.
But not asking patients about mental health is a missed opportunity, Turner says, because every visit is an opportunity for doctors to build trust and connection.
“I don’t think the expectation is that I solve all their problems, but I at least have to be able to listen empathetically and then put them in a position where I can send them to someone who can help them get better. successful,” he said.
But the doctor-patient relationship works both ways. And he suggests that patients make more of an effort to find a doctor they click with.
“Treat finding a doctor like dating. You know, it might not be the best match the first time, and maybe you can look for another doctor that’s a little more suited to what you need,” Turner said.
More than half of people surveyed said it is “very important” that primary care providers screen for anxiety and depression. And 57% said it is important for primary care providers to treat patients for these conditions themselves.
“If you’re in a comfortable space, you might feel a little more vulnerable when you’re giving out important information. And it’s our job as practitioners to help create that space,” he said.
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