Why Poor, Rural Women Don’t Have Access To Mental Health Services

Penn State’s done a study on a little discussed problem, that rural women don’t have access to mental health services even if they wanted to get them. As of 2005, only 7.4% of rural areas have a mental health professional practicing in a rural area so primary care physicians are having to pick up the slack and they aren’t trained for it.

There’s also the problem of lack of insurance in rural areas and that poverty is highest in rural areas.

Which means that even if that 7.4% number went up, women in rural areas still couldn’t afford to use them even if there wasn’t also a stigma against doing so. No money, no insurance means no psychiatrists willing to practice.