Central Florida faces psychiatrist shortage

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Central Florida is facing a psychiatrist shortage and WFTV Eyewitness News has already reported about the shortage of doctors in Florida.

In the wake of every high-profile shooting in this country, the conversation inevitably turns to behavioral health issues.

Channel 9's Jamie Holmes found out that in Florida, addressing mental health is a crisis bigger than the cure.

"In any given year, about 25 percent of the population will self-diagnose themselves with a mental health problem. That's in relation to 9 percent of the population that has diabetes,” said Dr. Martin Klapheke with the UCF psychiatry residency program.

Part of the problem behind the shortage is the huge Baby Boomer population where mental health problems are even greater.

Central Florida will only have about 50 percent of the psychiatrists needed to treat patients in the next seven years.

It's not because of a lack of interest by budding medical students at UCF. Plenty want to be a psychiatrist, but federal funding cuts mean there's a cap on the number of residency spots.

UCF just started a new residency program at local hospitals. The school could only get enough federal money for six spots for residencies and 1,700 graduating medical students applied.

"You have this large number of highly qualified graduating doctors who want to go into psychiatry and there's not enough spots from them. It breaks your heart. What are these physicians going to do?" Klapheke said.

The future physicians are also the front line for opioid addiction and suicide prevention for veterans. Without proper psychiatric care, patients instead will fill emergency rooms.

The problem is expected to get a lot worse when 59 percent of current psychiatrists are expected to retire within the decade.

Cox Media Group