It's a good question: does delayed treatment affect overall treatment outcome? Put another way, does chronicity—how long you've had an illness—have an impact on treatment outcome? When we looked at our treatment outcome research, chronicity was not shown as a predictor of treatment outcome. My colleagues in the U.K. who have also examined it did not find chronicity as a significant predictor of treatment outcome.
This is looking at treatment outcome. That being said, however, there is a challenge that we often hear from our patients and clients. By the time I see them, they have a family doctor and things are set up, but to get there can be a challenge, especially if they move to an area in which there are no family physicians available. That becomes a barrier to seeking specialty care.