Hum Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 Mental health problems such as depression account for nearly half of all disability among young people between the ages of 10 and 24, according to a new study from the World Health Organization (WHO). Researchers looked at data from 191 countries and estimated the number of years of good health lost to disability resulting from disease and injury (known as disability-adjusted life years). Among adolescents and young adults, 45 percent of disability was related to depression, bipolar illness, schizophrenia, and other mental disorders, including alcohol abuse. Dr. John S. Santelli, M.D., a professor of population and family health at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, in New York City, says that, fortunately, mental health issues at the root of a young person?s disability generally respond to prevention, early detection, and treatment. more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fr33k Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 in the U.S. If medi-care and supplemental security benefits are eliminated most of those people will become homeless lunatics committing petty crimes just to fend for themselves, and eventually incarcerated with extended sentences like the BS 3 strikes laws 25 years to life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boogerjones Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 This is nothing new. In 1990, the publication of Harvard's The Global Burden of Disease, a huge multinational study of the socioeconomic impact of medical problems, found that psychiatric disorders accounted for 5 of the top ten most costly (in terms of many measures) medical illnesses. It kicked off a serious interest in public health and changed how the medical community looked at psychiatric illness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unix2 Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 in the U.S. If medi-care and supplemental security benefits are eliminated most of those people will become homeless lunatics committing petty crimes just to fend for themselves, and eventually incarcerated with extended sentences like the BS 3 strikes laws 25 years to life. I would love to see welfare and Medicare disappear it will kick in the butt to a lot of people in this country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerzdawg Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 While I truly believe that these mental illnesses exist, I def believe people use it as an excuse to not have to work. Depression and Bi-polar can be managed with proper medication and better life management. But for some reason the US allows people just be declared "unfit" to work and just send them a check each month. Perhaps if Dr's weren't so quick to diagnose these #s would not be as high. I bet if they looked at past history the # of cases has probably skyrocketed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jebadiah Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 I would love to see welfare and Medicare disappear it will kick in the butt to a lot of people in this country. Would you still like to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes? The US govt. doesn't plan to discontinue the collection of those taxes because they blew it all or are blowing it in the war and to cover the $14 trillion deficit. Now the govt. has to pay for the benefit of the senior citizens who paid those taxes for so long. Please don't blurt idiotic crap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnathonm Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 While I truly believe that these mental illnesses exist, I def believe people use it as an excuse to not have to work. Depression and Bi-polar can be managed with proper medication and better life management. But for some reason the US allows people just be declared "unfit" to work and just send them a check each month. Perhaps if Dr's weren't so quick to diagnose these #s would not be as high. I bet if they looked at past history the # of cases has probably skyrocketed. As someone who suffers with several of these conditions it is insulting to me to see such generalized and uninformed statements being made about the disease. Yes there are people who abuse the system; there will always be people who abuse the system. However, it is an idiotic assumption to say "Depression and Bi-polar can be managed with proper medication and better life management.". This statement is flat out ignorant and demonstrates a clear lack of understanding of mental illness from both a psychological and physiological standpoint. Further, with benefits of Social Security Disability you can barely live. It's not like people are living the dream in these situations. It is both humiliating and degrading to have to depend on the system and anyone who would willingly want to go that path without needing to has serious ethical and moral issues. Ultimately, come back and talk to me when you have your Ph.D., Psy.D. or M.D. because right now you're espousing verbal diarrhea about mental illness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
He's Dead Jim Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 snipped +10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerzdawg Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 As someone who suffers with several of these conditions it is insulting to me to see such generalized and uninformed statements being made about the disease. Yes there are people who abuse the system; there will always be people who abuse the system. However, it is an idiotic assumption to say "Depression and Bi-polar can be managed with proper medication and better life management.". This statement is flat out ignorant and demonstrates a clear lack of understanding of mental illness from both a psychological and physiological standpoint. Further, with benefits of Social Security Disability you can barely live. It's not like people are living the dream in these situations. It is both humiliating and degrading to have to depend on the system and anyone who would willingly want to go that path without needing to has serious ethical and moral issues. Ultimately, come back and talk to me when you have your Ph.D., Psy.D. or M.D. because right now you're espousing verbal diarrhea about mental illness. First of all my statements may have appeared generalized they are not uninformed. Second my statements were not meant to define ALL cases of mental illness, you have got to have blinders on if you dont believe that Drs are over-medicating people for depression/bi-polar disorder just from ONE appointment. You made a generalization about my statement just as you accused me of doing. My opening remarks stated that I am well aware of these illnesses but that does not change the fact that there are people out there that are willing to cheat the system regardless of "ethical and moral issues". And when I said that it can be managed I was not speaking for everyone with a form of depression or bi-polar - I am just stating that when you are diagnosed with them it is possible for it to be managed (not everyone). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnathonm Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 First of all my statements may have appeared generalized they are not uninformed. Second my statements were not meant to define ALL cases of mental illness, you have got to have blinders on if you dont believe that Drs are over-medicating people for depression/bi-polar disorder just from ONE appointment. You made a generalization about my statement just as you accused me of doing. My opening remarks stated that I am well aware of these illnesses but that does not change the fact that there are people out there that are willing to cheat the system regardless of "ethical and moral issues". And when I said that it can be managed I was not speaking for everyone with a form of depression or bi-polar - I am just stating that when you are diagnosed with them it is possible for it to be managed (not everyone). You're argument is still flawed in that it is making generalized statements about doctors. Are you qualified to evaluate what constitutes mental illness? Have you read DSM-IV or understand that mental illness is a spectrum and not specifically a "dot" on a chart. I am sure there are poor quality doctors out there but, again, the costs of being diagnosed with mental illness (both financial, social and psychological) are substantial. Take for example the "cocktail" of meds needed to treat Schizophrenia or Bi-Polar disorder coupled with major depressive disorder - you are talking (without insurance) into the hundreds of dollars per month. Secondly, a primary care physician has no business diagnosing mental illness as that is not what they do. This is the realm of psychiatrists (I am not touching the cognitive aspects from the Psy.D. perspective because I am a biological basis of behavior person). Again, the fallacy of your post is that you continue to make sweeping generalizations which inherently are flawed. It is the contexts of the words that I am attacking, not you, so please don?t take it personally. However, one needs to recognize that this isn't exactly a "fun time" being "crazy". Begin critique: [First of all my statements may have appeared generalized they are not uninformed [Evidence?]. Second my statements were not meant to define ALL cases of mental illness [but they were worded in a way which they did], you have got to have blinders on if you dont believe that Drs are over-medicating [qualify this statement and evidence needed] people for depression/bi-polar disorder just from ONE appointment [evidence]. You made a generalization about my statement just as you accused me of doing. My opening remarks stated that I am well aware of these illnesses but that does not change the fact that there are people out there that are willing to cheat the system regardless of "ethical and moral issues" . And when I said that it can be managed I was not speaking for everyone with a form of depression or bi-polar [but you worded it this way] - I am just stating that when you are diagnosed with them it is possible for it to be managed (not everyone).[you have qualify this statement; what does it mean to "manage" mental illness?] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnathonm Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Here is very recent paper (and one of the best I've read) talking about the biological basis of depression and its roots as a microinflammatory process within the brain. It's a good read to get an understanding of what's going on in just one mental illness. http://www.multiupload.com/M0A5L0U6A5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerzdawg Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 snip Understood - I am not going to disagree with you because you obviously have much more information than I do. I will stand by my statements though that depression/bi-polar disorder is being diagnosed way too quickly. I do blame the Drs (and I was referring to a Psych. Dr) that prescribe medications to children/teenagers and even young adults. I have known more than 1 person that was prescribed Zoloft and Prozac after ONE appointment that lasted 60 minutes. So no, I am not a doctor but I would bet I could read up online what I need to say during an appointment and walk out of there with a 30 day prescription. When I said that depression or bi-polar disorder can be managed(not all to be clear) I mean that people can live a somewhat normal life (including a job) - referring to my previous statement about people being declared unfit for work (again, referring to people who are not concerned with ethics). And I do apologize if my statements came off as generalized as I was only referring to the abuse of the illnesses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddo89 Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 If may butt in with this may or may not be relevant to this conversation. When I was doing a public health course, there was a paper on mental illness where researchers disguised themselves as mentally ill patients. They, far as they are concerned, not under any mental illness. The doctors themselves cannot tell whether they were actually mentally ill and all of them was sent to psychiatric ward (separately, they weren't all going to the same or saw the same doctor). After the paper was published and all that, they informed them they were sending in disguised people, so they knowingly expect false patients. I can't remember the numbers, but they had a bunch of false negatives and false positives. And some of things they noted was classified as mental illness: Waiting for the cafeteria to open for meals hours before. On one hand, they seem to think the patients have some sort of compulsive behaviour, whilst in reality the place was utterly boring and they had nothing better to do. They commented on the researcher's constant scribbling on note pad, who was purely writing down observations, as another sort of mental illness. Admittedly, some are mainly nurse observations who had no direct training. It was a while ago so I can't remember it too well, someone may know it better than I do, it is quite a famous case albeit staged a while back. What I'm saying is, is not an exact science at the basic clinical level. And to be honest, fraud isn't always on the "patient" side, doctors could just as easily be part of the scheme as they are deemed to have extra patients. It could be schemed with a patient, or simply diagnose them as ill even of they aren't. Most won't bother to go in depth analysis for physiochemical evidence of mental disorder, is unneeded and causes more undue anxiety. There are people with no mental issue and just want a day off work, or days or years. It can't be helped, it may be 1%, 5%, 10%, 0.001%, it happens. But it is wrong to think that majority of people are fraudsters, or enough fraudsters to claim mental illness is not a major problem. EDIT: Cross out the word problem. Is not a problem, as in, the person who have it isn't a problem or have a problem. It is merely, they need some professional help. The worse thing for mental illness is attaching negative connotations or stigma to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToneKnee Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Understood - I am not going to disagree with you because you obviously have much more information than I do. I will stand by my statements though that depression/bi-polar disorder is being diagnosed way too quickly. I do blame the Drs (and I was referring to a Psych. Dr) that prescribe medications to children/teenagers and even young adults. I have known more than 1 person that was prescribed Zoloft and Prozac after ONE appointment that lasted 60 minutes. So no, I am not a doctor but I would bet I could read up online what I need to say during an appointment and walk out of there with a 30 day prescription. When I said that depression or bi-polar disorder can be managed(not all to be clear) I mean that people can live a somewhat normal life (including a job) - referring to my previous statement about people being declared unfit for work (again, referring to people who are not concerned with ethics). And I do apologize if my statements came off as generalized as I was only referring to the abuse of the illnesses. Bi-polar is not easy or quick to diagnose, it's takes a while of evaluation and treatments to come to the conclusion that someone is bi-polar. Not just that, there are 2 main bi-polar categorises and they need to rule out schizophrenia as well, on top of all that, it really depends how well the patient is as bi-polar might not show any signs until it actually happens as well. You can get anti-depressants quite easily for depression just with one appointment, but with bi-polar, you need to have loads of appointments and so on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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