The Loneliest Disease

[TZ]

For millions of Americans, mental illness is a lifelong struggle. It can be alienating and impact entire families, sometimes for a lifetime.

For military men and women coming back from war, it's the 'invisible injury.'

For some, it will be a lethal disease that ends in suicide.

Despite the fact that in any given year one out of four adults will suffer from a mental illness, it's a problem that's always been surrounded by a stigma -- one many prefer to keep quiet.

In the "The Loneliest Disease," WTOP breaks down what mental illness is and explore how it can and does touch every family across the globe, from military families to teenagers to senior citizens to everyone in between. The series delves into why the mental health system is so complex and why it leaves so many people without the treatment they need.
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=226&sid=1357907
I think this issue does not get nearly enough attention brought to it. I've been listening to the reports in this series and its quite eye opening and yet depressing. The way mental health is treated in this country is even more screwed up than our health care system.

[Olney Blue]

1. Thank you for posting, turtlensue- I am amazed at how uninformed

our country is, in general, about mental illness.

[OneBlueSky]

2. just curious . . . is chronic depression considered a form of mental illness? . . .

just for the sake of my own curiosity . . .

[TZ]

3. Yep.

It is indeed. I suffer from mild chronic depression and am currently being treated for it. Depression is probably the most common form of mental illness in this country. And there is NO SHAME in admitting you are depressed, anymore than saying you have a chronic illness like asthma.

[bananas]

7. Yes, except for existential depression, which is an ontological illness.

[LWolf]

4. 1 in 4

Odds are, we all know people, or have suffered, or are suffering, from some form of mental illness. It's real, it's just as debilitating as a physical illness, and it needs to be treated as such. "Wellness" programs including regular check-ups, maintenance, etc., should apply equally to mental health.

Since health care in this nation is a for-profit industry, actually providing the care, mental or physical, is a secondary concern. I want a health-care system whose primary concern is providing whatever is needed for the physical and mental health and well-being of all.

[TZ]

5. Yes.

I got very angry the other day when I heard about a proposal in congress to make insurance companies give the same benefits for mental health/illness that they do for regular health care.
The insurance companies are fighting it saying it would be "too expensive". Yeah. I guess when a patient suicides that saves them a lot of money.....:mad:

[LWolf]

6. It does save them money.

Just as allowing any chronic illness to go untreated, leading to early death, saves money. Exactly why we need to take the profit out of the system. Health care workers WANT to treat patients. Let's make sure that every person can get the treatments they need.