1. corpuscallosum
  2. Mental Health Needs Increasing

Mental Health Needs Increasing

By j7uy5 on September 21, 2008.

The economic crisis is reported to be responsible for a recent increase
in calls for mental health services:


href="http://delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080920/BUSINESS/809200314">Economy
worries driving more people to seek help

By ROB WATERS and DAVID OLMOS

September 20, 2008


A tidal wave of anxiety is washing over America, from
Wall Street's concrete canyons to the lettuce fields of California,
propelled by the mortgage industry collapse, high gas prices, tight
credit and rising unemployment.



Operators of telephone help lines, insurers, hospital administrators
and therapists, interviewed over the last month, say the financial
services crisis, which has caused an explosion of foreclosures, is
sending everyday people to mental-health services at levels not seen
since the 9/11 terror attacks...



...In New York, the number of calls to the Hopeline network from people
with depression or suicidal thoughts leaped to 10,368 in July, 75
percent more than in August of 2007.



This sure would be a good time for congress to rush through some emergency
legislation.  



No, I'm not talking about href="http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/587-The-Mother-Of-All-Frauds.html">Paulson's
seven hundren billion dollar money-laundering scheme.
 That will be rushed through, despite the
unconstitutional provision that precludes court review.  The
Democrats in Congress think they are doing the middle class a favor, by
trying to attach provisions to the bill that would throw a few crumbs
to the middle class.  Critics decry this tactic ( href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13644.html">Democrats
eye bailout -- and more).  Never mind the fact that
the bill is a grossly irresponsible from a fiscal standpoint.
 Never mind that it is the culmanation of a mind-boggling href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/12699486/paul_krugman_on_the_great_wealth_transfer">transfer
of wealth to the ultra-rich.  



I am not talking about that (well, not any more), rather, I am talking
about the legislation that calls for href="http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=cqmidday-000002956134">mental
health coverage parity.  We're going to need it.
 Ask Senator href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/d/pete_v_domenici/index.html">Pete
Domenici.  He is known as a deficit hawk, yet he has
been a major proponent of mental health coverage parity.


Tags
economy
psychiatry
public health

More like this

Treatment for Adolescents with Depression Study
The Treatment for Adolescents with Depression Study (TADS) is a major NIH-sponsored study of the treatment of adolescents with depression, in which href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluoxetine" rel="tag">fluoxetine-only, rel="tag">cognitive-behavioral therapy only, combination treatment,…
SCHIP Sails Again
The new Congress and new Administration passed a law already.  It was barely notied by the media.  It is a reauthorization and expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).  Given the expected resistance to major changes in health care, it was astonishingly easy for Congress…
Bailout 2.0 is Upon Us
From href="http://londonbanker.blogspot.com/2008/09/quotable-on-bank-balance-sheets.html">London Banker: "The problem with financial institution balance sheets is that on the left hand side nothing is right and on the right hand side nothing is left." It's pretty obvious that financial…
Mental Health Parity
This post is not about mental health parity.  Although it is a very important topic, there is no reason for me to write about it.  If you are interesting in the topic, just go read the (open access) Perspectives column in the current NEJM: href="http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/359/2/113…