There is a stigma that haunts people who suffer from a mental illness. This is because so many people, including those afflicted, do not understand mental disorders. Below is some vital information about mental illness - some myths and the realities.

• Mentally ill people could avoid getting ill if they tried a little harder. Likewise, healing requires only trying harder, "getting over it," or "snapping out of it," or other platitudes.
  
  Mental illness is what the name suggests: an illness. This illness has symptoms that display as emotional instability or abnormality - as well as physical problems. While many diseases are caused by pathogens or abnormal cellular growth, mental illnesses are caused by imbalances in brain chemistry. Healing requires treatment, not attitude adjustments.
  
  
• If no one in the family has had a mental illness, then mental illness won't strike.
  
  There is a genetic predisposition to some mental disorders. However, mental illnesses afflict people with no family history. Likewise most people who live in families where there are mental disorders do not develop these diseases.
  
  
• Mental illness is caused by upbringing or lifestyle.
  
  Mental illness is a physical illness in which the delicate brain chemistry goes out of balance. There are 'triggers' - life events - that can cause or worsen episodes of illness.... the key word being episodes.
  
  An illness that is similarly episodic is diabetes. People with diabetes occasionally have episodes in which blood sugar gets out of balance. In those episodes, the unpleasant symptoms are signs that the imbalance has occurred. The episodes are often triggered by missed or incorrect injections of insulin or by improper diet.
  
  
• Mental illness is rare.
  
  The incidence of mental illness far exceeds the combined incidences of cancer and heart disease. More than 50 percent of U.S. families will have members who suffer some form of mental illness at some point in their lives.
  
  
• Mental illness is an annoyance, not a disease.
  
  Mental illness can - and does - kill. Depression is the most common of mental illnesses. Experts say that 95-98% of suicides (and suicide attempts) result directly from depression. Suicide is the #11 cause of death in the USA.
  
  
• Mentally ill people get violent.
  
  Studies show that mentally ill people are no more likely to commit violent acts than anyone else. Mentally ill people who are in treatment may be statistically less violent than the general population.
  
  
• The law requires that medical insurance companies cover mental illness.
  
  It depends on where you live. Some states require that insurance companies cover treat mental illness the same as other illnesses.. Other states are not so enlightened, and continue to discriminate against those who suffer from mental disorders.
  
  
• Schizophrenia is a duality conflict that results in multiple personalities.
  
  Schizophrenia, like other mental illnesses, is actually an imbalance in brain chemistry. The primary symptom of schizophrenia is an inability to discern what is real and what is not. "Hearing voices" and multiple personality disorder are sometimes symptoms of schizophrenia. However most schizophrenics do not display either symptom. In fact, multiple personality disorder occurs more in movies than in real life.
  
  
• Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.
  
  Depression - often called unipolar depression - is the most common of mental illnesses. Its symptoms look like grief, sadness, melancholia. Those conditions may be displayed in depressive episodes, but they are neither depression nor its primary symptoms.
  
  Everybody has a bad day now and then; everyone gets sad, everyone will deal with grief. People who are suffering from the real thing, however, know that their illnesses aren't just temporary feelings caused by unpleasant events. If you're not suffering from clinical depression, your most trying day might just be more pleasant than what someone with that malady would consider a good day. When someone who is depressed has a bad day, the emotional (and sometimes physical) pain is beyond anyone else's understanding.
  
  The point is that while a person's immediate situation does make a difference in his or her mood, it can't explain away chronic or persistent, recurring depressed moods.
  
  
• Manic-depressives are in constant turmoil.
  
  Most bipolar disorder ("manic-depression") is episodic: those who suffer from this condition tend to appear quite "normal" most of the time. It is a very complicated illness in which its victims tend to have dramatic mood swings. Episodes may occasionally be caused or exascerbated by triggers - external events. More often, however, the episodes seem to come from nowhere.
  
  The hallmark of the disorder is that the episodes can be either manic or depressive. There is a manic phase in which the person displays great energy and occasional abnormal behavior. There is a depressed phase which closely mimics unipolar depression. However, as in all mental illnesses, imbalance in brain chemistry is the root cause.
  

Mental illnesses are real illnesses. They are treatable with medication and other therapies. However, people with mental disorders fall victim to derision, discrimination, and bad public policy.

Labels: bipolar, brain chemistry, clinical depression, depression, manic depression, mental illness, multiple personality, schizoid, schizophenic, Schizophrenia, suicide

Everybody has a bad day now and then; everyone gets sad, everyone will deal with grief. People who are suffering from the real thing, however, know that their illnesses aren't just temporary feelings caused by unpleasant events. If you're not suffering from clinical depression, your most trying day might just be more pleasant than what someone with that malady would consider a good day. When someone who is depressed has a bad day, the emotional (and sometimes physical) pain is beyond anyone else's understanding.

While a person's immediate situation does make a difference in his or her mood, it can't explain away chronic or persistent, recurring depressed moods.

Depression is one of the most misunderstood illnesses. As a result of the misunderstandings about depression, there are many myths about depression. For instance,

• Myth: people with depression are just whiney. Depression is a physical disease whose symptoms are mood disorders. Regardless of what triggers a depressive episode, the actual process of the disease involves the brain's neurotransmitters. An imbalance in the brain chemistry - especially serotonin, norepinephrin, and dopamine - disrupts people's lives in the form of mood disorders.
  
  
• Myth: People with depression are lazy. Depression is a serious illness that robs its victims of physical and mental energy. It makes as much sense to say that people with the flu are lazy.
  
  
• Myth: People with depression are just trying to get attention. While depression does sometimes trigger multiple related physical ailments, its victims are not just "playing sick"; they are sick.
  
  
• Myth: They should just "snap out of it." Try telling someone with heart disease or diabetes to "snap out of it".
  
  
• Myth: "I've always been too busy to be depressed." You've been damn lucky!
  
  
• Myth: Unlike other mental illnesses, depression isn't that bad. The symptoms of depression are typically less dramatic than those of certain other illnesses, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. This does not negate the fact that depression can lead to life-threatening physical complications, frequently renders its victims disabled, and invariably makes its victims miserable.
  
  
• Myth: Anti-depressants are 'happy pills,' drugs that act as a crutch. There isn't anything happy about anti-depressants. They are serious medicines that can, themselves, be dangerous and have unpleasant side effects. Taking an anti-depressant pill does not relieve the symptoms of depression and suddenly turn one cheerful.The patient has to choose between the intensity of the mood disorder and the side effects of the medication.
  
  Anti-depressants are a long-term drug therapy; it takes several days, even several weeks, before the patient sees modest relief from the mood disorder. Even then, the depression does not go into remission, although the intensity of the symptoms may be reduced. There is no test that tells doctors which brain chemicals are out of balance and which drug will help correct that imbalance.
  
  
• Myth: "Heart attacks can be deadly. Having a bad day never killed anyone." A depressive episode is many orders of magnitude beyond what a "normie" experiences when having a bad day.
  
  Depression is a serious physical disease. Because its symptoms appear to be excessive emotional reactions... much as a diabetic coma appears to be a deep sleep at an inappropriate time.
  
  Depression and suicide are inexorably linked. According to the Centers for Disease Control, suicide is the #10 killer in the USA. Not convinced? Google this: "+ suicide + depression" (without the quotes) You'll get over 3 million hits.
  
  
• Myth: "A suicide attempt is just a harmless bid for attention." The statistics say otherwise.
  
  
  • For instance,15% of those who are afflicted with clinical depression will take their own lives. Walk in to a meeting that is a support group for people who are clinically depressed. Do a count down: every 7th person in that room will die from suicide. 'Harmless'?
    
    
  • Suicide was the 3rd leading cause of death in 15 to 24 year olds in 1997. Since then the suicide rate in that age group has escalated.
    
    
  • In any given year in the USA, there will be over 1/2 million suicide attempts.
    
    
  • 1 in 15 suicide attempts are successful. Of those 14 out of 15 that don't result in death, most of those attempts fail due to poor technique. Some don't succeed because of timely life-saving intervention. A few fail because the attempt was not intended to succeed. Many of those people will try again; repeat attempts tend to be more successful.
    
    
  • The actual numbers are worse than what is described above. Without direct evidence (such as a suicide note or a conversation declaring an upcoming suicide) some deaths are not counted as suicide, but rather as 'accidental.' How many auto 'accidents' are not accidents? How many drug overdoses are actually suicide attempts?
    

Inspired by an article at Neurotransmissions

Labels: cause of death, clinical depression, depressed, depression, dopamine, mental illness, mood disorder, norepinephrin, serotonin, snap out of it, suicide, suicide attempts, trying to get attention

To Republicans, lower taxes masquerade as fiscal responsibility. Tax cuts, in the right-wing delusion, solve everything.

Lower taxes don't solve anything (unless you are part of one of the special interest group at whom tax cuts are typically aimed). Interestingly, good things happen after tax increases. I'm not advocating high taxes, but I'm pragmatic: go with what works.

Republicans have always laid claim to fiscal responsibility.

That is a myth. The facts say otherwise.

First, a quick summary

• Republican presidents
  1920-1932
  income taxes - negligible
  economy upward trend first 7 years
  then the biggest economic crash in history
  don't forget those really cool scandals & corruption
  

• Democratic presidents
  1932-1940
  higher income taxes on wealthiest
  economy recovered, slowly but steadily
  1941-1948
  higher income taxes on nearly everyone
  economy improved (war spending was a two-edged sword)
  

• Republican president
  1952-1960
  economy slowed
  deep recession
  
  
• Democratic presidents
  1961-1968
  economy soared
  

• Republican presidents
  1969-1972
  economy leveled
  1973-1976
  "stagflation" - stagnant economy and high inflation
  
  
• Democratic president
  1977-1980
  stagflation subsided, but the resulting credit crunch persisted
  

• Republican president
  1981-1992 borrow and spend like crazy under Reagan
  1981- biggest income tax cut in history
  budget deficits skyrocketed
  economy went backwards
  1982 - biggest income tax increase in history
  economy recovered
  1986 - shifted income tax burden away from wealthy to middle/lower classes
  1987 - 2nd largest wall st crash in history
  economy went into recession
  1989-1992, recession continued and worsened
  

• Democratic president
  1993-2001
  income tax hike
  economy went into best 9 years in historybudget deficits decreased every year, with 1997-2000 having budget surpluses (paid down national debt)
  

• Republican president
  2001-2008
  income tax cuts to wealthiest 10%
  went from budget surplus to biggest budget deficits in history
  economy slowed dramatically
  economy went into and stayed in recession
  

Now, let's back up the claims:

To measure fiscal responsibility, let's consider the change in the relationship between federal debt and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). That relationship demonstrates growth (or decrease) in the government's debt in the context of growth (or shrinkage) of the economy as a whole. In other words, when times are good, does an administration use that as an opportunity to pay down debt? Or the opposite? Does fiscal policy cause increases or decreases in debt when times are bad?

Running up debt:

• Since 1945, every Democratic president presided over decreases in the debt-to-GDP ratio (that's good)
• Since 1945, every Republican president presided over
  1. in the best years, smaller decreases than under all Democrats
  2. in worst years (20 out of the last 36 years under Republicans), sharp INCREASES in the debt-to-GDP ratio (that's bad)
     

• 1977-1980, the Carter administration, was interesting in that
  1. his one term saw solid decrease in the debt-to-GDP ratio
  2. Nixon/Ford preceded him, and had deficit increases
  3. Reagan/Bush followed him, and had huge budget deficits
     

What about jobs?

• From 1929 to the present, job growth (net annual increase in number of jobs)
  1. under EVERY Democratic president, significant net increases in creation of new jobs
  2. under EVERY Democratic president, increases in rate over rate under preceding Republican
  3. under EVERY Republican president, smaller net increases than under ANY democratic president with one exception: 1945-1948, the net increase (under a Democrat) was smaller than those in 1969-1972 and 1985-1988 (under Republicans)
  4. Under two Republican administrations (but ZERO Democratic administrations) there were net job losses during their terms: specifically, 1929-1932 and 2001-2004; if the economy continues to fall this year, the small increase of 2005- part of 2007 could be erased.
     

So... can we conclude
Taxes = evil
Tax cuts = sacred & honorable
???

No and No.

• Borrow-and-spend (increase the national debt) is far worse than tax-and-spend.
• Borrow-and-spend creates the illusion of something good happening, but leaves it for future taxpayers to pick up the tab.

The facts:

1. Increases in income taxes always immediately precede economic improvement AND lower budget deficits.
2. Decreases in income taxes usually precede economic downturns AND higher budget deficits
3. Budget deficits fall, and the economy improves under Democratic presidents
   
4. Budget deficits increase and the economy nearly always slows (or worse) under Republican presidents
   

Let's face it:

• conventional wisdom about taxes is wrong: 'lower' does not mean 'better' and 'higher' does not mean 'worse'
  
• what matters is how the economy is doing, how many jobs are out there, how much money you have left at the end of the pay period, and whether or not we've prepared for the future (national debt increases or decreases).

Sorry, Republicans. Ouch!

Labels: borrow-and-spend, depression, economy, GDP, higher taxes, jobs, lower taxes, national debt, no longer a republican, recession, republican, tax cut, tax-and-spend