Vets and Depression

* An estimated 9.3 percent of veterans aged 21 to 39 (312,000 persons) experienced at least one major depressive episode (MDE) in the past year.

* Among veterans aged 21 to 39 with past year MDE, over half (51.7 percent) reported severe impairment in at least one of four role domains (i.e., home management, work, close relationships with others, and social life), and nearly one quarter (23.5 percent) reported very severe impairment in at least one of the domains.

* More than half (59.6 percent) of veterans aged 21 to 39 who experienced past year MDE received treatment for depression in the past year.


Recent research indicates that an estimated 25 to 30 percent of the veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have reported symptoms of a mental disorder or cognitive condition. Untreated mental health problems can result in long-term negative consequences for the affected individuals, their families, their communities, and our Nation as a whole.

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) includes questions about military veteran status, major depressive episode (MDE), and treatment for depression. This issue of The NSDUH Report examines data from veterans aged 21 to 39, an age group that includes veterans with relatively recent service.

Read the rest here.

The wolf you may know

"WHEN YOU SAY THE WORD "sociopath" most people think of serial killers. But although many serial killers are sociopaths, there are far more sociopaths leading ordinary lives. Chances are you know a sociopath. I say "ordinary lives," but what they do is far from ordinary. Sociopaths are people without a conscience. They don't have the normal empathy the rest of us take for granted. They don't feel affection. They don't care about others. But most of them are good observers, and they have learned how to mimic feelings of affection and empathy remarkably well.

Most people with a conscience find it very difficult to even imagine what it would be like to be without one. Combine this with a sociopath's efforts to blend in, and the result is that most sociopaths go undetected.

Because they go undetected, they wreak havoc on their family, on people they work with, and on anyone who tries to be their friend. A sociopath deceives, takes what he (or she) wants, and hurts people without any remorse. Sociopaths don't feel guilty. They don't feel sorry for what they've done. They go through life taking what they want and giving nothing back. They manipulate and deceive and convincingly lie without the slightest second thought. They leave a path of confusion and upset in their wake.

Who are these people? Why are they the way they are? Apparently it has little to do with upbringing. Many studies have been done trying to find out what kind of childhood leads to sociopathy. So far, nothing looks likely. They could be from any kind of family. It is partly genetic, and partly mystery." (read more of this article here.)

So here's a little test... actually a question devised by a psychologist to see who thinks like a sociopath. Read the question carefully and give it some thought.

A woman, while attending her own mother's funeral, meets a man. She has never set eyes on him before and yet she finds him to be delightful. She is sure he is 'the one.' But somehow he leaves the funeral before she can get his number, or even his last name. A few days later, she murders her sister. SOOOO, what was her motive for killing her sister.

You'll have to check the comment thread to get the answer... and if you get it right, please let me know (so I can block your email.....:)

Read The Sociopath Next Door last year.... chilling.....

Help Prevent Overdose Deaths in WA State

The rate of overdose deaths in Washington State has been steadily climbing in recent years. According to the Washington State Department of Health, in 1999 there were 403 unintentional drug poisoning deaths in this state; by 2006, the number had increased to 707. Drug overdose is the second leading cause of injury death in the United States, behind only motor vehicle accidents and ahead of firearms.

Most drug overdose deaths are preventable through timely medical attention. Researchers consistently identify fear of arrest or police involvement as the most significant barrier to people calling 911 when they think a friend may be experiencing an overdose. We should encourage people to get emergency medical help sooner by removing that obstacle.

Washington should take the modest step of providing limited immunity from drug charges to people who seek medical assistance during an overdose situation. A human life is just too great a loss.

Take action on House Bill 1796 and Senate Bill 5516.

Hypothesis Re: the Rise of Recognised Mental Disorders

The New York Times recently published an article on the evolving Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The DSM is the official source for psychologists who are diagnosing patients with mental disorders. The article points out that the number of disorders in the manual has more than doubled since the 1950s:

Hypothesis One: The DSM reflects an increasingly sophisticated and exhaustive compendium of all possible mental disorders.

Hypothesis Two: More psychological disorders = more people diagnosed with mental disorders = more money is siphoned off to hospitals, treatment centers, drug companies, mental health professionals, social workers, school counselors, etc. (Scientists who are currently working on the next version of the DSM have agreed to restrict their income from drug makes to $10,000 a year or less.)

Hypothesis Three: We are an increasingly rationalized society and all things are becoming increasingly listed, compiled, organized, and annotated.

Hypothesis Four: What is considered a “problem” depends on the social context. (”Homosexuality” used to be in the DSM, but it isn’t any longer.) Perhaps a shift in the last 50 years has created a social context that is less tolerant of difference, more insistent upon happiness, or requires a more compliant citizen.

Hypothesis Five: Grassroots activists get together and lobby scientists to include disorders in the DSM so that they can raise awareness and money for research.

What do you think?

Thanks to Sociological Images for this post and check out my comment!

Making Amends

Grant “Skip” Treaster remembers his hand trembling the day he sat down to write a long-overdue letter to his son. It was his son’s 39th birthday. And Treaster, diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1995, hadn’t seen his son since he was a 9-year-old boy.

“I wish I could just say sorry, that this card is a couple days late,” Treaster wrote his son. “But it’s been more like a couple decades. I don’t know where to even begin to say I’m sorry, but I truly am.

“I’m sorry I just up and disappeared from your life,” his card message continued. “I never really intended to do that. But I turned out to be one of those men who leave. Leave jobs when they get too hard. Leave relationships when they get too complicated. Leave town when things get hot. I’m sorry I left you and I’ll never be able to forgive myself for that.”

Treaster, a former advertising executive who lives in Arizona with his fourth wife, has spent the past several years rebuilding his world after battling bipolar disorder for decades without a diagnosis. As part of the process, he’s beginning to try to make amends to those he hurt, including his three adult sons from his first marriage—whom he all but abandoned—as well as two adult daughters from his second marriage.

“I’ve left quite a wake of ruined relationships and destruction in my path because it took so long to get diagnosed,” says Treaster, now 59. “And even the diagnosis doesn’t change things, necessarily. It takes time. And a diagnosis doesn’t undo all the past mistakes.”

Indeed, we have all been hurt, or have hurt others in relationships. Whether unintentional or purposeful, it happens. But when bipolar disorder is at the source of the wound inflicted on another, things such as out-of-control spending, infidelity, anger outbursts, or long periods of isolation brought on by depression can amplify and confuse those hurts. The pain is real, but how can we hold a grudge against someone who has a mental illness? On the other hand, if we have a mental illness, how do we begin to make amends for things we did when we were ill?

While medication and therapy are the building blocks to recovery from mental illness, making amends and seeking forgiveness play a role as well. As Treaster has discovered, asking for forgiveness—and forgiving himself—have been the hardest part of his climb to wellness.

Read the rest of the article, including tips for healing here.

Mental Illnesses: Misunderstood

(Thanks to Debbie Pearson for this post:)

Dead Horse Theory

The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians, passed on from generation to generation, says that, "When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount."

However, in government, education, corporate management and health care, more advanced strategies are often employed in such situations, such as:

Buying a bigger whip.

Changing riders.

Appointing a committee to study the horse.

Checking the internet for information on various means of riding dead horses.

Lowering standards so that dead horses can be included.

Reclassifying the dead horse as living impaired.

Hiring an outside contractor to ride the dead horse.

Harnessing several dead horses together to increase speed.

Providing additional funding and/or training to increase the performance of the dead horse.

Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the performance of the dead horse.

Declaring that as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overhead and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line of the economy than do other horses.

Rewriting the expected performance requirements for all horses.

Promoting the dead horse to supervision as an incentive.

Doing a needs assessment on the dead horse and then establishing best practice findings to address the needs.... of the dead horse.

This year let's consider that tribal wisdom and simply dismount.
Happy 2009!