Are We Going Crazy: Mental Illness Surveillance

Mental Illness Surveillance: An Epidemic or a Social Disease?

Non-Fiction - Editorial

When we think of mental illness we all flash to the iconic scene in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” where Randle McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) is rolling down the insane asylum corridor tied or duck taped to a desk chair after being lobotomized.  

But we need to look at how mental illness manifests itself and the instances of mental illness are growing at an alarming rate.

The ‘effects’ of mental illness has its affect, not only on the person suffering but everyone around him or her.  We can all think of countless encounters with people who seem to have a constant ‘bad attitude’, ‘blue mood’ or angry and aggressive way of behaving.  Nightspots are a good place to go people watching.  Bars seem to be where anyone who is a ‘bad ass’ or an ‘asshole’ gravitates to.

But the problem is even deeper than the bottle that people dive into to avoid the onset of mental illness.  It’s a fact that inordinate or constant stress or duress, mental or physical can bring on many forms of mental illness in which we all seem to self medicate so we can vehemently deny having a mental illness.  

Some people suffer from anxiety, depression, bipolar and PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) to name a few types of mental illness.

 

Why is this important or relevant to the ‘nightlife’ or bar scene?  Well, in this decade we have seen an uptick in bar violence, dangerous behavior, crimes on both persons and property and most relevantly, the increased use of prescribed medication to handle the problem of mental illness in any one of its many forms.

I bring this up because I thought about all the folks who used to hang out and are dead because everyone noticed the behavior but no one questioned why ‘him, her or they’ acted the way they did.  A few years ago I knew a bartender who was kind of wild, she was good looking and totally uninhibited.  When she died, I discovered she was a Jewish woman from a strict Jewish family.

As I expressed my condolences as they did sit Shiva for their wild young daughter who passed away from a toxic mixture of prescription drugs and alcohol, I discovered that she was fighting more than the demons of alcohol.  Her ‘boyfriend’ was a gentile and her family did not approve of that.  In fact, she had been all but ‘kicked out’ of her family’s life and was trying to find a way to cope; She didn’t!

There are many more examples of people we know who ‘changed’ after the death of a loved one.  I know a man who put himself in a psychiatric hospital after the death of his dog.  There are many stresses that we go through in life and some events will bring on ‘mental illnesses’.  So how does this ‘epidemic’ affect all of us normal people?

Oh yeah, I said ‘epidemic’! Right about now you are asking, ‘who said mental illness was an epidemic’?  When I was at a local watering hole, a Doctor told me that mental illness was ‘epidemic’.  I of course asked where the fuck did he get that information?  The Doctor said, “the CDC”.  So being the naturally curious fool that I am, I checked out the CDC web site and learned the following:

According to the CDC; “The term mental illness refers collectively to all diagnosable mental disorders. Effects of the illness include sustained abnormal alterations in thinking, mood, or behavior associated with distress and impaired functioning. 

The effects of mental illnesses include disruptions of daily function; incapacitating personal, social, and occupational impairment; and premature death. The most common mental illnesses in adults are anxiety and mood disorders.”

But that was only the beginning, the following statistics were also revealing: According to the World Health Organization, mental illness results in more disability in developed countries than any other group of illnesses, including cancer and heart disease. Other published studies report that about 25% of all U.S. adults have a mental illness and that nearly 50% of U.S. adults will develop at least one mental illness during their lifetime.

The CDC actively does surveillance of mental illness through a number of agencies also including law enforcement, population surveys and/or health care surveys.  

So if we take a hard look at just the statistics just mentioned you must assess that three out of four adults in the United States are suffering some form of mental illness.  Does that mean when I go to the local watering hole I’m drinking with crazy people?

Let’s not jump to conclusions.  Lets take a look at some more statistics: 

• According to the World Health Organization, mental illnesses account for more disability in developed countries than any other group of illnesses, including cancer and heart disease.

• Published studies report that about 25% of all U.S. adults have a mental illness and that nearly 50% of U.S. adults will develop at least one mental illness during their lifetime.

• Mental illness is associated with increased occurrence of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, asthma, epilepsy, and cancer.

• Mental illness is associated with lower use of medical care, reduced adherence to treatment therapies for chronic diseases, and higher risks of adverse health outcomes.

• Mental illness is associated with use of tobacco products and abuse of alcohol.

• Rates for both intentional (e.g., homicide, suicide) and unintentional (e.g., motor vehicle) injuries are 2 to 6 times higher among people with a mental illness than in the population overall.

• Population-based surveys and surveillance systems provide much of the evidence needed to guide effective mental health promotion, mental illness prevention, and treatment programs.

• Monitoring mental illness is an important way to provide appropriate organizations the data they need to assess the need for mental and behavioral health services and to inform the provision of those services.

• Many mental illnesses can be managed successfully, and increasing access to and use of mental health treatment services could substantially reduce the associated morbidity.

• Many chronic illnesses are associated with mental illnesses, and it's been shown that treatment of mental illnesses associated with chronic diseases can reduce the effects of both and support better outcomes.

The U.S. Mental Illness Surveillance Report also notes the economic cost of mental illness in these United States was over 300 billion dollars in 2002.  In the years following 911, mental illness probably doesn’t cost any less now than it did then.  So what is the end of the matter, what is the conclusion?

Of course, it amounts to this; the CDC wants the government to monitor or do surveillance on a ‘national level’ on all forms of anxiety disorders.  

Why?  To get public health outlets adequate to the task of dealing with these disorders properly.  How right that is, or at least it sounds that way.  See your Doctor and leave the surveys alone.

Do you really trust your government to do something ‘right’, ‘noble’ or ‘proper’ when it comes to you and me?  What would the government really do with that kind of information?  

Very well then, just take your pills, drink your beer, sip your whiskey and shut the hell up.  Just don’t agitate each other.  God knows what kind of grief your fellow drinker is going through.

RJ

Cited Works and Articles:

http://www.cdc.gov/24-7/prevention/mental_illness/cdc_involved.html

http://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealthsurveillance/.

http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/mental-health-types-illness