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QUOTE(happy fish @ Jul 12 2007, 07:36 AM) *QUOTE(lambvet @ Jul 11 2007, 05:55 PM) *Welcome happyfish welcomeani.gifThank you for the warm welcome. blush21.gifThis is a great forum, my compliments to the builders/maintainers.
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Depression & Mental Health FAQs
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated 40 million Americans living today will suffer from major depressive illness during their lives. Seasonal affective disorder is major depression that appears in the fall or winter and goes away in spring, thought to be caused by lack of sunlight.
Postpartum depression occurs within four weeks of a women giving childbirth. Most new mothers suffer from some form of the �baby blues.� Postpartum depression, by contrast, is major depression, thought to be triggered by changes in hormonal flows associated with childbirth. Catatonic depression is a rare form of major depression characterized by (at least two): Stupor, excessive motor activity, extreme negativism, peculiarities in voluntary movement, and repetition of other people's words or actions. - mcmanweb.com
Psychotic depression is a rare form of depression characterized by delusions or hallucinations, such as believing you are someone you are not and hearing voices.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, approximately 18.8 million American adults, or about 9.5 percent of the US population age 18 and older in a given year, have a depressive disorder. Depression is a chronic illness that exacts a significant toll on
America's health and productivity. It affects more than 21 million
American children and adults annually and is the leading cause of
disability in the United States for individuals ages 15 to 44.
Lost productive time among U.S. workers due to depression is estimated
to be in excess of $31 billion per year. Depression frequently
co-occurs with a variety of medical illnesses such as heart disease,
cancer, and chronic pain and is associated with poorer health status
and prognosis. It is also the principal cause of the 30,000 suicides
in the U.S. each year. In 2004, suicide was the 11 th leading cause of death in the United States, third among individuals 15-24.
According to the World Health Organization, depression is presently on track to becoming the world's second-most disabling disease (after heart disease) by the year 2020. Depression is responsible for some $87 billion a year in lost productivity in the US (a conservative estimate), and according to Bank One, is responsible for most lost work days in its employees after pregnancy and childbirth. Additionally, one million people worldwide die by their own hand, most as a result of a mood disorder. Finally, the linkage between depression and a host of physical illnesses makes it arguably the world's greatest killer.
Research presented at the 56th Annual Conference of the Canadian
Psychiatric Association shows a marked link between bipolar disorder
and migraines. The odds of migraine in persons with bipolar disorder were 40% higher than the general population. Data
obtained from 36,984 people aged 15 and over, who screened positive for
manic or depressive episodes with migraine, were compared against those
who screened positive for mania but who didn�t suffer from migraines. Amongst
males, 14.9% of those with manic episodes were also diagnosed with
migraines compared with 5.8% of the general population. Amongst
females, 34.7% had both migraines and bipolar disorder compared with
14.7% who only had migraines.unquote.gif While the research was
skewed towards persons who were already diagnosed with bipolar
disorders, what does it mean for people who suffer from migraines but
who may have an undiagnosed bipolar disorder?
Migraines and headaches aren�t fully understood but the manifestations are very real and debilitating for their sufferers: Throbbing pain Nausea Heightened sensitivity to light or sound Seeing dots, wavy lines, flashing lights, or blind spots Difficulty with speech, sensation, or movement
An estimated 2.1 million
American adolescents have experienced major depression within the last
year, according to a new comprehensive government study. Researchers
surveyed more than 67,000 young people ages 12 to 17 and found that one
in 12 had suffered from serious depression in the previous year.Nearly
13 percent of girls had struggled with depression, compared to less
than 5 percent of boys. Odds of depression increased with age -- just 4
percent of 12-year-olds experienced depression but that climbed to 11
percent for older teens.
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Depression - The Americans with Disabilities Act and You
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On March 28, 1997, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released a policy guidance concerning application of the Americans with Disabilities Act to individuals with psychiatric disabilities. The comprehensive document answers some of the most common questions about psychiatric disabilities and the ADA.
The guidance should be helpful to consumers, advocates and employers alike. It discusses how to determine whether a condition is covered under ADA, disclosure of a disability, requesting reasonable accommodations, examples of reasonable accommodations, when an employer can discipline a worker for misconduct resulting from a disability, direct threat and professional licensing.
A guidance is an addition to the EEOC compliance manual and is used by the agency's investigators in determining whether a complainant's ADA rights have been violated. Although EEOC guidances are not regulations, they can inform courts about the official position of the agency responsible for ADA enforcement in the employment area.
Advocates should be aware, however, that recent Supreme Court decisions have overruled parts of the guidelines. See What Advocates Can Do About Supreme Court's Recent Decisions.
Several of the EEOC positions in the new guidance are especially important to consumers and advocates:
* The guidance expands the list of major life activities to include those relevant to psychiatric disability. An employee wishing to establish that he or she has a covered disability must show substantial limitation of a major life activity. The guidance includes such activities as "learning, thinking, concentrating, interacting with others, caring for oneself, speaking, performing manual tasks, or working. Sleeping is also a major life activity ...." This expansion should enable people with psychiatric disabilities to get past the first hurdle under the ADA: whether the employee has a covered disability.
* The agency affirms that "chronic, episodic conditions may constitute substantially limiting impairments if they are substantially limiting when active or have a high likelihood of recurrence in substantially limiting forms." The guidance mentions bipolar disorder, major depression and schizophrenia as examples of disabilities that may be episodic over the course of months or years. Accordingly, even if a disability is not currently active, an employee who needs an accommodation to continue controlling symptoms can be covered by the ADA.
* The guidance again notes that an employer cannot ask a job applicant whether he or she has a disability or needs a reasonable accommodation. This is a particularly useful protection for people with disabilities that are not visible.
* The Commission clarifies that an employer requesting information from an employee seeking an accommodation may only ask for information that is necessary to verify the existence of a disability and the need for accommodation. This provision means an employee or applicant may refuse broad employer requests, such as for all of a consumer's therapy notes. However, employees should be aware that the guidance allows the employer to insist that the employee see a professional of the employer's choice if the initial information given the employer is insufficient to prove that the employee has a disability and needs an accommodation.
* The EEOC also takes the position that an employee can use plain English to request an accommodation and need not use the specific terms "reasonable accommodation" and "ADA." This should make it easier for employees who are not familiar with the legal terms.
* The guidance gives several examples of potential accommodations, including modifications to work schedules or policies, physical changes to the workplace, adjusting supervisory methods, providing a job coach, and reassignment to a different position. The guidance also makes clear that medication monitoring is not a reasonable accommodation, so employees cannot be forced to take medication under the employer's directive.
* Importantly, the guidance provides that an employer can only discipline an employee with a disability for misconduct related to the disability if the workplace standard is job-related to the employee's position and consistent with business necessity. If the misconduct has no relation to the person's ability to do the job in question, the employee cannot be disciplined.
The full text of the guidance is available on the EEOC's web-site at www.eeoc.gov or from the Commission's publication distribution center (1-800-669-3362).
Also see Handling Your Psychiatric Disability in Work or School, an interactive website.
Updated August 2, 2001.
SOURCE:-
Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
1101 15th Street, NW, Suite 1212
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: 202-467-5730
Fax: 202-223-0409
Email: webmaster@bazelon.org
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Depression & Mental Health FAQs 2
What is Clinical Depression? Clinical
depression can affect your body, mood, thoughts, and behavior. It can
change your eating habits, how you feel and think about things, your
ability to work and study, and how you interact with people. Clinical
depression is not a passing mood, a sign of personal weakness or a
condition that can be willed away. Clinically depressed people cannot
"pull themselves together" and get better. Depression can be
successfully treated by a mental health professional or certain health
care providers. With the right treatment, 80 percent of those who seek
help get better. And many people begin to feel better in just a few
weeks.
Depression a Big Factor in Poor Health World Health Organization Finds Depression Often Goes Untreated By Salynn Boyles WebMD Medical News Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD Sept.
6, 2007 -- Depression has a greater impact on overall health than
arthritis, diabetes, angina, and asthma, but it all too often goes
unrecognized and untreated, a report from the World Health Organization
(WHO) suggests. more... Depression a Big Factor in Poor Health
For Additional Information About Depression Write To: The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 8184, MSC 9663 Bethesda, MD 20892-9663
For free brochures on depression and its treatment call: 1-800-421-4211. or visit: http://www.nimh.nih.gov
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