The Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School has found that many mentally ill people delay seeking out medical care. In reporting the story this week, the LA Times compares the speed in which human beings respond to physical pain verses emotional turmoil.
The study, published this summer in the Archives of General Psychiatry, found that those with mood disorders delayed treatment from six to eight years, while people with anxiety disorders waited from nine to 23 years. Ronald Kessler, Harvard professor and co-author of the report, told the Times that many people don't realize that they need help and view the symptoms of their illnesses (sadness, worry, etc.) as nothing more than everyday feelings.
Interests: Anything with an ING: dancing, biking, listening, talking, writing, reading, watching, eating, drinking, running, thinking, working, dreaming, surrendering, laughing, smiling, acting, traveling, singing, surfing, driving, shopping, thanking, observing, welcoming, connecting, loving, learning, sharing, practicing, asking. I love supermarkets in other places, lyrics to songs, seeking out gluten free food, responding to questions and surveys, finding deals and bargains, doing public relations for anyone/anything I believe in, good conversation, sociological observation, the beach, early mornings, condiments and spices, vitamins and minerals, alternative medicine, nutrition, holistic health, fitness gum, coffee drinking, gun chewing and sitting in the steam room.
Inspiration: Books: Letters to a Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke
Music: Linkin Park and The Cure
People: My mother and all of those that have come before me that have fought their own battles and didn't give up.
Places: Carl Schurz Park, New York, NY
Movies: In Search of a Midnight Kiss, Stealing Beauty, Beautiful Girls, When A Man Loves a Woman, In America, Magdelene Sisters, The Notebook, Run Fat Boy Run
Things: Causes worth fighting for: Lupus and other auto-immune disorders, Organ Donation and impoverished and at-risk youth.