While I am no expert in the mental health field I found it worthwhile to focus my attentions towards something I care about-economics. Then I thought about how the two disciplines interact with each other. I know most people in the health professions put economics on the back burner but I believe examining the economics of health care is an imperative part of this field, especially narrowing down the health field to focus primarily on mental health.
It is no surprise to me that when researching how mental health conditions affect the economy there was not much out there. That is because the United States offer little funds in this area. I have decided to link an article as my first blog post to show how the economy is affecting our population's mental health. While the article is from around a year ago I feel the information in it is still relevant given our economy has somewhat stayed the same.
Mental stress spirals with economy - USA Today 3.12.2009
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-03-11-stress-poll_N.htm
The article explains how the downswing in the economny produces and enviornment where Americans are experiencing worsened mental health. Some higlights from a poll given to over 300,000 Americans include the stress from the economy are keeping people up at night. Stress is also accumulated from the ability to pay medical bills. While these two are no suprise for most the article aslo touches on how Hispanics are the most emotionally affected by the economy.
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You are right the article is still relevant. It has been over a year and the American economy is still struggling. The "normal" adversities in life become overwhelming when you add in uncertainty. Waking up every day, and driving by the gas pump and seeing the variation, is just one more thing that needles negativity and hopelessness.
ReplyDeleteI was watching an economic news program yesterday and they said that the gas market is not tied to supply and demand anymore but to hedge funds.....in my opinion when hedge funds are starting to determine the market, it needs to be fixed or uncertainty will continue to be fueled and the average person will continue to suffer.