In 2002, Stephen Petranek told an audience that according to the World Health Organization, one in five people globally is clinically depressed. That is a staggering statistic. In his speech, he points out that spending as little as one million dollars would bring about the much needed advances in medications and insurance to allow for affordable Mental Health care.

Depression is a very real and terrible disease. I am familiar with it, as I suffer from Manic Depression (also known as Bipolar II Disorder),and have to be hospitalized for months at a time so that I don't end my own life. It has both physical and emotional tolls, and the fall-out to one's loved ones, friends, jobs, community, pets and sense of place in the world can be devastating.

Petranek says medical advances have led to an average life expectancy of a woman being eighty-two. This is all well and good, until the quality of life issue rears it's ugly head. Apparently now, those over sixty-five are the most likely to commit suicide. As a forty-two year old woman who has agonizing, searing, gut-wrenching suicidal depressions, I'm wondering if I should worry about my extra weight so much! Maybe an early heart attack wouldn't be so bad. Gimme another smoke!

Mr. Petranek states that one of the major problems is the lack of Mental Health insurance coverage. I couldn't agree more. For some strange reason, there is a sort of Black Hole when it comes to Mental Health and the medical field. For example, Cricket has a Medical Power of Attorney for me. This was made after I was institutionalized and signed up for Electro-Convulsive-Treatment. (I wrote about this in previous posts, but the up-shot is that A) In a normal frame of mind I would not have elected this course of treatment and B) It severely messed up my memory and did not stop my depression or me slashing my wrists open). When I was on a particularly bad psychiactric ward last year, she brought the Power of Attorney in, and they fell about laughing. Recently I consulted a pro bono lawyer, through Disability and found out that Mental Health Power of Attorney has to have it's own special writ. Why is this?

People who are mentally unwell have complex issues. Their illness may tell them that they are not ill. Their families may tell them they are not ill. They may be self-medicating with drugs, alcohol, food, work or other coping devices. I wasn't aware that I was Manic Depressive until I read "A Brilliant Madness" by Patty Duke when I was a Senior in college, even though as a girl of ten, it was recommended by the school that I see a psychologist or leave. Given that choice by my parents, or boarding school, I took the latter. (!)

The solution to the mental health crisis, says Stephan Petranek, is a combination of talk therapy and medication. The former can only come with decent coverage, so that you put down a $10 co-pay, rather than half of what most people earn in a week. (I happen to be one of the lucky few who has doctors who are saints or freaks of nature. My therapist bills my Disability Insurance, which pays her a fraction of her usual fee and my psychiatrist hasn't raised his incredibly reasonable rate).

The medication issue is a thorny subject. Non-compliance is multi-faceted problem. Patients don't want to take their medications for many reasons. The side effects can range from huge weight gain to heat-stroke. The loss of an affect of their illness may be missed, or the patients feel like they are no longer themselves. If they start to feel better, they may believe they no longer need the drug. Also, the person has to remember to take the medications, sometimes at different times of the day.

At the root, I believe, is the mind that wants to stay sick, because it's easier. Often the medication takes as long as six weeks to take effect. Imagine if pain killers worked that way? They would never get out of the lab. There needs to be more money put into psycho-active drugs now. As Petranek put forth, a billion dollars would address the insurance and medication issue.

A drop in the bucket compared to say, the Department of Defense, which in 2001 could not account for 2.3 Trillion dollars in missing money. Yes, I wrote TRILLION. They have yet to do so.

There is some interesting work being done up at Penn by John O'Reardon with brain stimulus to fight recurring drug-resistant depression. I love this. If we can make the deaf hear and the blind see, the palsied calm, why not those that suffer content to live?