Mental Illness Is Worse For Your Life Expectancy Than Smoking
From the
University of Oxford:
Oxford researchers say their figures on
life expectancy should galvanise governments and health and social
services to put a much higher priority on how mental health services can
prevent early deaths. ...
The average reduction in life expectancy in people with bipolar disorder is between nine and 20 years, while it is 10 to 20 years for schizophrenia, between nine and 24 years for drug and alcohol abuse, and around seven to 11 years for recurrent depression.
The loss of years among heavy smokers is eight to 10 years.
1 comment:
This is a very contentious topic. One only has to look at the side-effects for the drugs that people with mental health issues take on a daily basis as an explanation for these shortened lifespans. Some take the drugs regardless of whether they help or not, because they fear losing their disability checks from SS, or in the cases of veterans, getting their rating lowered.
http://www.nextgov.com/health/2012/04/broken-warriors/48347/
Most people aren't willing to accept the idea that there are seriously mentally ill people who are unable to work, but who can manage their symptoms and mental health problems by just being left alone to control their own environments and exposure to things. The taxpayer doesn't win if this person is forced to be medicated, only the drug companies do.
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