mental health

With nearly 1.8 million U.S. soldiers having rotated through Iraq and Afghanistan and another troop escalation expected in coming weeks, researchers are doing double-time to define the causes of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to better serve troops returning from war. With two wars going and no end in sight, scientists have quite an abundance of subjects on which to carry out their research.

Finally, mental health is getting the respect it deserves.

Yesterday, Congress approved legislation that will compel employers and health insurers to provide the same benefits for mental illnesses as they do for physical ones. It hasn’t been an easy bill to pass. For 15 years, the mental health bill has been stuck on the House and Senate floors, where it’s been rewritten several times. Now, almost everyone is behind the legislation, including both parties, the President, businesses, insurance companies and the medical community. And the bill’s advocates are thanking science for transforming the public’s view of mental illness, which led to its passage. Representative Patrick Kennedy praised science for destroying “the myth that this stuff is a choice,” according to a Washington Post article.

The myth may be busted, but that doesn’t mean the legislation is a shoo-in.

Psychologist: How are you feeling?
Patient: I feel like I want to punch the lights out of…out of…this anger management pillow printed with my bosss photo!
Psychologist: So that emotion would be called…
Patient: Annoyance. Anger.
Psychologist: And why do you think that is?
Patient: Because he made me mad.
Psychologist: "And..."
Patient: Because I am insecure about being passed over for that promotion?
Psychologist: Go on…

A fundamental credo of therapy is to first be aware of your emotions, preferably before they hijack your actions. But often we dont immediately recognize that were feeling irritable, fearful, or disgusted, especially when our significant other is there to notice it first. And sometimes it takes a moment to pinpoint why.