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Election Stress Disorder and Your Mind
Also: go get your mental health degree now. There will be jobs.
So. You’re feeling freaky outy about the election.
You won’t find the term “election stress disorder” in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, the bible of officially recognized mental health conditions, but it can feel pretty damn real among people who are dealing with it. Are you obsessing over polls? Feeling the existential threat of the outcome of the voting? Find yourself distracted to the functioning of your day to day life?
Theresa Nguyen, Chief Research Officer from Mental Health America, joins us on the podcast this week. The bad news is that she can’t - and no one can - easily make that stress disappear. There’s no magic trick. The good news is that Theresa has some ideas on things that could make the ordeal a little more manageable.
“Could” being the keyword there. As we know, as we have discussed, there’s no single magic formula for being all better when it comes to mental health.
I was kind of expecting Theresa to say the same line one often hears about going out and volunteering for your political campaign of choice, go knock on doors or something. But she says if something like that depletes you rather than invigorates you, that kind of effort is maybe not the greatest idea. Instead, we talk about looking for places you can find hope and truth in your world. Find what makes you feel strong and identify how you can paddle in the direction you want rather than be simply pulled along by the current.
Mental health jobs expected to grow at three times the normal rate
Okay, well, there’s your job fair, folks. If you’re looking for work, go get that social work degree or that doctorate in psychiatry or whatever feels right to you because business is booming.
Two factors could be increasing demand for mental health services: Decreasing stigma around seeking treatment and increasing uncertainty in peoples’ lives, said Traci Cipriano, a clinical psychologist and assistant clinical professor in the Yale School of Medicine. She told CNN that political divisiveness, economic uncertainty, gun violence and the climate crisis are factors putting particular pressure on Americans.
“All of these things feel threatening to a certain degree, but each one of us as an individual really has very little control over them,” Cipriano said. “Stress itself can be managed through mental health treatment but if you don’t manage it, it can lead to depression and anxiety.”
White House issues final rule on insurers paying for mental health care
The Biden administration just made it easier to get health insurance companies to pay for care. Simply put, these companies have been a lot more likely to skimp on that kind of coverage over the years but now they’re required to treat mental health the same as physical health.
Despite longstanding law requiring health insurers to cover mental health as comprehensively as physical health, many Americans — even those with health insurance — still face financial obstacles when seeking care.
“It’s simple: It shouldn’t be harder for you to get care when you feel depressed than getting care when you have back pain,” Lisa Gomez, the assistant secretary for employee benefits security at the U.S. Department of Labor, said at a press conference. “It shouldn’t be harder for you to find a provider that can treat your eating disorder than it is to find a provider that can treat your ulcer.”
The finalized regulation follows a proposal that the Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury departments first put forward last summer.
The banned somersault long jump
Kottke has a rundown on an innovation in long jump from 1974 when a guy named Tuariki Delamere figured out he could add distance by doing a flip in the air.
But before he could use this in any kind of big competition, it was banned for being too dangerous. Like sports aren’t already incredibly dangerous all the time! Have they seen American football? Or Rugby? Bring it back!
Alison Rosen on Sleeping with Celebrities
The podcast host and former Adam Carolla cast member recalls some birds.
Of course you know Allison Rosen because she’s your best friend. How could you not know the host of the podcast Alison Rosen Is Your New Best Friend? Alison spent her childhood being friends to a great number of birds, including baby chicks that grew into chickens, baby ducklings that grew into ducks, and a quail named Robert who pretty much just stayed a quail named Robert. Everyone involved in this bird relationship had the best of intentions and for the most part things worked out okay. This is one of our only episodes to feature the word “cloaca” but it’s not used much and you should get to sleep just fine.
Until the insurance companies are willing to pay fair and reasonable rates to the doctors, this will be a problem. When the "market" rate is $200-300/hr, why would a doctor settle for $100/hr? With the current demand for mental health services, don't expect the "market" to drive the cost down anytime soon.
Regarding the long jump, the forward flip is, bio-mechanically, the equivalent of the Fosbury's flop in the high jump. It is, in fact, a more efficient way to transfer energy from powered mode to ballistic mode.