One in Five Californians Need Therapy?
With California in the throes of fiscal meltdown and the democrats about to face their maker in November, one in five Californians report they are in "serious distress" and in need of therapy.
Almost 5 million California adults say they could use help with a mental or emotional problem, according to a survey released Wednesday by researchers at UCLA. About 1 million of them meet the criteria for "serious psychological distress."
UCLA displays a keen eye for the obvious when it notes that one third of these "distressed" Californians don't seek out "mental health services" because of "the lack of health insurance coverage." Well these down-and-out Californians might be down-and-out no more, thanks to Uncle Obama:
The survey showed that lack of health insurance coverage was a major reason why people didn't seek help -- a situation that may be rectified somewhat by state and national mental health parity laws now in effect that require insurers to cover mental health conditions similarly to they way they cover physical conditions. (The final phase of the federal law went into effect on July 1.)
Should universal insurance cover mental health therapy? A well-known psychiatrist and friend of my family says no. He explained to us that if a patient isn't invested in his own treatment, then the patient is less likely to recover. It's a rare patient, he says, who improves psychologically on someone else's dime.
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Re: One in Five Californians Need Therapy?
Emily -- not to be giving you assignments, but you might even do one about how to deal with a bully! I think we've all be stumped by this one. I know I have! (Even as an adult!) Maybe someone has some grand plan how to defeat them ...
May '10
Re: One in Five Californians Need Therapy?
The key to all this is to note that we are transitioning from a hardware/manufacturing economy to an information economy. Because computers are efficient, and ensure that many previous jobs can be done better using IT, we need new job categories for all those displaced white collar people.
Therefore, Big University is cranking out psychologists as fast as they can to get their "therapist" licenses, because this takes care of several critical needs.
1) Narcissism- therapy is all about ME! We talk only about ME!
2) It';s OK to feel sorry for myself for 48 minutes, three times a week, up with which my mom would never put, and I can bully the insurance company into paying for it.
3) Jobs jobs jobs, and no PhD is necessary, though it helps.