<story><title>What Killed My Sister? </title><url>http://theamericanscholar.org/what-killed-my-sister/?key=55917458</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>vacri</author><text>In the mid-90s, I remember hearing that in my state, cancer research received $150&amp;#x2F;hospital bed, heart disease received $100&amp;#x2F;bed, and schizophrenia received $7&amp;#x2F;bed. My amateur theory on that was that the first two affect old, wealthy people, whereas the third affects young people with no power.</text></item><item><author>phren0logy</author><text>Psychiatrist here; glad to see this near the top of HN.Schizophrenia is a serious illness, and often misunderstood as &amp;quot;split personality.&amp;quot; It is a constellation of delusions, hallucinations, and scrambled thoughts that is often (though not always) pretty devastating to work, school, relationships, etc. For some reason, because we have no blood test or genetic test for it, the diagnosis is still met with skepticism from many in the public, even though everyone seems to accept the diagnosis of migraine headaches which similarly has no clear-cut lab or imaging findings.&lt;p&gt;What most people don&amp;#x27;t consider is the change in life span:
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21741216&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov&amp;#x2F;pubmed&amp;#x2F;21741216&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Life expectancy as about 17 years less for those with the diagnosis, which is worse than most cancers. It&amp;#x27;s mentioned in the article, but worth repeating.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>smacktoward</author><text>Here in Virginia, we recently had a pretty striking demonstration of what you&amp;#x27;re talking about. One of the leading politicians in the state, state senator Creigh Deeds, was attacked with a knife and nearly killed by his own son, Austin, who was 24. [1] After the attack, the son killed himself with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Deeds was in dire condition, but survived.&lt;p&gt;It came out afterwards that Deeds&amp;#x27; son, who had been diagnosed in the past with bipolar disorder, had undergone a psychiatric evaluation the day before the attack, and as a result of that evaluation had been placed under an emergency custody order. But Virginia law only gives mental health authorities six hours to find a bed to put the patient into in such cases; and in this case no bed could be found in that time, so Austin Deeds was sent home. [2]&lt;p&gt;This has naturally provoked a great deal of concern in these parts, both about how so little resources are available for mental health patients that a potentially violent one could be turned away for lack of an available bed, and about the ridiculously short 6-hour limit on how long such patients can be held. And rightly so -- if help had been available for Austin Deeds when he needed it, he might still be alive today, and his father might never have suffered such a horrific experience.&lt;p&gt;Deeds has recovered now, and upon his return to the legislature announced that he would be pushing hard for mental health reform in the state, garnering wide support. But it&amp;#x27;s telling that the issue had to strike at a political leader for anyone in the political class to care about it overmuch. One wonders how many other families in Virginia have suffered their own horror stories, their own tragedies, in total silence -- just because, since they weren&amp;#x27;t rich or powerful, nobody in a position to fix things could be bothered to care.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/virginia-state-senator-injured-in-home-another-person-found-dead-inside/2013/11/19/3e419ac4-512c-11e3-9fe0-fd2ca728e67c_story.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.washingtonpost.com&amp;#x2F;local&amp;#x2F;crime&amp;#x2F;virginia-state-sen...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Va-Senator-Recalls-Sons-Attack-Mental-Illness-242231141.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.nbcwashington.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;local&amp;#x2F;Va-Senator-Recalls-S...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>What Killed My Sister? </title><url>http://theamericanscholar.org/what-killed-my-sister/?key=55917458</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>vacri</author><text>In the mid-90s, I remember hearing that in my state, cancer research received $150&amp;#x2F;hospital bed, heart disease received $100&amp;#x2F;bed, and schizophrenia received $7&amp;#x2F;bed. My amateur theory on that was that the first two affect old, wealthy people, whereas the third affects young people with no power.</text></item><item><author>phren0logy</author><text>Psychiatrist here; glad to see this near the top of HN.Schizophrenia is a serious illness, and often misunderstood as &amp;quot;split personality.&amp;quot; It is a constellation of delusions, hallucinations, and scrambled thoughts that is often (though not always) pretty devastating to work, school, relationships, etc. For some reason, because we have no blood test or genetic test for it, the diagnosis is still met with skepticism from many in the public, even though everyone seems to accept the diagnosis of migraine headaches which similarly has no clear-cut lab or imaging findings.&lt;p&gt;What most people don&amp;#x27;t consider is the change in life span:
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21741216&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov&amp;#x2F;pubmed&amp;#x2F;21741216&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Life expectancy as about 17 years less for those with the diagnosis, which is worse than most cancers. It&amp;#x27;s mentioned in the article, but worth repeating.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>protomyth</author><text>Well, if you look at cause of death, the first two are the big hitters in the US so that is part of the basis for more money.  The history of funding treatment is pretty bad though.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s not so much no power, it has been the lack of advocates because of the shame associated with all mental illnesses.  A person with cancer can do the noble stand.  A person with schizophrenia is much less capable of doing the needed advocacy.  Things are changing as more people are pushing and not keeping quiet.&lt;p&gt;From a advocacy view, we better start putting this and brain problems in general front and center since we are living long enough that we need the understanding of treating the brain to use our longer lives well.</text></comment>