Title: Why Do the Mentally Ill Die Younger? - TIME
Headings: Why Do the Mentally Ill Die Younger?
Why Do the Mentally Ill Die Younger?
Content: Scott also has schizoaffective bipolar disorder, a mental illness she keeps in check with a low dose of Zyprexa. If you were to ask Scott, she would say she is a healthy person overall. So she was shocked when the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD) published a study two years ago called Morbidity and Mortality in People with Serious Mental Illness. The report analyzed data from 16 states and found that, on average, people with severe mental illness die 25 years earlier than the general population. " Hearing that made me so sad," says Scott. ( See the Year in Health, from A to Z.)
The findings were a bombshell for the rest of the mental-health community. " The study jarred the field," says Dr. Bob Glover, the executive director of NASMHPD. After the 2006 report came out, many mental-health agencies in the U.S. made it an immediate priority to figure out why their patients die sooner and how to improve their longevity. Says Glover: " Mental health has been late to the dance in terms of looking at the connections between mental health and physical health.