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PDFThe most recent data report from the Social Security Administration (SSA) reveals that 1 in 3 of those on disability have been diagnosed with a mental disorder.
In Washington DC, it's 42.9%.
The latest data also shows there are 10,228,364 disabled beneficiaries, up 139,364 from the previous year's report.
The percentage of people on disability has increased by 14.3% under the Obama Administration.
Of all disabled beneficiaries, the largest "diagnostic group" is mental disorder.
Which states represent the most and least diagnosed mental disorder cases?
Do we know why?
ALERT – PARENTAL NOTIFICATION HEARING IN OLYMPIA
There will be a hearing on the bill, SB 5289, Parental Notification before abortion, in the Senate Law and Justice Committee, Monday, February 2, at 1:30, in the John A Cherberg Building. The hearing room has yet to be determined.
If you are available, please make plans to attend. It is vital that you let your legislators know that you support this bill, and its companion bill in the House HB1493.
The hearing on this bill will be one hour. Each side will have a total of 30 minutes, with a predetermined panel on each side using 15 minutes of that time, with the public then having 1 minute each to testify if they choose. If you wish to testify, you must indicate that when you sign-in.
If your Senator is on the Law and Justice Committee, it is especially important to contact them. Law and Justice (7) Padden, Chair (R); O'Ban, Vice Chair (R); *Pedersen; Darneille; Kohl-Welles; Pearson; Roach.
The most recent Social Security Administration study was released in December 2014---last month, and represents the calendar year 2013.
Washington State shows 39.7% of those on disability have been diagnosed with "mental disorder." Oregon is at 35.3% and Idaho is 36.9%
Washington DC, as mentioned, is at 42.9% while Massachusetts and New Hampshire led the nation in this metric with 42.9%.
The states with the least percentage of cases was Alabama at 28.8%, Georgia with 29.7%, Arkansas and Louisiana with 30.2%.
Within the mental diagnostic group, the most common specific diagnosis for disabled beneficiaries was "mood disorder." In fact, the SSA Report shows 14% of all disabled beneficiaries in the US had "mood disorder."
What is "mood disorder?" The SSA says it's more than just having a bad day
It's "characterized" they say "by a disturbance of mood, accompanied by a full or partial manic or depressive syndrome. Mood refers to a prolonged emotion that colors the whole psychic life; it generally involves either depression or elation."
SSA says a "disabled worker" is disabled only if their physical or mental impairments are of such severity they can not do their previous or any other kind of work.
CNS News has done a more in-depth analysis on the SSA study.
This Report brings a number of things to mind, and several serious concerns.
In a country as blessed and free as America, by all considerations, this is way too many people suffering with manic or depressive syndrome.
I understand that both fraud and error can be found within these numbers, but they also reflect a large number of people who are actually suffering from depression and hopelessness.
There is no question in my mind that many in America are depressed by a sense of hopelessness resulting from the leadership of secular progressives. Progressivism, with its changing and "evolving truth" and relativistic values creates hopelessness. Its secularist worldview further encourages hopelessness, despair and depression.
Much has been written about depression.
It is well known that Abraham Lincoln suffered with bouts of depression. Let me share an excerpt from the classic, "Lincoln's Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness" by Joshua Wolf Shenk:
According to General James F. Rusling, Lincoln said that during the fighting at Gettysburg he turned to prayer, felt the whole thing to be in God’s hands, and “somehow a sweet comfort crept into his soul.” In another revealing incident that summer, Elizabeth Keckley, Mary Lincoln’s dressmaker, once told of watching the president drag himself into the room where she was fitting the First Lady. “His step was slow and heavy, and his face sad,” Keckley recalled. “Like a tired child he threw himself upon a sofa, and shaded his eyes with his hands. He was a complete picture of dejection.”
He had just returned from the War Department, he said, where the news was “dark, dark everywhere.” Lincoln then took a small Bible from a stand near the sofa and began to read. “A quarter of an hour passed,” Keckley remembered, “and on glancing at the sofa the face of the president seemed more cheerful. The dejected look was gone; in fact, the countenance was lighted up with new resolution and hope.” Wanting to see what he was reading, Keckley pretended she had dropped something and went behind where Lincoln was sitting so that she could look over his shoulder. It was the Book of Job.
There is much uncertainty in our world and our personal lives. I recognize that there are those who need medical attention for depression.
Yet all---every one of us, need hope.
Here is hope:
"I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths, I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them" (Isaiah 42:16)
Be Encouraged. Be Hopeful. Be Blessed.