good morning Hank it's Tuesday this
video eventually discusses mental
illness but first I would like to talk
to you about the disability adjusted
life year which is very important
despite having a boring name kind of
like Bradley Cooper but perhaps even
more important so if we're gonna figure
out how to improve human health we
obviously need to know what is causing
human death here's the global picture IH
dak heart disease is by far the most
common cause of death stroke is also
very common I was surprised to learn
that diarrhea causes about as many
deaths as lung cancer but in general
this graphic looked pretty much how I
expected it to
but that doesn't show us the whole
picture because of course there is a big
difference between dying at the age of
110 and dying at the age of 30 and also
dying is not the only health problem
although it is a big one many diseases
can be disabling even if they aren't
fatal and can keep people from leading
healthy and productive lives so how do
we account for all of that enter the
disability adjusted life year or daily
which measures the expected years of
health lost to a disease while global
causes of death look like this global
disease burden measured in terms of
Daly's looks like this illnesses like
malaria and diarrhea and pneumonia
become much more prominent because they
disproportionately affect younger people
one of the biggest shifts you see when
you measure health in Daly's is in
mental health in fact mental illness and
substance use disorders become the
single biggest category of disease
burden in the United States at least by
that measure what is still sometimes
dismissed as all in your head or not an
actual health problem is in fact our
biggest health problem and that isn't a
uniquely American phenomenon either in
Brazil for instance mental illness is
also responsible for more lost Daly's
than any other single cause including
heart disease the same is true in France
and the UK in China depression and
anxiety robbed people of more years than
liver cancer or diabetes and even in
extremely poor countries mental illness
is a significant cause of death and
disability like in Sierra Leone for
instance communicable diseases like
malaria and meningitis and pneumonia are
overwhelmingly the leading cause of lost
life years but mental illness still
causes more disease burden than almost
any other non communicable disease and
while it is certainly a challenge to get
good mental
CAIR in most places in poor countries it
is extremely difficult many mentally ill
people are chained to their beds and
hospitals or group homes in fact in
Sierra Leone the practice of shackling
just ended thanks to a huge effort from
the Ministry of Health and slightly
improved mental health funding that news
should absolutely be celebrated but
Sierra Leone still faces huge mental
health challenges there are only two
psychiatrists in a nation of seven
million people and in other countries
around the world many people are still
in Chains with absolutely no access to
treatment when we measure health in
Daly's it becomes clear that improving
treatments for mental illness and access
to those treatments should be a priority
for every country's healthcare system to
quote a recent piece from The Economist
nobody spends enough on mental health
this is important to me personally
because I wouldn't be able to function
without the medication I take every day
it allows me to live with my thoughts
rather than being controlled by them but
I also think it's important for all of
us to understand that mental illness is
common everywhere in the world and it is
serious in fact it's one of the world's
leading health problems the good news is
that the vast vast majority of mental
illness is treatable as I have said and
written many times before there really
is hope even when your brain tells you
there isn't like a lot of people with
chronic health problems I have lost time
to my illness but I also have a good and
fulfilling life and I don't just think
that's like possible for mentally ill
people I think it is common at least
when there is access to good treatment
but we need more of that access both in
rich countries and in poor ones
so one last note if you think you might
need mental health care please talk to
someone you trust about pursuing a
treatment plan or consult some of the
links in the doobly-doo below Hank
sometimes we just need to look at life
daily I will see you on Friday