Obamacare: A Fact or Fifty~ "..there will be a whole new world as far as health insurance..

[IrishAyes]

17. As for mental health matters,

remember the senator who had to pull out of a presidential race years ago because he'd been treated for depression?

I also heard a great news story on mental health this morning, on GMA I think. It had to do with a recent study where mice were infected with taxoplasmosis, the virus dangerous to expectant human mothers who clean kitty litter boxes. Turns out that the mice who got the injection lost all fear of cats. Their brains had been rewired in fighting off the virus. So this leads to the strong chance that the true root cause(s) of mental illnesses may be traced to infections. Think of the human suffering that could be alleviated.

When I was in healthcare, I once worked at a psychiatric crash unit and received a lot of heated abuse from coworkers because I treated the patients like human beings. Talk about hidden guilt! Every time I said anything nice about the patients, all hell broke loose from the staff. But then I was the only one who could walk the ward with reasonable safety in the dead of night too. The patients did some remarkable artwork, and one big fellow who didn't do mornings announced he was my special protector anyway - I don't think management ever caught on to the fact that I slipped peanut butter cracker packets in his bedside table drawer on rounds so he'd have something for breakfast in peace and quiet.