DEPRESSION, ADDICTIONS COSTING STATE

Depression and addictions to nicotine, alcohol, illicit drugs and food
cause more Oklahomans to miss work and have a poor quality of life than
either cancer or heart disease, according to a health report released
Friday. "From an economic point of view, these findings are just
devastating," Dr. Gordon Deckert, a state Board of Health member from
Oklahoma City, said Friday.

Addiction and depression significantly increase risk for chronic medical
conditions, unintentional injuries, motor vehicle accidents, unemployment,
child neglect and abuse, homelessness, divorce, school dropouts, unwanted
pregnancies and prison incarcerations, according to the report.

"We Oklahomans have grossly underestimated the disabilities imposed upon
our citizens by mental and addictive disorders," Deckert said.

An estimated 230,000 Oklahomans suffer from clinical depression each year,
according to the report.

Addictive behavior includes the use of methamphetamines, tobacco and
marijuana; binge drinking and overeating, which can cause the obesity that
leads to diabetes. One cited cause of overeating is the availability of
"super-size" and high-fat fast foods.

"To the surprise of many, I'm sure, these addictive disorders impose a
greater burden of disability on our citizens than cardiovascular disease or
cancer. So, if we are to improve the health status of Oklahomans, these
addictive disorders require our attention and must be a key consideration
in a call to action," Deckert said.

Unless changes are made, Deckert said, Oklahoma by 2020 will see
noncommunicable diseases as the leading cause of disability and death
instead of infectious diseases such as influenza.

The findings are in the 2003 "Interim State-of-the-State Health Report:
Mental and Addictive Disorders" compiled for the first time by the state
Health Department and the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and
Substance Abuse.

"We have a very large 'denial gap' in Oklahoma," said Ben Brown, mental
health deputy commissioner for substance abuse.

"We have people with alcohol and drug addictions who believe they don't
need treatment, and they don't get treatment. But we would never tolerate a
denial gap if people had heart disease or cancer. They'd want treatment,
and they'd get it," Brown said.

Oklahomans, for example, "need to make the connection between alcohol and
the bad things that can happen as a result of alcohol abuse -- bad things
such as assaults, rapes and drunk driving," Brown said.

"Mental health disorders have been put on the back burner for years.
They've been the great unspoken disorders," said Neil Hann, Health
Department director of community development.

(Sidebar)

Causing lost work Mental Health and Addictive Disorders: 25.1 percent.
Heart Disease: 18.6 percent. Cancer: 15 percent. Accidents: 11.9 percent
All Others (Stroke, arthritis, emphysema, iron deficiency, etc.): 29.4 percent.

SOURCE: Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse.

10 Solutions

Build substance-abuse treatment centers in Oklahoma City and Lawton for
pregnant women and women with children. Provide residential and home-based
substance abuse-treatment centers statewide for adolescents.

Enforce and strengthen laws against youth access to alcohol and tobacco
products.

More drug courts statewide.

Provide outpatient substance-abuse treatment centers statewide for adults.

Provide statewide mental health treatment for children and treatment for
children with depressed and alcoholic parents.

Encourage parents to eat meals with their children and attend places of
worship together.

Require insurance companies to pay for substance abuse and mental health
treatment just as they pay for medical treatments of cancer, heart disease,
diabetes and other illnesses.

Increase taxes on all tobacco products, beer and other alcoholic beverages
- -- and put revenue into treatment programs.

SOURCE: Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse.