Sunday, February 16, 2014

"First large-scale study links stock market volatility to mental disorders"

From the OUP via PsyPost:
Falling stock prices lead to increased hospitalisations for mental disorders, according to new research published today in the journal Health Policy and Planning.

Researchers assessed the relationship between stock price movements and mental disorders using data on daily hospitalisations for mental disorders in Taiwan over 4,000 days between 1998 and 2009. They found that a 1000-point fall in the Taiwan Stock Exchange Capitalisation Weighted Stock Index (TAIEX) coincided with a 4.71% daily increase in hospitalisations for mental disorders.

A downward daily change in stock price index coincided with significantly increased hospitalisations for mental disorders – when the stock price index decreased by 1% in a single day there was a 0.36% increase in hospitalisations for mental disorders on that same day. The researchers also found that falls in stock price index on consecutive days were associated with a 0.32% daily increase in mental disorders hospitalisations – when the stock price index falls consecutively for 5 days there was a 1.6% increase in the number of mental disorder hospitalisations on the fifth day....MORE
See also:
Attention Commodities Speculators: Hoarding is Now a Stand-alone Mental Disorder
"When the U.K. Tried Economists for Spreading 'Mental Fog"'
Was BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg Abducted by Aliens? (BP)
When Economists Attack: Understanding the Passive-Agressive Personality Disorder
 
British Psychologists Bashing British Psychiatrists
The new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders V probably considers disagreement with the High Priests to be a disease disorder.

Shaman               Witch Doctor
Psychologist            Psychiatrist

From The Guardian:
Psychiatrists under fire in mental health battle
British Psychological Society to launch attack on rival profession, casting doubt on biomedical model of mental illness...