A friend of mine recently wrote to me about a situation that I think should scare many people.

She, like many folks, receives a small life insurance policy from her workplace for something like $25,000 in case of accidental death. A lot of companies offer such a thing as a standard part of their benefits package, and it generally is expected to cover the deceased’s funeral and any outstanding bills they may have.

She sought to increase this amount, as most people optionally can do, to $50,000, to ensure there’d be no outstanding expenses, and to leave something behind to her nephews whom she loves and adores. For most people, this is easily done. You simply fill out a form and agree to pay the $5 premium/month, and boom, it’s done. No physical, nothing more complicated than that.

Imagine her surprise, then, when she received a letter from the life insurance company that rejected her life insurance coverage increase because of her treatment for depression. Depression. One of the most commonly diagnosed and treatment mental disorders in America today, affecting nearly 1 in 10 Americans throughout our lifetime. That means that for every 10 people who read this entry today, one of you will be rejected for life insurance simply because you sought out treatment for this disorder that drug companies try and convince everyone is purely biological in nature and cause.

My friend has no history of acting out, no suicide ideation or behaviors, no hospitalizations for her depression, nothing of the sort. She has had a clean bill of health her entire life and has had no hospitalizations for any health problem or accident. Yet a life insurance company wants nothing to do with her.

Something is very wrong with this picture.

Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.

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    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 5 Aug 2004
    Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.