{"id":13496,"date":"2025-09-29T11:34:47","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T15:34:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/?p=13496"},"modified":"2025-09-30T13:22:32","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T17:22:32","slug":"mental-health-awareness-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/mental-health-awareness-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Mental Health Awareness Month \u2013 National Depression Screening Day is October 7"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Although depression is common among older adults, it isn\u2019t necessarily a normal part of aging. Major depression is one of the most common mental illnesses in the United States, with an estimated 17.3 million adults experiencing a major depressive episode each year. For some, major depression can result in severe impairments that can interfere or limit your ability to carry out major life activities.<\/p>\n<p>Depression is not something to deal with on your own. Treatment is available, which can help improve your quality of life. Recognizing if you or a loved one have depression and seeking help from a medical professional is very important.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Get a Depression Screening with Your PCP:<\/strong> If you have mental health concerns, start with your primary care provider (PCP). They can offer an initial depression screening and refer you to a mental health specialist.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Should I Get Screened?<\/strong> You should get screened for depression if you experience some or all of the following symptoms:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Loss of interest in activities you once enjoyed<\/li>\n<li>Feeling down, depressed or hopeless<\/li>\n<li>Sleeping too little, too much or waking very early<\/li>\n<li>Reduced appetite and weight loss, or increased appetite and weight gain<\/li>\n<li>Fatigue or loss of energy<\/li>\n<li>Difficulty concentrating, remembering things or making decisions<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Reminder:<\/strong><\/em> If you have mental health concerns, talk to your PCP about a depression screening. As a member, you have Behavioral Health coverage. To find a mental health provider, search our Provider Directory at <a href=\"https:\/\/healthnewengland.org\/medicare\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">healthnewengland.org\/medicare<\/a> or call Member Services toll-free at<strong> (877) 443-3314 (TTY: 711)<\/strong> for assistance. Representatives are available 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Monday through Friday (October 1 through March 31: 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., 7 days a week).<\/p>\n<p><em>Sources: Mental Health America; National Institute of Mental Health; https:\/\/www.nimh.nih.gov\/health\/publications\/tips-for-talking-with-your-health-care-provider<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Although depression is common among older adults, it isn\u2019t necessarily a normal part of aging. Major depression is one of the most common mental illnesses in the United States, with an estimated 17.3 million adults experiencing a major depressive episode each year. For some, major depression can result in severe impairments that can interfere or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":13498,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17],"tags":[1129,1176],"class_list":["post-13496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-medicare","tag-depression-screening","tag-mental-health-awareness-month"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-2166669322.jpg?fit=2121%2C1414&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6ZZGa-3vG","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13496"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13500,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13496\/revisions\/13500"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}