Holmes Rahe Stress Chart

What about stress and mental illness?   Many experts tell us that stress is a key factor in major depression and other other maladies of the mind. There is strong clinical evidence that the first episode of a mental illness is more than likely to be triggered by extreme stress.
What kind of stress am I talking about.  Here is a great quote.

Stress is a condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives that "demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize." In less formal terms, we feel stressed when we feel that "things are out of control."
Richard S. Lazarus

I will show you by this chart what my stresses were when I had my first episode at age twenty nine.  You then can go to the web site, read more about stress. You can also take the test that is below on the link I am going to give you.

If you would like to read a first hand account of my battle with stress and mental illness, please see Broken Minds Hope for Healing When You Feel Like You're Losing It. Robyn Bloem is my co-author.  The link is http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Minds-Healing-Youre-Losing/dp/0825421187
Make sure you scroll down to the bottom of the page for my score.
My score for the test was 380.
Now, I will take the test and then you can take it at http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTCS_82.htm

Life Event		Value
1	Death of spouse 100 x	x100
2	Divorce	73
3	Marital separation	65
4	Jail term	63
5	Death of close family member	63
6	Personal injury or illness 53 x	x53	x
7	Marriage	50
8	Fired at work	47
9	Marital reconciliation	45
10	Retirement	45
11	Change in health of family member 44x	x44	x
12	Pregnancy           40x	x40
13	Sex difficulties	39
14	Gain of new family member 39x	x39	x
15	Business readjustment	39
16	Change in financial state 38x	x38	x
17	Death of close friend	37
18	Change to a different line of work 36x	x36	x
19	Change in number of arguments with spouse	35
20	A large mortgage or loan	31
21	Foreclosure of mortgage or loan	30
22	Change in responsibilities at work 29x	x29	x
23	Son or daughter leaving home	29
24	Trouble with in-laws  29x	x29	x
25	Outstanding personal achievement 28x	x28	x
26	Spouse begins or stops work	26
27	Begin or end school/college 26x	x26	x
28	Change in living conditions 25x	x25	x
29	Revision of personal habits	24
30	Trouble with boss 23x	x23	x
31	Change in work hours or conditions	20
32	Change in residence 20x	x20	x
33	Change in school/college	20
34	Change in recreation	19
35	Change in church activities 19x	x19	x
36	Change in social activities	18
37	A moderate loan or mortgage	17
38	Change in sleeping habits	16
39	Change in number of family get-togethers	15
40	Change in eating habits	15
41	Vacation	13
42	Christmas	12
43	Minor violations of the law	11
	Your 380 Total

Note: If you experienced the same event more than once, then to gain a more accurate total, add the score again for each extra occurrence of the event.

Score Interpretation

Score	Comment
300+	You have a high or very high risk of becoming ill in the near future.
150-299	You have a moderate to high chance of becoming ill in the near future.
<150 td="td">	You have only a low to moderate chance of becoming ill in the near future.