By Ian Bridgman, Executive Director, The Claim Lab; Fred Schott, Consultant, Council for Disability Income Awareness Research shows that depression and anxiety are risk factors for new disabilities. While this is not news to medical experts, it may be for claims adjusters and others in the integrated disability and absence management (IDAM) space, whose…
By Fred Schott I was born in 1950. That means I spent my 20s in the 70s, and now I get to spend my 70s in the 20s. I remember when rock was young. Susie and I had so much fun holding hands and skimming stones. I had an old gold Chevy and a place…
Christi Doe, M.Ed., CPDM, Senior Consultant, Member Relations, Council for Disability Income Awareness With decades of experience in the insurance industry and as someone who has experienced a difficult period of isolation, I’m increasingly interested in the relationship between loneliness and health-related disabilities. Today, America is in the middle of a loneliness epidemic that…
Can Your Smartwatch Make You Sick? Lately, I’ve started wondering if I should get a smartwatch. Friends of mine routinely take calls or texts on their Apple® or Google® watches. Others track their steps or monitor their hearts. Paying for a coffee with a smartwatch looks so easy. And yes, some designs look terrific.…
The short answer is “yes.” Grief is a natural and powerful response to loss that can sometimes overwhelm us. And, few of us grieve in the same way. We might experience it emotionally, physically, or cognitively, but for most of us, grief becomes manageable over time, even if the pain doesn’t fully go away. …
By Nigel Robert Editor’s Note: The prevalence of mental health conditions (most commonly anxiety and depression) accelerated during the COVID pandemic and has been on the rise in many places. Some people may find that letting a reptile into their life can help combat some of the effects of their condition – and this…
You want your home to work with you, not against you. The home should be a safe, comfortable environment that provides the support you need; and if you’re physically disabled, you may have found that your home’s default settings don’t necessarily do that for you. Let’s talk about changes you can make to help make…
Yet there is no diagnosis code, it’s not a medical condition… After Fred’s very creative use of “GRACE,” see the previous CDIA blog, I would like to take this topic in a different direction, that’s into the data…. At The Claim Lab, we analyze a great deal of disability claims data to find the best…
Several months ago, I wrote a post about loneliness and why it’s an issue nowadays. I concluded by referring to a prescription for combatting loneliness developed by neuroscientist Stephanie Cacioppo, a/k/a “Doctor Love.” It goes the acronym GRACE—gratitude, reciprocity, altruism, choice, and enjoyment. I said I’d share some personal insights about putting GRACE into practice…
In my lifetime, I can’t recall a time when there have been so many open conversations about concerns about mental health. While I certainly feel it’s positive and very necessary to talk openly about this topic, I also think it’s important to understand why there is such a marked increase in mental health challenges today…
