"One in four young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 have a diagnosable mental illness."

More like we've been underdiagnosing them up until recently (and even now we're still off).

"Mental illness" is more or less just a term we use to enforce conformity. Someone is different? He must be crazy. Put him on drugs.

Mental illness has always existed as a part of humanity and I think society causes certain kinds to manifest differently.

I do think the stress of modern society can trigger and exacerbate underlying mental health issues that maybe wouldn't be such a big deal if we were just living in primitive cultures.

That's not to say I think living off the grid, doing yoga, and eating paleo will fix anyone though. I feel like if you've grown up in a neurotic society, you're going to be a neurotic person on some level and this has caused us to over-diagnose.

Then again, I do wonder how my own mental illness would work in a pre-modern era. I have really bad obsessive compulsive disorder and anxiety, I am not even sure how I would survive as a cave man. I'd probably just get eaten by a wild animal while I'm distracted compulsing.

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No. 80% of people are fucking idiots.

Well, compared to super-smart aliens, everyone is stupid.

Mental illness is just a response to "losing" in life. We've convinced people they can all be winners, which isn't true. It makes them envious and never content. Some people are ambitious and successful and happy because of it, but for the average folk, they need to learn to cherish what they have and not be resentful of others. That would eliminate 95% of "mental illnesses".

No. Mental illness is likely underdiagnosed, even to this day. Before diagnosis was common, Bill was "just that way" like his father and his grandmother. Now, we can identify that he has bipolar disorder, just like his father and grandmother likely did. It also allows for the opportunity for treatment as opposed to just letting them roam unmedicated and unaware they're fucked up and it's manageable.

Tou see the "just that way" mentality often in the boonies still, where they don't understand or even believe in mental illness. Not diagnosing mentally ill people as mentally ill doesn't unfuck their head, it just is a different approach.

So what does that make you

Not every mental illness is on par with BPD or schizophrenia. Are we overduagnosing sickness because thousands of people contract the flu? It makes me feel like cancer isnt real.

>1 in 4 mentally ill young people is a normal, usual statistic. The only reason we didn't have this before is because we ignored them!
Have you listened to yourself? You actually think 25% of the youth population is naturally mentally ill?

We are over-diagnosing, but also keep in mind that common mental illnesses like depression tend to be occur more in more developed countries.

Perhaps the term "mental illness" is just too broad then?

based on the diagnostic criteia, no, they’re not being overly diagnosed. look up the diagnostic criteria for major depression, dysthymia, and generalized anxiety disorder.

it seems like they should put “Being Human” as a condition in the DSM

What the fuck do you call improperly functioning brain problems then?
Not-great think?

What do you call anything before you have an agreed upon term for it? Language changes over time. Mental illness is so broad that when someone says that they're mentally ill they could be anxious or a fucking sociopath ready to blow. I'm not saying the term needs to change but the reason why it may feel, to some people, that it's being over diagnosed is because it applies to so many different conditions.

I wouldn't be surprised if the terminology changes in the next 10-25 years as we continue to develop and understand these issues as a society. Remember, our concerns with mental health are still a relatively infantile endeavor.

It is very much in a doctors job to do that, but you are right, it isnt easy

Depression and/or anxiety are rampant and those are what most people are diagnosed with. Parents are afraid to let their children walk a couple blocks because 'society isn't safe anymore' since you see all sorts of fucked up stuff on the news, when in reality it's just overreported. Kids get out less, explore less, and then the anxieties and fears of the unknown as well as the fears of the parents are passed on to them. Same with fear of failure, a parent sees college as the ultimate goal for their child? Well if they fail a major test and the parents get really anxious, the child will start getting anxious too. Depression is similar in that you can learn the behavior from others, and on top of that depression is also heritable.

Now add in the fact that back in, I believe 2003, a survey was done where people were asked to report how many close friends they had. The most common answer was 0, whereas a couple decades ago the most common answer was 3. Anxiety and depression are both helped with getting out there, talking to people, and doing things. Even normalfags who do that don't do it in a way that connects deeply with people nowadays, instead most people only manage to connect superficially.

Stuff like ADHD you can make a good case for being overdiagnosed, but depression and anxiety absolutely do affect a significant portion of the population.

How long before we self destruct?