What Is Driving the American Mental Health Crisis?

[LouderVol]

I think people want to live and feel euphoric 24/7. They've lost the understanding that they are going to be down and sad some days. They can no longer handle that

we have become so comfortable that the very idea of something not being perfect is antithetical to people's well being.

I try to get it through to my GF, something bad happening, or something not going well doesn't mean I have to be in a bad mood or ruin my day. obviously its going to happen at some point, but now I think we create that bad mood or let our day be ruined. Just accept that bad things happen, its bad when it happens, but move on once its over. this also lets you appreciate a return to "normal".

 

[n_huffhines]

We've become a godless society. We're seeing bad news, news 24/7. Our mental faculties are not designed to handle this much information in a day, everyday.

I handle mental disability cases and it's largest diagnoses of disability claims people are filing. Work stress drives so many of these diagnoses. The mental health professionals have job security for decades. More and more mental health providers have stopped taking insurance. I dontxsee it getting better.

Right, but if you read all of OP, you would know you need to explain this further. What about all the other even more godless western countries that aren't seeing this increase in mental illness?

 

[n_huffhines]

I think people want to live and feel euphoric 24/7. They've lost the understanding that they are going to be down and sad some days. They can no longer handle that

If you've talked to anybody who has had depression, they are not seeking euphoria. They just want an escape from feeling bad all the time, especially in the many cases where they can't even explain why they are feeling down.

 

[whodeycin85]

If you've talked to anybody who has had depression, they are not seeking euphoria. They just want an escape from feeling bad all the time, especially in the many cases where they can't even explain why they are feeling down.

Could be chemicals in our food as well .since I moved to a more natural organic diet, my depression has lessoned massively

Red dye 40 a synthetic food dye made from petroleum that has been linked to certain ADHD symptoms, such as hyperactivity. It

 

[Pennheel]

If you've talked to anybody who has had depression, they are not seeking euphoria. They just want an escape from feeling bad all the time, especially in the many cases where they can't even explain why they are feeling down.

Exactly. As someone who has dealt with depression off and on for different reasons for most of my life,it has more to do with simply having peace of mind,and not feel like crap when I dont want to feel that way or drag anyone down. It's nothing to do with simply escaping it to feel euphoria and happy all the time.

 

[marcusluvsvols]

I think Scott Galloway touches on some of the contributors in this TED talk.



I disagree with his solutions though.

Yep. Posted this same video in the Gramps OT thread a week or 2 ago. I disagree with his solutions also, but the rest of it is pretty spot on. I have a 22yo and a 16yo that face some of the challenges he describes.

 

[marcusluvsvols]

Exactly. As someone who has dealt with depression off and on for different reasons for most of my life,it has more to do with simply having peace of mind,and not feel like crap when I dont want to feel that way or drag anyone down. It's nothing to do with simply escaping it to feel euphoria and happy all the time.

Me too. I was on SSRI antidepressants for a while but they just make you numb. All the new studies have apparently made the scientists now conclude that serotonin isnt even the cause of depression...so ALL those drugs can do is make you numb. Helps those with anxiety...but not depression. Yet apparently 25% of women in the US are on drugs for depression/anxiety?

 

[UT_Dutchman]

Me too. I was on SSRI antidepressants for a while but they just make you numb. All the new studies have apparently made the scientists now conclude that serotonin isnt even the cause of depression...so ALL those drugs can do is make you numb. Helps those with anxiety...but not depression. Yet apparently 25% of women in the US are on drugs for depression/anxiety?

Just curious is ssri lithium based?

 

[OrangeTsar]

Technology is a large part of it. It was predicted about 3000 years ago. The more we know, the more suffering we are given knowledge of. And the breadth and width of that
Knowledge breaks our local friendships are relationships causing us to become inexplicably isolated in a world teeming with communication. We wring our hands (rightfully so) over someone starving a half a world away while our next door neighbor widow just wishes someone would come over for a cup of tea. We are citizens of the world who have stopped living on our own street

The he single best thing hing for mental health is connections with other. Speaking for myself even, in today’s world I have more „acquaintances“ than I could ever imagined but fewer real „friends „ than I have ever had

 

[Vol8188]

Social media for sure. But I think it’s more than just “social media causes anxiety/depression”.

Rather, social media encourages people to be treated for anxiety and/or depression, even when it’s not warranted.

There seems to be some weird idea that everyone needs to see a therapist. At the root of it, it’s narcissism. The idea that you need to sit down once a week and talk about yourself for an hour.

 

[W.TN.Orange Blood]

 

[SpaceCoastVol]

Month long.

Good thing we had a whole day to celebrate those that died for our freedom.

 

[Rasputin_Vol]

Month long.

Good thing we had a whole day to celebrate those that died for our freedom.

Who are these people you talk about?

 

[SpaceCoastVol]

Who are these people you talk about?

If it isn't bait, you are a ****ing fool. Actually, your post is beyond insulting to our veterans.

You don't have the spine to look one of the remaining WW2 veterans in the eye and tell them that what they did (or more importantly one of their buddies) was not in the defense of freedom. I'm betting the oldest would get up out of a wheelchair and kick your ass. You should be ashamed of that post.

 

[n_huffhines]

Month long.

Good thing we had a whole day to celebrate those that died for our freedom.

So by this logic, you're probably pissed about black history month, too?

Memorial day is a paid federal holiday 3-day weekend. We actually got several holidays that dot the calendar where we celebrate the people who fought for freedoms. Pride isn't a federal holiday. It's just a month-long celebration that has organically risen and literally has nothing to do with the vets and this whatabout bs is one of the lowest forms of argument.

 

[marcusluvsvols]

Just curious is ssri lithium based?

No I dont think so. They just keep your brain from "re-uptaking" serotonin so it raises the amount of available serotonin in the brain.

From what I have read about lithium, it is used more for bipolar or people with huge mood swings to sort of "level them out". When folks dont take their lithium though or try to get off of it, their mood swings can be even worse than before though...sometimes violent or suicidal. A buddy of mine growing up had an older brother put on lithium. He didnt take his dose for a day or 2 and flipped out in public. Threw a guy through a plate glass window (like Barkley did) and ended up in prison for several years.

 

[Volfan8282]

.

 

[marcusluvsvols]

Really interesting convo. It's a popular opinion to say smart phones and social media are the cause of all our social ills, but new (to me) research refutes that.

This researcher questions the idea that we are in a sudden mental health crisis in the first place. It's hard to separate the increase in cases from the increase in diagnosis. However, suicide among teens is clearly up.

Internationally, we are not seeing these same trends, particularly in non-English-speaking countries. Smart phones and social media are everywhere, so if they are part of the problem, it pertains to the way English-speaking western culture uses it.

I agree that part of it is an increase in diagnosis, and that a significant part of it must be explained by culture, but what about our culture is the issue? Pre-empting some expected explanations...we're not the only materialistic culture. We're not the only godless culture. "Talk amongst yourselves."

Note: the host of this pod has done about 5 episodes saying smartphones are the problem, so this episode was quite the pivot.

Are Smartphones Really Driving the Rise in Teenage Depression?

Derek takes a closer critical look at the relationship between smartphones and mental health

www.theringer.com

To answer your question: women.

Women are driving the mental health crisis in this country because they are batcrap crazy. All of them. Every single one. Their hormones drive their behaviors...and by design their hormones fluctuate greatly every month. If the recent stats are true that I read....25% of American women are on drugs for depression and/or anxiety. Thats just the legal drugs. Just as many probably medicate with alcohol and illegal drugs. So roughly half the crazy women in this country are also on drugs.

 

[LouderVol]

To answer your question: women.

Women are driving the mental health crisis in this country because they are batcrap crazy. All of them. Every single one. Their hormones drive their behaviors...and by design their hormones fluctuate greatly every month. If the recent stats are true that I read....25% of American women are on drugs for depression and/or anxiety. Thats just the legal drugs. Just as many probably medicate with alcohol and illegal drugs. So roughly half the crazy women in this country are also on drugs.

under this logic women have been crazy forever. wouldn't explain the current elevated problems.

 

[PKT_VOL]

1) Social media/smart phones. While not a true cause per se, it is like dumping a barrel of gasoline on a small match.

2) Collapse of the nuclear family and the withering away of extended family in the home or down the street. The caring 2-parent privilege is biggest "privilege" there is. If you add close extended family, that privilege just exponentiates.

3) Lack of exercise. Study after study shows the best thing for mental health is vigorous exercise. We currently have a highly sedentary lifestyle,

4) Similar to #3, obesity. It's not controversial that one feels terrible when overweight vs a healthy weight or that obesity is terrible for long-term health. However, it also destroys self-confidence, drastically lowers mate selection options, and strains relationships. Not good for mental health.

5) An entire industry of "therapy" which validates people's intrusive thoughts, massively over diagnoses mental health problems, and forces a person to constantly think about whatever ails their life. It is not in the therapy industries' best interest to tell the vast majority of potential clients to go outside touch grass, exercise, get off social media, and get hobbies or for the small amount of people who do have serious mental problems to use promising psychedelic therapy that usually work within the first or second time; no repeat business going that route.

6) A corollary to #5, overmedication. Companies make a lot of money selling pills whether you need them or not. Doctors can get kickback from prescribing pills, an immediate sense of "helping" by prescribing a pill during a patient visit, and not having to deal with complaints about advising patients to put in the hard work of naturally tackling mental anxieties.

7) Collapse of organized religious thought. Despite all the ills of organized religion, it gave the masses a sense of community, a purpose/consequences much larger than themselves, support networks, friend networks, moral frameworks, routine, a connection to past generations, a healthy way to deal with suffering, a framework of acceptable norms, etc.

8) A general lack of truly hard or existential problems in 21st century USA. Counterintuitively, mental health improves with hardships shared by the community and wanes in times of peace and prosperity. Why? It gives a strong sense of purpose, aspires a person to tackle problems bigger than themselves, and snaps their priorities into focus. In times of formerly unimaginable peace and prosperity, our minds which were built to detect danger naturally find micro problems (aka 1st world problems) and elevate them to major problems. Unlike real problems which are typically limited in nature, there is no shortage of potential micro problems.

 

[SpaceCoastVol]

So by this logic, you're probably pissed about black history month, too?

Memorial day is a paid federal holiday 3-day weekend. We actually got several holidays that dot the calendar where we celebrate the people who fought for freedoms. Pride isn't a federal holiday. It's just a month-long celebration that has organically risen and literally has nothing to do with the vets and this whatabout bs is one of the lowest forms of argument.

II wouldn't say pissed, but it is racist and divisive, so it's unnecessary. Funny how little butthurt liberals need a 'celebration' to justify their behavior.

 

[K-town Vol Fan]

Could be chemicals in our food as well .since I moved to a more natural organic diet, my depression has lessoned massively

Red dye 40 a synthetic food dye made from petroleum that has been linked to certain ADHD symptoms, such as hyperactivity. It

Curious about this. I know many countries have banned certain chemicals that we consume regularly, could be on to something there.

 

[whodeycin85]

Curious about this. I know many countries have banned certain chemicals that we consume regularly, could be on to something there.

Some studies have linked red dye 40, a synthetic petroleum-based food dye, to ADHD symptoms in children, such as hyperactivity. Other studies have shown that removing red dye 40 from a child's diet can improve their behavior and attention.
It been banned in several European countries. And UK has severe restrictions on it use

 

[volfanhill]

I wasn't going to blame social media, however turbo is making me think again

 

[McDad]

I wasn't going to blame social media, however turbo is making me think again

Not fair. He uses antisocial media.