Mental Illness Spinoff

The numbers of people being diagnosed with a mental illness and/or disability has been on a dramatic rise for some time now.

What do you attribute this to?

Re: Mental Illness Spinoff

Soooooooo many things.

First and foremost is that the stigma of mental illness, while obviously still around, is much less than it was even 20 years ago. People are a little less afraid to be 'labelled' and therefore more likely to seek help. So, in part, I don't think that the number of people with mental illness has proportionately increased with the 'dramatic rise' of the past few years but rather the number of people diagnosed is what has dramatically increased. (Although we still have a LOOOOOOONG way to go with this.)

I do think, though, that we are seeing an increase, albeit not quite as dramatic, in the number of cases as well as new 'disorders' arising, esp here in America. With the terrorist attacks, there has been greater incidence of depression and anxiety disorders. With the increase in celebrity news, we're also seeing the number of EDs increasing. Just in general, the world we're living in today, with all the pressures and anxiety-causing circumstances, lends itself to an increased level of disorders in the same population.

Message edited 7/27/2005 8:59:27 AM.

Re: Mental Illness Spinoff

Re: Mental Illness Spinoff

Message edited 9/22/2005 2:58:25 PM.

Re: Mental Illness Spinoff

I would say it comes from increased awareness, which comes from the drug ads & commercials as well, as articles, books etc, that are out there because people will talk more openly about it now.

Re: Mental Illness Spinoff

I sometimes wonder if it also has something to do with an increased awareness and treatment of drug and alcohol addition. I think sometimes when people seek treatment for addiction, it is realized that they may have been self medicating for years to deal with an undiagnosed mental illness.

Re: Mental Illness Spinoff

Re: Mental Illness Spinoff

I think its partially attributed to the fact that years ago so many people went undiagnosed. There are also many more levels of mental illness that are known now...whereas years ago they were not. Chemical imbalance/bipolar disorder being one of those that many years ago was undiagnosed because there was not a lot of information on the subject.

Re: Mental Illness Spinoff

I think there are a lot of factors. We have underdiagnosis in some areas and overdiagnosis in others. First of all I think we knowa lot more about mentla illness than we did 20 years ago. There's no (or little) stigma against going to a therapist or a psychiatrist. We have all of these shows like Dr. Phil where everyone now knows these words "bi-polar", "ADHD", "Clinical Depression", "OCD" and has some idea of what ithey mean, so people are more likely to see symptoms in themselves or a loved one and seek help. Also it's not as scary now to b diagnosed with a disorder. People don't need to worry about being put away, called hysterical, put on Electro Shock therapy, or have to face the side effects and dangers of MAOI drugs. The SSRIs that people are given for depression, anxiety, OCD, etc are so much safer and have so many fewer side effects (though I think they're a lot more dangerous than people are led to believe but that's another story). I think it's good that more people are being diagnosed because they cna get the treatment they need.

On the other hand there's a lot of overdiagnosis and self-diagnosis. The overdiagnosis is especially prevalent with ADHD. Parents have unruly kids and just assume it's ADHD. The school wants to get every kid on ritalin so they don't have to deal with it. But the truth is a LOT of these parents just ave spoiled brat kids who act that way not because they can't control it, but because they don't know how to behave. It's like the ADHD diagnosis is an excuse to absolve people of bad parenting. Then, you know, "It's not my fault my kid is punching your kid. he has ADHD." It doens't work that way. Hopefully as more people become educated about these diseases we'll get a lot more accurate diagnoses and cut down on the erroneous ones.

Another thing is that a lot of doctors will diagnose an illness based on a drug. When I was first going to doctors for ADD, the first doctor I went to gave me ritalin and told me that if it works I have ADD, if it doens't, I don't (needless to say I left that doctor). This works out well for the doctors, because they are given huge incentives to prescribe these drugs, but it's not good for the patients who ar eebing uneccesarily drugged or given the wrong medication. I think this happens alot. I see it all the time. It's unbelievable how quick even an internist is to hand over a prescription for a tranquilizer, a stimulant or an SSRI. it's like amoxicillin. It's ridiculous. I just hope that as everyone is more educatied, patients, doctors, and family members of pateints, we'll be able to hone in on getting people ana ccurate diagnosis and the correct treatment.

Re: Mental Illness Spinoff

I am not an expert but wasnt there a big thing about the innoculations that were being given to babies too young?

Re: Mental Illness Spinoff

I think awareness has a lot to do with it as well as the fact that it's not such a "tabu" subject as it was years ago.

Re: Mental Illness Spinoff

Message edited 7/27/2005 1:25:03 PM.

Re: Mental Illness Spinoff

BUT i do think that our society has turned it's focus on to disablities and a LARGE portion of school funding goes to sepcial ed and all specializations that come in that field. They have entire schools for problem children.

Without children to help a LOT of funding would be no longer.

I also know a handful of parents that if they notice a speech delay they immediately throw them into special classes. Which i dont' think they are always needed. A friend pf mine likes it so her son can get ahead, even though he no longer has any speech delays.

Re: Mental Illness Spinoff

Re: Mental Illness Spinoff

Posted by neeniebean86

Posted by Redhead

BUT i do think that our society has turned it's focus on to disablities and a LARGE portion of school funding goes to sepcial ed and all specializations that come in that field. They have entire schools for problem children.

Without children to help a LOT of funding would be no longer.

I also know a handful of parents that if they notice a speech delay they immediately throw them into special classes. Which i dont' think they are always needed. A friend pf mine likes it so her son can get ahead, even though he no longer has any speech delays.

i agree. DH and i were talking about this not too long ago, and Yes, i do believe that illnesses exist, but it seems like these days, everyone is SO quick to diagnose a kid with something. When we were younger, there were kids that were just called BAD KIDS... now, all that means, is that they have yet to be diagnosed with something Dont get me wrong, i understand ADD/ ADHD on a pretty personal level, BUT not every kid that doesnt pay attention in class has it.

Re: Mental Illness Spinoff

I remember my first encounter in a teaching situation with a student who supposedly had ADHD. I was assitant teaching/interning at a camp and there was one kid who was a genius. Just an amazing kid. So smart, but he would bounce off the walls 24/7. I literally would have to grab him, put him in my lap and hold him there so he;d sit still during class (not in a mean way, in a gnetle way) the truth was he liked that attention. he was a very cute kid and he knew it and he liked it when he went haywire and people caught up to him and gave him attention and then he'd act upset and he'd get all kinds of hugs and kisses from everyone. As soon as he got the attention, he'd settle down. I don't think he had ADD at all, I think he was playing us like a fiddle!

Re: Mental Illness Spinoff

Re: Mental Illness Spinoff