Is mental illness more prevalent now?

[DismayedAnnoyed]

I read a poster on another thread saying: Mental illness is so prevalent now that there aren’t the resources around to treat people

I am wondering, do people think this is true? Or just people are more aware?

There was no self-harm, cutting, anorexia, school refusal, and so on, or if there was it was very rare.
Not true. It was just hidden. I was in hospital with anorexia forty years ago. I wasn't the only one. It was hushed up to such an extent that my (fairly well known parents) managed to have it removed from my medical records.

I'd add there are issues with the food we're eating. Not enough nutrients and vitamins from the land and shitty fast food.

I hate the D in ADHD. The condition certainly exists but I don’t see it as a disorder, just a different way of living. There are many positives to this condition but society expects everyone to behave the same so it is viewed as a disorder.

and that is your opnion BBCK my Friend whose son has son has severe ADHD as wells as autism sees adhd as as a severe disabillity he cant function without his medication and only barely with it ,its like people with high functioning autism saying autism isnt a disabillity , they might not see it as as one ,but as a parent as a child with severe autism whose non verbal and not toilet trained at eight i certanily see it as a disabillity

@x2boys, my DD is classed as HFA because she is academically able. She has the emotional age of a 8 year old at 13 and is non verbal.

I think there is now a lot less stigma around it (still too much) so as a result people are more likely to not only seek help but be more open about things in general.

We also thankfully have much less of an “out of sight, out of mind” attitude that we used to have. My dad used to work in an asylum (one of the last before it closed) and some of the reasons the long term patients there had initially been admitted are shocking!

My brother has had schizophrenia for 30 years, and has never worked and lives in supported housing/ hospital is also an alcoholic. As an aside people now been able to talk about mental illness is great,but it seems to be only discuss depression and anxiety,but profound life long often psychotic,hallucinating talking gibberish illness like my brothers aren't discussed and don't seem to be part of this new wave of mental health acceptance.

@swingofthings but having milder symptoms doesn't mean you don't have derision or anxiety. My anxiety doesn't stop me leaving in the house, but that doesn't mean it's not real. I don't even know what triggers it sometimes, but one day I can be fine going to the shops on my lunch, the next day I'll have a panic attack.

While pregnancy alleviated it, it's been worse since, and worse again since I had a probable ovarian torsion twice that resolved itself then had the ovary removed so I strongly suspect a hormonal element, but my hormone levels are within the 'normal' range, though as has been pointed out that doesn't mean they're normal for me. So meds it is but as I've said I've been too anxious about side effects to try the new ones

mirime, I am not saying that anxiety doesn't exist, neither that it isn't debilitating. I suffer from it, especially recently as a nice symptom of the perimenopause so I sympathise!

What I am saying is that anxiety is part of life, just like feeling of excitement, joy, [ride and at other times, sadness, sorrow, worry. Yet people seem to consider it like an illness the moment they are affected. Anxiety is not nice, but the more you face it, the more you learn to deal with it.

What worries me is parents who shield their kids of any form of anxiety to protect them when by doing that, they are making them most vulnerable. Learning to face and cope with anxiety is a very important life skill. Some people are more prone to it then others, but either way, the solution is rarely to avoid the triggers.

That depends on how you're defining anxiety swing. Anxiety as an emotion is normal, anxiety as a mh problem isn't a normal part of life.

Anxiety symptoms, even full on, adrenaline fuelled and poised for fight or flight are entirely normal, and in fact necessary for survival when faced with potential danger. If you're having that reaction to everyday stimuli, with symptoms exacerbated because there is no fight or flight to use all that adrenaline, then no it isn't a natural or normal reaction.

Ditto having milder symptoms because of an interview or stage fright etc. That's a normal part of life. Having those milder symptoms about stimuli that most people don't even notice is very different.

I think the confusion/ incorrect self dx is when people mistake anxiety as a normal emotion/ reaction in the circumstances for anxiety as a mh condition.

I think people (at a group level) are less resilient now. And that definitely has an impact on mental health.

It's one of the things I really think about, in terms of my kids. How can I ensure they're resilient enough to at least be able to cope with the normal knocks and set backs in life?

Because I am increasingly seeing people who aren't equipped to even deal with those. Life must be so shit when that's the case.

It does seem like some terms are thrown around far too lightly these days, perhaps due to social media.
Especially when it comes to OCD.

I don't think genuine mental health problems are more prevalent, and it's an interesting question, but there is more openness about it and that may make it seem more prevalent. However in real life it's still not something many people wish to open up about.

I do think there is a lot of self diagnosis of things like depression and anxiety which adds to the feeling of increase. You see a lot of it on here. People post stuff where they behave badly and then when people tell them it's not ok, they say "ah but I suffer from anxiety/depression, that's why I treat my husband like shite". However no doctor has ever diagnosed it and no medication is being taken, it's really just an excuse for behaving badly

As an aside people now been able to talk about mental illness is great,but it seems to be only discuss depression and anxiety,but profound life long often psychotic,hallucinating talking gibberish illness like my brothers aren't discussed and don't seem to be part of this new wave of mental health acceptance.

Yes, I have noticed that too.

My husband was happy enough to tell people he had bipolar, the stigma wasn't so bad for him. When his diagnosis changed to schizophrenia again recently (which is what it was originally) I noticed how he stopped being so open about his illness. We talked about it and he still thinks there is a huge stigma around it which makes him uncomfortable saying the word out loud.

He most certainly isn't alone with that.

There is a lot of talk about depression and anxiety, which is great. I would love to see less stigma around psychosis, schizophrenia etc.

I'm not saying it's right, but i think it's partly that psychosis etc are harder to relate to.

Even if you've never experienced anxiety or depression or similar, most people have experienced them as a short lived, natural reaction to a situation that warrants it so it's easier to understand the mh condition. But psychosis etc isn't.

And when it comes to armchair dx excuses for bad behaviour, they aren't go to illnesses to attribute to yourself.

Plus they aren't in the public eye, I don't recall any celebrity in the media ever openly discussing their struggles with schizophrenia, but can think of several for other mental health problems.

I think people are scared of psychoses as well. They hear the news according of people being murdered by someone in the grip of psychosis and assume that it's more common than it actually is. It's in reality very rare, of course, the vast majority are a danger to themselves and not others. And there are far more murderers who are not psychotic at all.

I don't think films or crime dramas help either, the murderer is often psychotic.

@MissSneakyFox I wasent trying to suggest high functioning Asd wasent a didabillitty either just that some people on the various facebook groups I am on with high functioning Asd don't see their autism as a disability and then try to speak for everyone on the spectrum you can't its a spectrum and affects everyone differently .

That depends on how you're defining anxiety swing. Anxiety as an emotion is normal, anxiety as a mh problem isn't a normal part of life.
That is exactly my point Thehogfather, it is because people refuse to accept that anxiety is part of normal life, and therefore face it full on learning to cope with it, they do everything to avoid it so that every experience of anxiety becomes unmanageable.

We forget how many anxious moment we faced when we were kids. The first time we took a step and fell on our bottoms, that must have been very scary, the first time we ate new textures, the first time we woke up alone at night in the dark, the first time we got a bike and our parents let go. All these we faced, persevered to the point when it became normal behaviour.

It's the constant avoidance of it, because let's face it, it's not nice at the time, that means that our anxiety levels are constantly increasing to the point when it takes over our lives, hence then considering it to be a mental health disorder.

I think people have a greater expectation of happiness these days and an unwillingness to accept that feeling unhappy, anxious and miserable can be within the normal span of human emotions.

We are generally more insulated from death and trauma so when we encounter it have a tendency to pathologise the feelings. I suffered a sudden and awful bereavement and everyone and their dog wanted me to have counselling' -partly I think to make themselves feel better, as the depth and profundity of my suffering and loss was hard fro them to contemplate. My response to a horrific and life changing event had to be 'treated' - it couldn't be accepted. We seem to want to limit the span of human emotions to those we feel comfortable with and deal with the difficult ones through counselling and drugs.

I did not choose that route. Grief is hard physical and metal work and it is lenghty but it is not an illness to be treated. I think going down the mental health route is sometimes part of our quick fix culture that will not accept long term suffering as legitimate in any circumstances.

@TheNavigator we also had a very sudden and awful death three years ago and because of the circumstances there was a police inquiry and court case I did seek out counselling but not because I thought it was an illness that needed treatment but I was extremely angry about the way the it was handled and I just needed to talk about it to someone , I found it helpful for me because somone listened to me things didn't change of course though any way that's just my personal feelings .

I suffer from anxiety - I kniw several others who do the same. My dp says it's "almost a trend" and doesn't believe it's a medical thing.

This devastates me as I know people just think I'm weak

x2boys please don't think for a moment I am saying counselling is always wrong or people shouldn't have it or judging those that do. I am so sorry for your loss, I too had to go through a court case so I know what utter purgatory it is.

My point was about the other people pushing counselling at me to make themselves feel better - it is always the 'go to' response in the face of horrific events these days, as if we can just counsel the horror away.

I think people's lives in general are a lot more stressful now than they were 10 or 20 years ago. There is more pressure now because of work demands, financial worries, housing problems, the cost of living rising, technology, fears about brexit etc. I don't know if long periods of stress can lead to mental illness, I would think it does.

@TheNavigator I know exactly what you mean. My DH lost his DF in a car accident 8 months after we got married. It was horribly traumatic and my DH was pressured to go for counselling. He went to just 1 session as it didn't benefit him at all to talk to a stranger about how he felt having lost his dad. He's not great at talking to me about his feelings, or to friends, so talking to a stranger wasn't for him,

The grieving process is totally natural and the majority of people just need to get through it. In fact, trying to numb the pain through medication isn't really helpful.

Grief isn't a MH issue, though it can turn into that if you don't allow yourself to go through the stages of it and get stuck in the anger stage.

@TheNavigator sorry I' probably worded it badly counselling was the right decision for me because I had to talk and just talking helped me get things clear in my own head but my dh who was going through same thing didn't seek counselling what's right for some people isnt.for others