To wonder why everyone suddenly has a mental health issue?

[VogueVVague]

Dont get me wrong, im not talking about people who have struggled with long term clinical depression, schizophrenia etc.

But it seems like everyone now has some form of mental issue.

Hey, as a teenager and young adult i was a freaking mess, a teenage runaway, drugs, alcohol, confusing feelings, rage, destruction, depression, fear, shyness sometimes, anxiety. Just thought it was a normal part of transitioning.

Now as a fully formed adult some things still make me feel anxious, mny times i do feel unmotivated, depressed on a kind of existential level, sometimes nervous, sometimes not wanting to do something because it involves big gatherings or lots of strangers, which lets face it, can be awkard and uncomfortable for most people.

Isnt that just life and being human?
It feels like i meet so many people who "have" anxiety or borderline or bipolar. Especially teens. Arent they just experiencing adolescence?

Is social media making us believe the normal default is "happy and relaxed", when thats just one setting and humans are actually also designed to be down or nervous sometimes too?

I've struggled with depression and anxiety my whole life and v much know the difference between having 'a bit of a day' and spiralling into a very very dark place.

AlmostAJillSandwich it’s horrible having ocd, it’s hard for people who do not have it to really understand

@Loonoon
Thanks for sharing that, thats pretty eye opening to me.

I was thinking about this today because i have a very good friend who recently told me she has been put on antidepressants and is in a fog. Look obviously i know im not a MH professional but i KNOW her, we talk a lot and i know her problem is existential.

Im seeing her this weekend so ill talk with her some more.

But the thing is - i just wonder as a pp said whether the society we live in now is overstimulating on the one hand (causing anxiety) and possibly too inward looking and disconnected from a sense of community, resulting in a general existential malaise that people are assuming to be a problem with THEM.

What worries me is the amount of friends i have who are depressed and you lnow what? Its always the smartest ones, the ones doing the most thinking, the "brilliant" ones.

I agree with OP to be honest. A lot of young people do throw the terms 'depression' 'anxiety' etc around carelessly, self diagnosing themselves without actually seeing a doctor. OP isn't slagging off people with genuine mental health issues, they're just saying that there seems to be a rise of people who will just announce "I'm depressed/I have anxiety" when in reality they just feel a bit sad or nervous, very very different to actually having depression. It's particularly common with teenagers it seems, the tiniest inconvenience these days and they completely go off the rails. The world has gone PC mad, its an absolute joke.

I’m certainly not a coward I’ve seen and experienced stuff that would probably leave you a quivering wreck

If you want to play PTSD Top Trumps with me, you'll lose.

I'm confused about "anxiety" and how widespread it is.

I am too, I just assumed that along with periods of depression and stress that it was everyday life. Then suddenly everyone was anxious.

People work better with labels. They like their medical conditions to have an identifiable label and if they or someone else doesn’t have it, it causes cognitive dissonance for many.

I told my mother what my illness was. But was not believed until one day I posted her a copy of the fucking diagnosis. In her little mind, she thought I was self diagnosing and therefore making it up. I didn’t need the diagnosis to tell me what I had. I knew it and went to see a private doctor for treatment (after a barrage of nhs tests finding nothing - I have ME).

My brother screamed at me last year that I’m not disabled because I didn’t have a blue badge through choice. I've got other health complications and have now been approved for a blue badge, given for 3 years and told to apply for PIP.

@AlmostAJillSandwich
I hope this isnt offensive but can i ask - were you born with this or did it develop, and if it developed did it happen gradually?

I have a client who can psych himself up to leave the house but then stand at a bus stop for hours, too scared to get on the bus in case he is assaulted. Another person turns down social invitations because she is so worried about developing a hereditary disease that she is constantly googling the symptoms and checking herself physically. One girl cannot leave the house without taking laxatives to evacuate her bowels in case she defecates in public and even then will plan her journeys around the availability of public loos, often adding miles to her journey 'just in case'. (Details changed here to maintain client confidentiality).

Thank you for the detailed explanation. Surely "anxiety" doesn't cover that, that's got to be something more than "anxiety"

I disagree with over pathologising perfectly normal human emotions/reactions

Never forget that the happiest of people outwardly can be those who are struggling most externally.

You only see what people want to see and I can see why people may not open up to someone so judgemental very few people in real life know what I am really going through because I pick who I share things with carefully

that's got to be something more than anxiety

No it doesn't. Anxiety can be really debilitating.

It feels like i meet so many people who "have" anxiety or borderline or bipolar. Especially teens. Arent they just experiencing adolescence?

Borderline Personality Disorder and Bipolar are diagnosed mental health conditions and not just "someone experiencing adolescence." If you think there has been more cases then I would hope its connected to the fact there is less stigma surrounding mental health and being able to talk about it. Having a diagnosis, especially of BPD (which was long seen as just attention seeking behaviour and untreatable even within the mental health profession) is helpful because it gives you access to treatment. I work in psychotherapy and one of the treatments for BPD, called mentalisation based therapy (MBT) can really help people learn to regulate their emotions which is at teh core of BPD, therefore reducing the distress, the upset, the impulsive behaviour, the self harm etc.

But the thing is - i just wonder as a pp said whether the society we live in now is overstimulating on the one hand (causing anxiety) and possibly too inward looking and disconnected from a sense of community, resulting in a general existential malaise that people are assuming to be a problem with THEM.

I agree with this.

What worries me is the amount of friends i have who are depressed and you lnow what? Its always the smartest ones, the ones doing the most thinking, the "brilliant" ones.

Not exactly the same, but I generally find the more exceptional people are the less content they are. Its hard to find contentment in a walk in the woods if your brain thinking about all that is wrong with the world and how you might try to fix it.

Mental illness is usually an issue with brain chemistry being imbalanced, so to suggest that someone with mental illness could be cured, simply by getting up of your arse and living your life is incredibly unintelligent.

@ICantCopeAnymore I don't agree with the PPs assertion that people just need to snap out of it - however there is some thought that depression isn't only caused by a chemical imbalance but can be situational and that drugs alone aren't always the answer.

www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jan/07/is-everything-you-think-you-know-about-depression-wrong-johann-hari-lost-connections

People with MH issues are not cowards, WTF? Have some empathy. Unbelievable

I was talking *specifically" about "Anxiety" not all MH issues.

@Sirzy
Are you calling me judgmental? Because im not.

Alright, but still. It's not cowardly.

Your comment about PTSD says it all, though

As did yours "I've seen things"

Give me a break.

From your posts on here yes I am

Mental illness is usually an issue with brain chemistry being imbalanced, so to suggest that someone with mental illness could be cured, simply by getting up of your arse and living your life is incredibly unintelligent

How the do you explain my transformation from quivering wreck to a normalish functioning human being then?

Anxiety seems epidemic, esp. on MN.
What anxiety really is I don't know, but the little contact I've had with anxious person they were spouting all sorts of unrealistic nonsense and expectations about what was acceptable in their life. The one part I know about their anxiety is that it was completely irrational. I found this just as frustrating as dealing with a manipulative drug addict or an alcoholic in denial (have those in my family, too).

It used to be depression was the MN goto condition... anyone who felt their life was crap got a standard question "Could you be depressed?" rather than "Gee that sounds shit & no wonder you're so upset about it, I wonder how you can get thru, anyway..." which I think would have been healthier.

I don't gain succor from labels when I'm mentally unwell. I'd prefer to hear "that sounds like a difficult situation, for sure; the good news is that most people can feel the fear & do it anyway, I wonder how we can help you do that..."

@Sirzy
I dont see questioning as judging, but we can disagree.