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?

@GoodnessIdontknow

There is some very interesting research that shows eating disorders are basically non existent in countries where food is truly scarce. This suggests that things like anorexia are triggered by our environment and that body dismorphia develops when the basic requirement to survive is no longer a challenge (because our psyche needs something to be top of the list)

Interesting what you said about our environment. Yes i believe a lot of the ways in which some MH issues present are triggered by our environment. So for instance if someone with TS swears, its obviously because they have heard swearing before, but had they not heard it before, they would have said something else that will mirror their environment. I'm not sure about body dysmorphia, i've seen that even in third world countries, as well as anorexia.

I dont know but i do think mental health is getting worse. I was born with ocd. When i was a kid no one else i knew bar one person had mental problems. Then in high school i was only one of three people none of my friends suffered anything. Now fast forward to 26/27 most of my friends now suffer mental health problems. One of which is a complete lie. She claims to have ocd. Bipolar. Agoraphobia yet her psychiatrist disagreed with them all yet she still claims to have them. Shes so agoraphobic she is always travelling alone.

There has been a lot of stigma associated with mental health over the years which has probably led to some people keeping their struggles to themselves. It's positive that society is becoming more mental health aware.

That said, I do think there is an element of pathologising normal human experiences and there's a lot of armchair diagnosis going on.
E.g. It's normal to have ups and downs in life. Having a rough patch doesn't make someone depressed.
E.g. It's normal to feel nervous or anxious over some situations. It does not mean you 'have anxiety'.
E.g. It's normal for people to have littlw routines they do (e.g. checking doors/windows before leaving the house or nagging doubt if you turned the grill off), going back and checking does not mean you have OCD
E.g. Some people are just rude twats. It does not mean they have autism or have narcisistic personality disorder.

But there's a whole narrative about mental health and therapy which isn't very healthy. E.g. retail therapy (don't deal with a situation or emotion, go spend money instead) or people trivialise things and act about how they are tidy so are a little bit OCD about that when you aren't a little OCD.

TLDR It's better we are more mental health aware but there's a growing pseudodiagnosis thing going on which isn't that helpful.

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

In a word yes that covers anxiety and no it doesnt have to be anything more. Anxiety is a normal human reaction to a perceived stress, its protective and evolutionary and helps us in certain situations. Thats when its not a mental health "problem." When it becomes more long standing and maladaptive and develops into becoming anxious when its not helpful it is a mental health problem. Because it can severely affect the quality of life then.

my friend described it once as a big heavy weight preventing him from being able to get out of bed.

My DH struggles with MH struggles to leave the house etc he's been in and out of hospital.

It's not alway's as simple as 'I realise what I have and get on with it' It is easy to say that but until you have been in the situation you cant really 'get' it. I still struggle to get it and I care for him daily.

I also have a friend with bipolar, until diagnosed you wouldn't have known other than being slightly 'odd' but for the last few years she's been so poorly in and out of hospital and its heartbreaking seeing her.

There are different levels and its different for everyone.

I always try to remind myself that something I can cope with quite well or get over is harder for some people and easier for others so try not to compare if I take longer to recover than others etc

@WinnersClub
I dont know much about anorexia but isnt it about regaining a sense of control? Or wanting to disappear? In a sense isnt food just the tool by which someone with anorexia will express their issues? In that case we might not see anorexia across the world, but the same root causes of anorexia expressed with something other than food?

My point is, Laguna, that if it was labelled differently it would be beneficial to everyone.

I have anxiety about a meeting this afternoon, someone has anxiety about catching a disease and can't leave the house. It's not helpful to anyone to have the word as a Catchall.

Vogue thats the scary part, they genuinely don't know what causes it.
For every scientist/researcher/psychiatrist that thinks its genetic, another will argue its environmental/learned.

Me personally, i think it is genetic. My older sister is equally as severely ill with OCD as i am, and about the same things, toilets, bodily waste germs etc. Yet our parents were not germophobes, they didn't use antibacterial stuff, didn't clean excessively, just normal regular household. Yes, they raised us to wash hands after the toilet, but just a regular quick soap and water wash. Not after coming in from outdoors, never used to wash before eating or anything like that.

My sister knows what her trigger was, a video shown at school about the importance of washing after the toilet and a visual of those incubated gel things that grow all the bacteria cultures. My trigger isn't totally clear as i was only 5 and not at the point of development to remember things long term. From what my parents say i just one day started complaining i didn't feel "finished" after the toilet, like i wasnt fully empty and if i got off i might leak the rest. Sent to a doctor, no UTI, hospital, scans showed no twisted bowel or any deformity to indicate a physical cause, so i was just sent home to deal with it, and clearly it escalated to consume my life.

My dad gets major anxiety to the point of needing to be medicated, either with diazepam or self medicate with alcohol, when bad weather or storms mean high winds, so its probable he has it, but it only affects him in very specific and infrequent situations. His brother has it quite badly, will NOT eat beef, checks all doors are locked multiple times, and those are just the ones i know if (really not a close family). his daughter when she was younger displayed issues with using toilets, but thankfully she seemed to grow out of it. His aunt also claimed to have OCD and be a washer in bleach, but i only met her twice and she was labeled a hypocondriac by most of the family so i have no idea if it was true or not.

Me and my sister can't even agree, as she thinks it was probably learned behavours. I now i did "learn" my germ phobias fro her, it used to just be a fear of toilets for me, not the germs associated with wetting myself or anything. But she used to force me to wash my hands a certain way, never touch waistbands of bottoms or the hems of tops, can't ever touch your underwear, you MUST wash your hands if you even brush against any of them, must wash your hands in a specific pattern ritualised way after the toilet, has to be antibacterial soap etc. And so i became obsessed with germs. I honestly can't tell you why, im not affraid of them making me sick, and if i do get sick, i trust my immune system to fight it, and if that fails, i have total trust in medicine, im not scared of dying, i just genuinely cannot stand the thought of germs being on things, not that theres any consequence to it if there are. It just has to be prevented at all costs.

My mum and grandma both has a sort of generalised anxiety , in the past it was put down to ' suffering with their nerves' although it could be debilitating. They just kind of muddled through life and accepted it as something they lived with. There was little therapy, no diagnosis, very little support, no financial support in the way of disability benefits etc. Nowadays there is more awareness, people are diagnosed with OCD, GAD etc and get more help.

In terms of how the stats are recorded, I'm interested what the criteria are for classification

For example, I started on sertraline a few months ago - I'd been slogging through a really sad and stressful few years, and got to the end of my tether with feeling sad ALL the time. So GP suggested it might be reasonable to try a course of anti-depressants to try and even out the lows, and get things on a more even keel - in simple terms, to expand my toolbox of coping strategies to remember how to feel happy

Would I be classified as having diagnosed depression? I don't think I have a medical issue, whereby my brain chemistry is out of whack - I feel sad because I've had a lot of major life stuff to feel sad about. But because I'm being prescribed sertraline for a number of months, does that mean I'd be classified in the stats as 'having depression'?

Well yes exactly, thats what i'm saying, did you mean to address your last post to Goodness? In any case I have seen anorexia before in countries where food is scarce.

The person who was hospitalised and then realised they would need to help themselves is missing the point a bit I think. It was only after receiving whatever help they got in two weeks hospitalisation that they were able to carry on helping themselves.

My own had anorexia as a young adult. It was only after receiving a great deal of support from medical professionals and family that she was able to take the step towards helping herself.

So many people seem to think that people with MH issues could cure themselves by just trying harder, including many people who are suffering but sadly that's not the case. I see so many people whose initial anxiety or depression is made worse by guilt and shame that they have been too weak or inadequate to snap out of it.

Perhaps that's the difference between mental illness and 'normal' sadness or anxiety - the normal stuff is bearable and the sufferer knows deep down that it will pass in time but someone with mental illness doesn't and needs support and care of some sort or other.

Not sure why one is deemed by you to be more laudable than the other tbh

I'm not sure either as I don't have much of clue as to what your point is, sorry.

Don't we all have mental health as well as physical health issues from time to time? Sometimes they are related to events/conditions which are due to happen or have happened and sometimes there generally is no specific reason. I defy anyone to say they don't get anxious, worried or depressed from time to time. It is just life and happens with kids as well as young adults and adults and maybe animals as well. I am not sure it needs a label.

I think the problems come when people are unable to cope with their feelings on their own and need help either in the form of medication, counselling or some sort of therapy.

As did yours "I've seen things"

Eh?!

Bannafish

I hope you don't mind me asking but did the pills work?

@Loonoon
I'm going to research menta health in animals this evening.

If an animal was depressed, or anxious, or angry, we would assume it to be caused by their environment.

Is it possible for animals to have MH problems? How can humans be the only creatures to have this problem?

I'm wondering if rather than people being told they are sick, its actually society that is sick.

For those of you who can’t see the difference between feeling a bit anxious and anxiety and think that every slightly upsetting thing will lead you to having ptsd which you should just get over I’ll explain what it feels like to me. An anxiety attack leaves you paralysed, yet feeling like you need to run, just run. Lights and sound are 100 times brighter and lighter! You feel like something is building up inside you so you are going to explode, you just want to stand in the middle of a field and scream a scream that would frighten the devil. You can’t breath people are talking to you and all you’re hearing in your head is “just shit up, shut up” because no flight is available you end up in fight mode so you know you’re acting unreasonably but it’s hard to stop. It’s NOT just feeling a bit worried about something! Or ptsd, stupid things trigger sheer panic, anything that reminds you of the time you and your loved ones very nearly died, someone wearing similar perfume, bright lights loud noises, sudden changes, youvosit relatives in hospital the view is overlaid with not just memories but very real images that to you are actually happening where amongst the strangers you see your child in icu again, to you they are there. Walking doing your Saturday afternoon shopping seeing terrorist running through the supermarket shooting everyone but you’re the only one who can see them. And when all the above is happening trying to carry online it’s not there. Imagine that little boy in sixth sense seeing all those terrible things going on around him but no one else can see and him pretending nothing is happening. That is ptsd. You can’t just get over it! I felt like I was making great progress but in the last few days it’s been the anniversary of the time myself and my son nearly died and the date the old me did die have seen me bed ridden again. Excuse me if I can’t just pull myself together. People with mental health issues who face the world everyday are some of the bravest people I know.

The person who was hospitalised and then realised they would need to help themselves is missing the point a bit I think. It was only after receiving whatever help they got in two weeks hospitalisation that they were able to carry on helping themselves

You'd think so, wouldn't you? But two weeks of listening to other peoples horror stories in group sessions doesn't actually really help you.

We are bringing up a generation who genuinely believe that they are depressed every time they don't feel happy and who will not grow up well rounded adults as they are surrounded by the message that any slightly uncomfortable or distressing experience will immediately trigger PTSD
My dd, at nineteen took 40 paracetamol, ten night nurse with half a bottle of tequila, due to her cPTSD. I'm lucky to have her still here. But of course feel free to come and discuss your sweeping generalisations with her, I'll look forward to it.

I think I have a panic attack most mornings. I have a bit of OCD with the cooker being off and the front door being locked, I've had to turn around on a few occasions. I get flutters in my chest, unexplained cramps and pints and needles, I've thought about suicide.

I'm glad you're coping. I've been diagnosed with anxiety, OCD (not a 'bit of OCD, whatever that is, proper diagnosed, medicated, seeing a Psychiatrist OCD) and depression. I can't function most days. I've OD'd, I've slit my wrists, I've wished I was dead. My life is a fucking disaster. I have been an anxious wreck for my whole life. Since I was a tiny child, I was just about clinging on.

“I get on with it because I’m not a coward”. Thanks for that. You know that those of us who struggle a bit more aren't cowards either. That's a really horrible thing to say. I'm not a coward, I've just had a tough time. Does it make you feel all big about yourself to put down those of us who have actual mental health problems? I'm not a coward. I have dealt with my MH problems with bravery. So you can kindly fuck off with your I'm not a coward' bollocks.

For those of you who can’t see the difference between feeling a bit anxious and anxiety and think that every slightly upsetting thing will lead you to having ptsd which you should just get over

No one's actually said that though, have they?

You have my sympathy though.