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?

It’s a very good question and one that I’ve thought about.
My DCs both have anxiety to some degree.
For me it was obvious they weren’t ‘just’ feeling anxious about a specific incident but it was affecting their day-to-day lives and prevented them from doing things or they had panic attacks. They both benfitted from some cbt.
Now I’m an anxious person but I wouldn’t say I suffer from anxiety as I have it under control. The thing with feeling anxious is that you have to manage it in some way (if that makes sense). It’s when you can’t, and it takes over beyond all rational thought, or you have a constant anxious feeling that you ‘suffer’ from anxiety as a syndrome. That’s just my take on it btw! I haven’t got experience of depression although it’s on both sides of the family.

No, because whoever the OP is, the question is a valid one.

It's like if someone is a troll and people innocently answer their question, well, their answers can still be useful to others. This discussion is still relevant. Using sneering to shut down questioning of the status quo is still crap.

Oh, meant to add, his environment hasn't changed, so it wasn't an environemtal thing that he now eats. We did all the adjustments, trials, recomendations years ago, and none of it worked.

I think it's also a valid point to make that more people with issues means more money for big Pharma.

OP

not everyone has an MH issue but people posting for advice and support about it are obviously going to mention it

Those who don't don't post about it because they don't have a problem

It's like the skewed view on relationships by the relationships forum, the only ones who post there are having problems in that area, suspcion, affairs etc but for every post there, there are hundreds of thousands more who do not have those problems and so are not creating posts for advice

@AlmostAJillSandwich
Maybe your pet was just being a typical snake teen

MsJinglyJones I think you might have a point. Some people might latch on to a mental health condition as a 'trendy' way to get attention, just as some people might self diagnose with an allergy or gluten intolerance. IMO even that need to latch on and label oneself is indicative of unmet emotional needs and so worthy of attention.

There are also professional trends in diagnosis. It used to amaze me when I was training that whenever I learned about a new condition or syndrome I would inevitably encounter someone suffering from it soon afterwards! Of course it's because I had become aware of it and was thus capable of looking for it and recognising it. So a condition that is in the public domain is more likely to be (correctly or incorrectly) recognised/diagnosed than something more obscure.

Thank you though for making the thread, nothing wrong with a healthy debate and the oppertunity for people to get different views.

@AlmostAJillSandwich
Well I'm certainly learning loads!

Ok I'll try not to be immature and take this personally, and just explain my mental health history so you can see how glamorous it has been.

I was diagnosed with depression at age 9. It was very unusual to receive a diagnosis like that at that age. But from a very very young child, it was clear I had mental health problems.

First went on anti depressants at 13. My school were incredibly unsupportive and basically completely dismissed what my parents were telling them and even letters from the multiple professionals I was being seen by. I was made to feel like a liar, a drama queen and an attention seeker. Despite the fact I used to have panic attacks, and complete crippling depression that left me housebound for 6 months and barely able to talk or eat.

At 17 I was told I had bipolar and schizophrenia and manic depression. Made sense as I heard voices all the time and my paternal grandmother was severely schizophrenic.

At 18 I spent 2 months in psychiatric hospital where a profession came down from Manchester and spent 4 days with me and corrected my diagnosis to BPD.

I cant even tell you how awful receiving that diagnosis was.

It isn't glamorous. It is a black mark on your medical record. Even mental health professionals referred to me as 'The Borderline'.

I have heart problems from certain drugs I was on for a long time. I have a 4 year period where I have at best, very patchy memory, and at worst, complete blank patch. All from the medication I was on.

When I fell pregnant, the medication I was on would have either killed the baby, or left it severely malformed.

I came off 5 very strong anti psychotics, tranquillisers, sleeping pills, and anti depressants.

For 9 months, every time I moved my head, I had what felt like an electric shock going through my brain. I wore a heart monitor for 3 months as the palpitations and tachycardia were so extreme I used to Black out randomly with no warning. I lost my driving licence. I couldn't work.

I have been drug free for 27 months. The longest ever since I went on them.

Having BPD is horrible. I feel like my nerves are constantly exposed. I can objectively view a scenario and see it how it should be, yet my emotions are not under my control and I will completely overreact and feel fucking awful over something ridiculous.

A minor argument with my partner will leave me feeling like I wished he was dead and I can't imagine anyone being more horrific. And then 6 hours later I'm fine.

Every. Single. Waking. Moment. I have to fight against my brain. I have to fight to control myself. I have to fight to work through the rising panic and grief over absolutely nothing. I have to fight against my natural instincts.

I have 2 young children, and I'm fucking proud of how far I've come and how well I'm doing despite how difficult every minute is.

And to have some random armchair doctor judge me for a diagnosis that does nothing but make my life harder?

Such glamour.

🖕🖕🖕

My concern is people seem less able to cope and be independent now and use mental health as an excuse. People i know are in debt and struggle to pay rent, dont understand how their tax works, misjudge how much money they need for bills then tell me they are crippled with anxiety and getting antidepresants for it. People just seem less equipt to deal with modern life. People claiming they are depressed because everyones life looks better than theirs on facebook, yet taking regulat breaks from facebook does not occur to them.

I think there is more general societal awareness of mental health conditions which is fantastic.
But the flip side is that all the information out there results in people claiming to have this or that. I take the OP’s point about teenage stuff particularly. To have mood swings etc during this stage is usually normal and not something that can be treated as such.
It’s a difficult balancing act for everyone but it is better for people than it must have been in the relatively recent when people were told to snap out of it.

Thinking seriously of the OP question. I can see looking back there were several people in my family past, who these days would probably get diagnosed with something or another. As it was back in the day, they were "just weird" one way or another: extremely isolated, unable to function in society one way or another, suicides, dangerously undernourished because of "food issues" etc. I don't think even back then it was thought of as a part of normal life, but there wasn't a culture of seeking diagnoses or help, and no one would (for obvious reasons) have wanted their family members commited to an institution for life, so they just kind of existed on the edges of society, the best they could, and if they were lucky, had family support.

I agree with PPs that diagnoses like BPD and bipolar aren't diagnoses you can get easily or frivolously. I was only diagnosed while on a psychiatric ward (which are notoriously hard to get to these days), while DH's diagnosis process has taken years of regular psychiatrist appointments - again not something NHS just hands out.

I also know people with diagnosis of schizophrenia. I don't think it's more hidden, or maybe I'm somehow an oddity for knowing several? Luckily these days there are good medications to manage a lot their symptoms (not always the case with personality disorders).

I have often wondered this. Read too much on mumsnet and you start to think everyone has ‘anxiety’. It’s hard because you then become inured to it and are less likely to take someone seriously when they say it. Which is a shame.

...relatively recent past...

I do think some of it is normal human behaviour being classed as MH. I went to school with someone who claims her bipolar was cured by a vegan diet.

Modern life probably has a lot to do with it. It gets my heckles up that some people can abuse it for their own gains.

So called troll hunting is banned in this forum, I believe.

...on this

Hackles rising or not, you have no way of knowing whether someone claiming something is indicative of an issue in itself.

I do know people who use their MH issue or ASD, ADHD or other condition, whether self-diagnosed or not, as a way to not have to make an effort or consider anyone else's needs. I'm talking about adults not children, who have been diagnosed or self-diagnosed as adults. One family member will say she can't be expected to arrive on time or use public transport for example, because of her often self-diagnosed special needs, of which she has an increasing number every year.

But IMO you can have these things and still have the ability to adjust, allow for them and make sure you're not late, for example. I think there has been a shift towards a kind of entitlement and wanting to be excused from anything you don't fancy, among certain people.

It's hard to say that though without sounding like you're just a reactionary old fart who thinks everyone just needs a kick up the arse. It's not that but I do think there is too much emphasis on who you are and your identity and status, and not enough on what you can achieve and on buckling down and getting on with it.

see I sound about 95.

I wasn't troll hunting at all actually. Funny that assume that Rose.

Just noticed the OP has started quite a few threads in her short time here that could come across as quite goady.

There are studies that show that today's teenagers are the most unhappy, lonely, anxious ever in society, and much of it dates from the advent of the smartphone.

So yes, I think it does seem like there has been an explosion in mental health issues, but it doesn't mean they're not real, or they're a badge of cool or something.

It might mean that the mental health of young people is being severely impacted by something about which we don't understand the long-term effects yet.

The post is deliberately provocative.

There are ways of posing the same question - AIBU to think that depression and anxiety can be misdiagnosed - is an example of such a question that isn’t so hurtful and gleeful.

It is a question that could do with discussion but with a post like this? No.

I think it can be both an explosion in MH issues and a trend, they can co-exist.