AIBU to think we over-pathologise very nomal human behaviour?

[Breakawaygirl]

Other threads have got me thinking about this....

We all know that diagnosis of anxiety, depression, autism and other emotional/mental health/neurological conditions are on the rise.

My question is, is it true that we are just paying more attention to conditions that were swept under the rug, or are we over-diagnosing very natural human behaviour.

I've often thought depression, anxiety and other conditions are very natural reactions to our modern world.

Many people wake up early only to be overworked, fed bad food, underpaid, come home to more work, unable to foster connections with loved ones and children, feel lonely, cut off (no community), big uncertainty in the future, pollution, overpopulation, extinction of animals, little nature in some animals and a very aggressive media that seems to have an agenda - surely to feel bad is NORMAL in these circumstances.

I often think the diagnosis is a way of saying it's the PERSON who has the problem rather than the way we conduct our society/culture as a whole.

That is not to minimise that many conditions are the result of neurology and genetics, but a huge component is nurture and lifestyle.

I've often felt that we live in human zoos and are behaviour and neurosis stems from that.

For instance exercise is a natural anti-depressant but most of us don't get enough.

Anxiety is proven to be exaggerated by social media and the idea that everyone is doing better.

Is it that people individually are sicker, or is society sicker?

Curious for people's thoughts.

AnotherPidgey - excellent post!

Pills and everything after 1(!) swift visit to a doctor. She cried once after she messed a task up so badly it nearly led to a dismissal.It hasn't especially because she went to doctor that day. Don't ask me how she managed to get an appointment I assume they were worried about her because she cried.

Maybe messing up the task was the final straw that made her realise she wasn't coping as well as she thought she was coping. DH has bouts of anxiety and depression (diagnosed and medicated) that come in cycles, he's been like this almost his entire life. One of the signs of him being in a downward curve is that he will insist he is fine, that he's managing, and he'll go into a perverse sort of denial where he will pile pressure upon pressure on himself in order to try and prove exactly how fine he is - basically "I am not struggling, could someone who is struggling juggle all of this!?" Perhaps that was the case with this woman.

I don’t think it’s appropriate that you’re grouping developmental differences like autism, adhd etc with mental illnesses like depression.

Developmental differences are usually on a spectrum and are a part of “normal” human diversity.

A diagnosis is made when someone is struggling and needs help. It is far from easy to receive a diagnosis of developmental difference, the increase is a recognition of differences that have always existed. People need help and understanding not judgement.

You're talking about endogenous depression vs reactive depression and the equivalents in other disorders?

Depression and anxiety hits people in different ways and for different reasons and every way is True and heartbreaking have you ever felt like your world was ending that your not worthy Of tan skin your in there is no normal way to suffer theses illnesses it hits people differently and at different stages in there lives some people never get a diagnosis and feel there the only ones that feel that way it don’t matter how they got there there there and they need all the help and support they can get if that’s medicine or counselling Or a good friend to listen life is hard xx

Breakawaygirl i ciuldnt agree with you more. Akso a sufferer of anxiety pasf esting disorders ect but despite having clawed my way back i find life in genersl sometimes utterly intolerant...speaking to a gym buddy yest, were both female mid 40s plus both having endured sudden break ups with partners, lamenting what went wrong? what makes people think they can behave so callously to each other today? Dating sites? SocIal media peddling a lie that says you should be HATT?..obv we feel there's something very wrong or broken with a generation of men, only because that's what has affected us so closely..no-one cares anymore its all about me me me! take take take!! and dam the consequences..zero empathy, leaving behind yet more broken people to repeat the process. Everyone is disposable, yet we create lables and excuses for these abhorrent behaviours.

I've got adhd and depression. I don't know if I've other pathologised anything but to me they are very real and deabilitating. I've got a degree in English literature and history and went to gramnar school and they missed it because I was clever . This resulted in a suicide attempt before I was medicated for adhd. Its a very scary headspace to be in. So no in answer to your question it has always been around there's just better awareness and research now. Adhd was first called a "deficit of morality 'or similar such language around the 1800s. Practices re mental health at the beginning of the 1900s were grim. Look up lobotomy

Grammar*

Haven’t RTFT but if you knew someone with Autism, you certainly would class it as a disability.

I think people who don’t know anything about autism just assume everyone with it is like Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory.
When you have a child who has the verbal capabilities of someone much younger or cannot speak at all, who will scream - sometimes for up to 5 solid hours -when you touch their ears or their feet, who won’t eat, who can’t use the toilet, will smear their own excrement, perhaps when they play in the garden they wouldn’t think twice about eating the grass or fallen leaves even if they’re covered in cat shit! Will run out into the road or jump down flights of stairs with absolutely NO sense of danger, believe me it very much is a disability!

Some parents have fought very, very long and hard battles for some help with their children and to get that diagnosis after family saying “oh, she’s fine, she’ll catch up!” “There’s nothing wrong with her!” And members of the public “that kid just needs a good slap!” “I would never let my child behave in that manner in public” it is both a huge relief and a heartbreak in one to get that diagnosis but god we needed it!

There is a program called ‘There she goes’ on BBC Iplayer which is a brilliant watch and shows what it is like for a family living with a child with a cognitive disability. Autism certainly isn’t down to nurture or their environment. It’s a daily fight with people who don’t believe in Autism or just think it makes people quirky so I’ve become defensive over the years so apologies if I’ve misinterpreted your view on Autism.

I do agree your point regarding that depression and anxiety can be very much environment as like pps have said, don’t we all feel great in the sunshine on holiday, when we have no money worries or work stress etc etc but I’ve also been at the end of the scale where throwing myself in front of the next bus seems like an appealing option - bone aching, debilitating depression is a thing and boy is it horrible. You say in bed for those days on end because you cannot physically or mentally do anything.

I haven't read the whole thread so apologies if I am repeating anyone but I agree op.
My DH and I have often had conversations about our DS. I believe he has some autistic traits and DH doesn't. He is a quirky kid but even if I am right, it isn't holding him back at all in life. I had to take him to the hospital a while back for some neurological tests (for something unrelated) and I mentioned my concerns to the doctor. His response was 'he probably does, I believe we are all somewhere on the spectrum but we only treat people if those traits are reducing their quality of life'.
So I agree op, I had been over analysing him and for what? He's happy and popular and genuinely winning at life so if he does, perhaps it is more of a gift than a disability for him

I think you have very little understanding of mental illness.

Depression is not just 'feeling bad'. It is not a rational response to anything in the way that sadness or ordinary unhappiness are. You can go through an awful time and not be depressed. It is a specific mental and physical condition that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. The word 'depression' is inadequate and misleading in my view and leads people to equate it with being low or unhappy, which I agree are normal responses to modern life. And yes, I think mental health conditions have gone undiagnosed in the past.

But I think our society at large has a tendency towards victimhood. Everyone wants to be a victim

This is such bollocks. I'm sorry op but it is. Nobody wants to be a victim. Maybe a few self pitying, pathetic people do but I don't meet many of them. We are still a culture that sees mental ill health as weakness. There is still huge pressure to put on a smile and pretend everything is fine - the stiff upper lip. And it's killing people.

I believe we are all somewhere on the spectrum

We are NOT all somewhere on 'the spectrum's.

This is one of the biggest bullshit myths about autism right alongside "he can't be autistic he can talk/make eye contact/smiled at me" and "I bet he's dead good at maths though, isn't he?".

Saying "we're all on the spectrum" dismisses and diminishes the struggles autistic people face every day of their life.

Many people have traits that are often associated with autism such as sensory issues, communication difficulties, social anxieties but having these traits does not make them "a little bit autistic" or mean they are "on the spectrum". Autism is a neurological difference, it is not just people whose particular package of traits are reducing their quality of life.

It's a bit like pregnancy. You can have traits associated with pregnancy such as nausea, a sore back, irritability and tiredness but it doesn't mean you're pregnant. You wouldn't have those traits and then claim to be "a little bit pregnant" or that "I believe all of us are somewhere in the first trimester". You're either pregnant or you're not, just like you're either autistic or you're not.

Please try to understand the difference and then, once you've tried that, please stop saying offensive claptrap like "I believe we're all on the spectrum somewhere".

Totally agree, I was born in the ‘developing world’ and despite life being very, very hard for lots of people they still manage to turn up to work on time with a smile on their face. My mum often says ‘I can’t afford to be depressed’ meaning that in a country with no benefits system you will be destitute and starve if you don’t keep it together. We are far too quick in the UK to blame someone else for our situations or to expect the system to look after us.

Asd and adhd etc are neurological differences and are based in the brain. Asd is also on a spectrum. So some kids will not suffer as much as a child who cannot speak, cannot navigate social situations , cannot go to a supermarket without being overwhelmed by the heightened sensiry stimuli. Adhd for example is to do with the way the brain processes dopamine a 'feel good receptor' and another one which I can't remember how to spell (!) so the brain looks for outside stimulation because it receives little reward for doing mundane things e.g. housework. It is also to do woth the prefrontal cortex in the brain which deals with executive function. Asd in past generations was seen as shameful and taboo. I think the queen /queen mum had a sister /relative that was hushed up for being a "retard"& it was hidden from the world/ public because of the shame associated with it. Maybe we aren't that different or maybe we are a little bit different. However, there's a lot of ignorance out there (not suggesting the op is). But depression /asd/adhd are very different things. Mental health is different to brain based behaviour. I don't think its a bad thing that there's more awareness and less shame surrounding issues like this because it means that people get tge help they need rather than internalizing their shame or being hidden away. If anyone wants to know more please look up additude/female savant twins on YouTube/ the national autistic society /how to adhd on you tube ... over and out.

Please excuse the spelling I've got fat fingers*^

But having depression is different to just being sad. However i go to work full time and i have it....some people might be too scared to challenge however we live in a first world country and can only give it from that perspective. Whilst i do appreciate your perspective and appreviate that living hand to mouth isn't what we all want there is nothing more scary than battling with your own mind on a daily basis and having to be all the things you have to be a wife/mum/worker and still not having a "reason" to feel inexplicably tortured everyday x

@MarieKondo Yes but it's a really bad reflection on our current society that it's only the symptom and not the cause that is treated.

So people who have to work longer hours for the same salary, who are scrutinised relentlessly can't just be thoroughly depressed about it.

"I can’t afford to be depressed"

Said by people with no experience of mental illness whatsoever.

Depression is not unhappiness. Repeat: depression is not unhappiness. It is not a first world luxury. You may as well say 'I can't afford to get asthma'. It doesn't work like that.

There are people on this thread who really need to educate themselves about mental health.

I don't think it's a case of not believing in conditions like depression but acknowledging that not all negative feelings are an illness.

It isn't helpful to tell someone with depression to snap out of it but likewise it wasn't helpful for me when I was in a shit situation to tell me I had depression when I was just feeling bad because of the situation.

I was born in the ‘developing world’ and despite life being very, very hard for lots of people they still manage to turn up to work on time with a smile on their face. My mum often says ‘I can’t afford to be depressed’ meaning that in a country with no benefits system you will be destitute and starve if you don’t keep it together

Rubbish. I’ve known 4 people from developing countries who have taken their own lives and I know quite a few that have other mental health problems.
Mental illnesses/ depressions tends to be hushed up in many cultures.

Anyone who is saying that we are over diagnosing without full history of the people they are judging and being an expert in the field has no right to express an opinion. It's threads like this and people like you, with you zero understanding and empathy on the self limiting and debilitating effect of many of the conditiins mentioned, that make this world a nastier less tolerant place. You are part of tbe reason people suffer, kill them selves, self harm and feel there is no one out there. The problem here is you, and you disgust me.