To think we medicalise the normal throes of life?

[OneHonestSquid]

It feels like nowadays, anyone’s who’s sad about something is instantly labelled as “depressed” and anyone who’s worried about something is “anxious.” It’s like we’ve forgotten that experiencing emotions like sadness or worry is just a natural part of being human.

I get that mental health is important but are we over-diagnosing and medicalising things that used to just be part of life? AIBU to think we might be going a bit too far with these labels? Or is there genuinely a rise in mental health issues that need more attention?

More worrying are those who want their perfectly normal feelings labelled. I sometimes wonder if FOMO drives some of this.
Then there are thise chasing shit labels for some inexplicable reason; boarding-school syndrome for example.
To be frank, these people make it so difficult for those with genuine MH conditions

I think opposite things hold true.

One group is self diagnosing and exaggerating. Seeing themselves as suffering from medical depression and anxiety when it’s really low and anxious feelings due to a difficult bit of life and they’ve never been given the opportunity to build the resilience needed to push through that short term issue.

Another group is struggling immensely because they have serious mental health conditions and cannot get the support they need.

I agree. Used to work in secondary school and the number of children marked being off ill with 'anxiety' was immense. I taught mostly GCSE and A level and found these age groups particularly bad for this, and notes on the register would sometimes add things like 'unable to come into school. Anxious about exams'. If they weren't anxious about this, then I would have been more worried! I think more needs to be done about how it is normal to feel anxious about exams, sad about death, and so on. I also find that with so many people saying they have things like anxiety (without a diagnosis) also detracts from people that genuinely need help. With so many children (parents) claiming anxiety, and seeking CAHMS referrals this lengthens the list for those who genuinely need it.

I disagree that it is hard to get a diagnosis of depression. It is diagnosed within routine appointment in primary care GP services. An estimated 89 million antidepressant prescriptions were issued in 2022-2023. I honestly don't know anyone who has gone to see a GP about low mood who has not been offered antidepressants.

@Tootleytoo try getting help for an under 18. Almost impossible. My Dd would not be here now if we had not been able to afford to go private. We waited 2 years on the waiting list for GOSH psychology even though she was down as in urgent need of treatment. Her school referred her to CAHMs after she harmed herself at school and were told I would be contacted as an urgent case within 48 hours. They eventually called us after 6 months. After the self harming incident our GP strongly and apologetically advised us to seek private treatment. Thank goodness we had the means to do so.

People are becoming less and less able to handle the normal vicissitudes of life.

Not helped by parents thinking their children should never have to feel any feeling that is unpleasant, uncomfortable or unfair. First wave of these kids have now grown up and we are reaping what we sow.

All this means that there is less help and resources to go around to help those who really really do need help with truly severe mental health difficulties.

it's a case by case situation i think.
when im worried about life type stuff it can escalate to a situation where i dont think its just normal anxiety. eg if im worried about one of my parents, i can start doing stuff like driving round and round thinking ive hit someone with my car and checking that i haven't.