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Who's Mentally Ill? Deciding Is Often All in the Mind
NY Times ^ | June 12, 2005 | BENEDICT CAREY

Posted on 06/12/2005 1:43:01 PM PDT by neverdem

THE release last week of a government-sponsored survey, the most comprehensive to date, suggests that more than half of Americans will develop a mental disorder in their lives.

The study was the third, beginning in 1984, to suggest a significant increase in mental illness since the middle of the 20th century, when estimates of lifetime prevalence ranged closer 20 or 30 percent.

But what does it mean when more than half of a society may suffer "mental illness"? Is it an indictment of modern life or a sign of greater willingness to deal openly with a once-taboo subject? Or is it another example of the American mania to give every problem a name, a set of symptoms and a treatment - a trend, medical historians say, accentuated by drug marketing to doctors and patients?

Changes in societies over time, and differences across cultures, make it extremely difficult to compare prevalence levels of mental illness, even today. Levels of depression in China were thought to be very low, for example, until the Harvard anthropologist Dr. Arthur Kleinman found in the 1980's that many Chinese did not think or talk about mood disorders the way Westerners do. They came to doctors or healers with physical complaints - dizziness, headaches and other pains that were treated as such, though in many cases they could be diagnosed as depression. A World Health Organization survey published in 2004 found that 2.5 percent of Chinese reported a mood disorder in the last year, compared with a rate of 9.6 percent in the United States.

In Japan, too, reported levels of depression tend to be low - just over 3 percent reported a mood disorder in the last year, in the W.H.O. survey - in part because of a culture of stoicism, said Dr. Laurence Kirmayer, director...

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Canada; Culture/Society; Extended News; Government; Japan; News/Current Events; US: District of Columbia
KEYWORDS: depression; disorders; health; howarddean; medicine; mentaldisorders; mentalhealth; mentalillness; mooddisorders; personalitydisorders

1 posted on 06/12/2005 1:43:01 PM PDT by neverdem
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To: neverdem

According to my ex I am, but according to all my friends I'm OK!! They are known to be a little warped at times thou.


2 posted on 06/12/2005 1:46:40 PM PDT by handy old one (It is unbecoming for young men to utter maxims. Aristotle)
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To: neverdem

All seven of my personalities are in agreement that I am not mentally ill.


3 posted on 06/12/2005 1:49:53 PM PDT by Mad_Tom_Rackham (Delenda est Liberalism!)
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To: neverdem
....suggests that more than half of Americans will develop a mental disorder in their lives

This is very serious news - this means that the Dems have a chance!

4 posted on 06/12/2005 1:50:38 PM PDT by Irish_Thatcherite (Orwellian Relativism: All philosophies are equal, but some philosophies are more equal than others.)
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To: neverdem
Is it an indictment of modern life or a sign of greater willingness to deal openly with a once-taboo subject?

Neither, although some want to see these illusory things. It is a part of the State institution of law, which includes corrections, hospitals, and police. That there is more illness being identified is the State asserting more authority over the citizens.

5 posted on 06/12/2005 1:55:14 PM PDT by RightWhale (I know nothing, and less every day)
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To: neverdem

That this is a NYT article could be evidence that the Liberals at the NYT are doing everything they can think of to increase the power of the State and reduce individual freedom, hardly a liberal attitude.


6 posted on 06/12/2005 1:57:21 PM PDT by RightWhale (I know nothing, and less every day)
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To: neverdem

SPeaking of mental illness:http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1421505/posts


7 posted on 06/12/2005 2:19:02 PM PDT by BenLurkin (O beautiful for patriot dream - that sees beyond the years)
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To: RightWhale

But if the majority of the voters are crazy, then the state is.

That actually seems to be their position after Bush won.


8 posted on 06/12/2005 2:34:47 PM PDT by proxy_user
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To: handy old one

9 posted on 06/12/2005 2:43:21 PM PDT by baystaterebel (F/8 and be there!)
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To: neverdem

And the weird thing is, most of the people I know who really are mentally ill think they are just fine. They think everyone else is crazy.

That's not a joke.


10 posted on 06/12/2005 2:45:58 PM PDT by I still care (America is not the problem - it is the solution..)
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To: baystaterebel

The red X is a picture of my ex how did you get it??


11 posted on 06/12/2005 2:46:52 PM PDT by handy old one (It is unbecoming for young men to utter maxims. Aristotle)
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To: El Gato; JudyB1938; Ernest_at_the_Beach; Robert A. Cook, PE; lepton; LadyDoc; jb6; tiamat; PGalt; ..
Shrinking brain no barrier to learning: study

FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.

12 posted on 06/12/2005 2:47:11 PM PDT by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
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To: neverdem
I've always been crazy but it's kept me from going insane
Nobody knows if it's something to bless or to blame
So far I ain't found a rhyme or a reason to change
I've always been crazy but it's kept me from going insane
13 posted on 06/12/2005 3:59:27 PM PDT by lysie
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To: baystaterebel
Wow! These photos are sure to induce depression in those who aren't depressed and worsen it for those who are! ;-)

And it is an excellent short list of, well, prominent people with issues...

14 posted on 06/15/2005 11:09:00 AM PDT by fortunecookie
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To: I still care

>>>And the weird thing is, most of the people I know who really are mentally ill think they are just fine. They think everyone else is crazy.

And they're probably right.. a lot of people who are considered mentally ill actually have a better grasp of essential truths than people who are "normal" and spend their lives fretting over trivialities. Now, that's crazy.


15 posted on 06/15/2005 6:37:56 PM PDT by blurb
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