One in four American women take medication for a mental disorder

Daily Mail UK ^ | 11/17/11

[NormsRevenge]

More than one in four American women took at least one drug for conditions like anxiety and depression last year, according to an analysis of prescription data.

The report, by pharmacy benefits manager Medco Health Solutions Inc, found the use of drugs for psychiatric and behavioral disorders in all adults rose 22per cent from 2001.

The medications are most often prescribed to women aged 45 and older, but their use among men and in younger adults climbed sharply.

In total, more than 20per cent of American adults were found to be on at least one drug for mental health disorders.

A number of celebrities have gone public in recent years with their battles with mental health disorders.

They include Catherin Zeta-Jones, who was treated for a form of bipolar disorder earlier this year due to the stress of coping with her husband Michael Douglas's fight with cancer.

Model Brooke Shields admitted suffering postpartum depression after the birth of her baby in 2003, while fellow big screen icon Carrie Fisher, of Star Wars fame, told how she had turned to electroshock therapy to treat the worst symptoms of her chronic depression.

[BfloGuy]

This article is ridiculous. The statistic is about as believable as the old chestnut that men beat their wives on Superbowl Sunday.

[steveab]

1 out of 4 Women are progressive socialist. They are nuts.

[Winstons Julia]

It’s very terrible to imply that someone with a mental illness isn’t worthy of love...because God knows...they need it the most.

Many folks with mental illness are scared to enter relationships anyway because they worry that they will mess it up somehow or that, if they have kids, they will pass the disease to them.

Not all depressed people are self-focused ... many are actually very very selfless...too selfless ... selfless enough to think life’s not worth living. And no manner of wealth ... or physical comfort... can ease their pain.

In short ... there are a lot of opinions on this thread. We know what those are like. But a further point ... how many members are there on this site? How many of THEM do you think may have a diagnosis of mental illness?

Instead of wondering how many of these folks aren’t dateable and who really ought to just suck it up and deal with life and are probably overmedicated...maybe tonight just say a prayer that it never happens to you or someone you love and ask the Lord to ease ALL suffering mental and otherwise.

Thanks for not flaming.

[toothfairy86]

Severe anemia also causes depression-like symptoms. I was so anemic at one point that I needed a transfusion, yet my GP was prescribing anti-depressants for me.
A significantly high proportion of smokers also suffer from mental disorders.

[andy58-in-nh]

Remember the days when “mother’s little helper” was either an ass paddle, or a glass of wine?

You must have grown up in a rather interesting neighborhood. ;-)

[ex91B10]

"And I hear that 75% of women with mental disorders go undiagnosed"

Their husbands will know...quite well...

[ex91B10]

"Well, that pretty explains everything."

Yes it does; it means that three out of four are not taking their meds.

[ctdonath2]

And they will never speak of it, and nobody will help them.

[Secret Agent Man]

It was called America.

[Bellflower]

Much of it may be dietary deficiencies from the poor diets so many Americans eat as well as food plants grown in soils depleted of natural goodness.

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

1 in 4? That is so not right. it’s more 3.999999 in 4.

[Sudetenland]

Because of the ambiguity of our language--or the overly broad use of some words--most people think of feeling "blue" or sad as depression.

Clinical depression is a far different thing and is the result of a chemical imbalance in the brain. It has little to do with "feeling a little blue." Like many experiences, no one can fully appreciate what real depression is like unless they have direct experience with it, either personally or through someone they know. A few days in bed is not depression. Going months and months with interrupted sleep patterns, complete lack of the ability to enjoy life's simple pleasures, excessive weight gain or loss with the commensurate change in appetite, continual thoughts of suicide--that's depression. No amount of positive thinking or "buck-up," "keep a stiff upper lip" kind of thinking will work.

Given the above exception, the effort by pharmaceutical companies to promote their drugs to the general public is, at the very least, unethical. They do try to convey the impression that any time you don't feel cheery, you need a pill for it. We have become a "Dr. Feelgood" society that, by and large, have been convinced that we need a pill for everything.

Given their propensity for wanting citizens to be controllable and subservient to the state, I'm sort of surprised that the powers that be not only don't legalize marijuana, but don't make it mandatory--sort of like the movie "Equilibrium."