Posted on 04/15/2013 8:28:25 AM PDT by neverdem
Although fewer than 6 percent of American adults will have a severe mental illness in a given year, according to a 2005 study, many more—more than a quarter each year—will have some diagnosable mental disorder. That’s a lot of people. Almost 50 percent of Americans (46.4 percent to be exact) will have a diagnosable mental illness in their lifetimes, based on the previous edition, the DSM-IV. And the new manual will likely make it even "easier" to get a diagnosis.
If we think of having a diagnosable mental illness as being under a tent, the tent seems pretty big. Huge, in fact. How did it happen that half of us will develop a mental illness? Has this always been true and we just didn’t realize how sick we were—we didn’t realize we were under the tent? Or are we mentally less healthy than we were a generation ago? What about a third explanation—that we are labeling as mental illness psychological states that were previously considered normal, albeit unusual, making the tent bigger. The answer appears to be all three.
First, we’ve gotten better at detecting mental illness and doing so earlier in the course of the illness. For decades, mental health clinicians, physicians, the U.S. surgeon general’s office, and various state and local agencies have been advocating for better detection of mental illness. If we are better at spotting it, we can treat it. And if we detect it earlier, we can, hopefully, intervene to reduce the intensity and/or frequency of symptoms. For instance, people who decades ago may have had undiagnosed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression, or substance abuse are now more likely to have their problems recognized and diagnosed. But the increased awareness and detection translates into a higher rate of mental illness.
Second, we really are getting...
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
amen.
“He said the medication had minimal side-effects, but we reaseached, and it has terrible side effects. It also only works on a small amount of people.”
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If people knew enough to consider the possibility of a positive result and weigh that against the possibility of a devastating “side effect” most would throw their pills away and pharmaceutical stocks would crash like a train wreck. I have done a little studying on my own and it is truly absurd the way Americans take pills that may have only a three percent chance of any positive result and expose themselves to the possibility of side effects up to and INCLUDING death.
I have personally seen some of the victims of thalidomide which was sold for five years or so ending in 1962 for relief of morning sickness in pregnant women. It was taken off the market quickly because the results are so awful, babies born with tiny arms and legs and other problems. Many other medications that should be taken down stay on the market because the results are not so obvious.
Ahh...sounds like what we call “SIGINT”
Or used to, at least...:)
There is no such thing as common sense anymore, which explains why people do the stupid things they do now days. The dumbing down of whole generations of kids is the root cause of this.
Throw in all of the modern technology and now there is even little social inter action between people (read: face to face contact). All of this has contributed to the nanny state because no one is responsible for their personal choices in life.
It’s also another way of getting people to conform. The only place they want to allow room for deviance from the norm is in the aspect of actual deviance, or what was known in former days as “deviance”. Which is exactly upside-down from how it’s been all through history.
You have hit the nail squarely on the head, sir.
The neurochemistry of Ritalin is almost identical to cocaine. Think about that before giving it to some kid who acts up in class.
How ironic that people are rotting in jail for using/selling drugs when our pharmaceutical companies and physicians have created a culture of legalized drug addicts.
This, despite the APA removing sexual deviant behaviors from the DSM-IV.
Yes, the EXTREME RIGHT WING lunatics.
The Bible predicted this.....Evil will be Good and Good will be Evil.
I always thought that could never ever happen.......now I see it being forced on little children-—creating a reality where “mary will grow up to marry molly” and deny a baby its biological father.
Really sick, insane people after 12 years of indoctrination and being “socialized” by evil cr*p on TV and constant porn in novels. Creepy.
You'd have to be delusional to believe the polls?
Actually, you would have fit in with the bunch I ran with. Not goofy, but bored sh*tless. Pretty normal for kids before they grew up completely in front of a TV.
The sad part is that those who fear losing their rights for getting a little help when a little help will pull them through the rough spots, will either lose their rights or not get the help they need when they need it. Some will manage to get through their rough spots anyway, others will end up with worse problems.
Sadly, failure to seek help when someone else thinks you need it will become fodder for those who would diagnose paranoia or denial, and the poo will deepen.
Have little doubt they will somehow be exempt, just as they are from Obamacare, because insurance is gambling and not halal.
I had occasion a while back to show my youngest grand children how to tell if a mirror is a mirror or two-way glass. The people who ran the joint were not amused. (8^D)
Bingo!
No wonder God sent the Israelites to rid Cananan of them so many years ago!
RE: You’d have to be delusional to believe the polls?
I disbelieved most of the polls ( except Rasmussen and Gallup, which showed Romney LEADING in late October 2012 ).
Guess what? The polls were CORRECT.
Delusional? I don’t think so. I believe America is slowly changing.
I believe stupid people are being buffaloed into thinking the majority thinks...(whatever!)... and as a result they will say that, too, because they have been brainwashed into thinking the majority is always right.
If they turned their TV off for a week and thought about things, I really doubt the polls would turn out the way they do.
Mostly, though, I just see the polls as an indicator of where the Ministry of Propaganda needs to work harder.
As one who has been in the unenviable position of being THE one who knew what was going on in a situation, tasked with convincing others I was right, and sticking to my guns long enough to prove it (more than once), I can see where those who just want to get along would rather fold than fight.
I didn't have that option--my professional reputation was on the line.
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