Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Abnormal Is the New Normal: Why will half of the U.S. population have a diagnosable mental disorder?
Slate ^ | April 12, 2013 | Robin S. Rosenberg

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 ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: apa; apaisajoke; banglist; burnthedsm; communism; corruption; democrats; dsm; dsm5; dsmabuse; dsmfraud; dsmiv; fraud; guncontrol; gunsmentaldisease; leftwingextremism; liberalism; liberals; mentaldisease; mentalillness; psychiatry; psychology; secondamendment; sovietdemocrats; sovietpsychiatry; trends; waronliberty
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 121 next last
To: null and void
You got it, the commies used mental illness as a catchall to arrest,imprison or otherwise harass nonconformist entities.

OBozo and his ass-clown circus are simply laying the ground work.

21 posted on 04/15/2013 8:49:50 AM PDT by nomad
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

A: So we can take their guns away


22 posted on 04/15/2013 8:51:03 AM PDT by Mr. K (There are lies, damned lies, statistics, and democrat talking points.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: null and void
If you want a gun you are, by definition, insane.

Yep. Some university will come out with a study that "shows" that if you desire a gun you are certifiable. They will come up with a new name like hoplifile and will start labeling and lumping criminals and good citizen together. Studies by experts will show that this is a looming problem, dontchaknow.

23 posted on 04/15/2013 8:51:40 AM PDT by VRW Conspirator (Cyprus - the beginning)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: null and void
"You can’t have a gun if you are insane. If you want a gun you are, by definition, insane. "

DING~! DING~! DING~! We have a winner!!

24 posted on 04/15/2013 8:51:56 AM PDT by Mr. K (There are lies, damned lies, statistics, and democrat talking points.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

Don’t forget pot use as a likely cause.

Pot’s been sold by hollywood as mostly harmless. Meanwhile MIT researches demonstrated long term pot use damages the brain in the same area that schizophrenics and bipolar people are damaged.


25 posted on 04/15/2013 8:52:53 AM PDT by DannyTN
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

The half who didn’t vote for Obama will be diagnosed as mentally ill. Similar to what the Soviets did, political opponents of the regime will be institutionalized in mental hospitals.


26 posted on 04/15/2013 8:53:39 AM PDT by kabar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

Maybe it’s because the democrats are driving us crazy.They are taking away all of our civil rights and there’s nothing we can do about it,other than fight the next big civil war.

At this stage No one really wants to step over that line yet,but its coming soon.The people have no where else to go the political system and judiciary are damaged beyond repair.So who do you take your complaint to?


27 posted on 04/15/2013 8:54:18 AM PDT by puppypusher (The World is going to the dogs.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: kabar
****political opponents of the regime will be institutionalized in mental hospitals.****

Not exactly - they will be sent to factories and farms to produce for the leeches (the real loony ones).

28 posted on 04/15/2013 8:58:42 AM PDT by sodpoodle (Life is prickly - carry tweezers.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

Simple. Half the country is liberal and liberalism is a mental disorder.


29 posted on 04/15/2013 9:05:01 AM PDT by george123
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Sender

“Yep, everyone who has ever gone to a doctor must have some sort of mental disorder, “

And anyone who hasn’t, is in denial (a different mental disorder).

The new Catch .223


30 posted on 04/15/2013 9:08:09 AM PDT by Scrambler Bob ( Concerning bo -- that refers to the president. If I capitalize it, I mean the dog.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: null and void

Catch 9mm


31 posted on 04/15/2013 9:12:45 AM PDT by Pharmboy (Democrats lie because they must.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

A caller to Rush last week brought up the very interesting theory that one reason 75% of the kids in government schools are diagnosed with ADD, ADHD, autism, etc., and placed on psycho-active drugs like Ritalin (among many other drugs, including anti-depressants) is so that one day the government can deny them, as grown-ups, “permission” to purchase firearms based on “mental health” issues.

So the reason for all the drugging of kids in the schools may go way beyond merely making life more convenient for lazy parents and lazy teachers - - it may be a long-range setup for dismantling Second Amendment rights for most people. Once that’s accomplished, those who are left with government “permission” to own firearms can be dealt with in other ways.


32 posted on 04/15/2013 9:14:06 AM PDT by Lancey Howard
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lancey Howard

By the 2016 elections we are all going to be insane;)


33 posted on 04/15/2013 9:17:10 AM PDT by sodpoodle (Life is prickly - carry tweezers.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: neverdem
"...many more—more than a quarter each year—will have some diagnosable mental disorder..."

This is an easy one. The people who are creating these standards have a vested interest in increasing the population of people who might require treatment.

Secondarily, this also opens up large swaths of the entitlement population to government largesse.

Basically, more people with disabling mental conditions who can get disability or other benefits.

Note that I am not saying there should not be people who are eligible for some kind of help if they have a mental condition that really needs it. I am saying this is an intentional broadening of the definition of who needs it.

34 posted on 04/15/2013 9:22:06 AM PDT by rlmorel ("We'll drink to good health for them that have it coming." Robert Duvall)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem
almost half will have a diagnosable mental illness in their lifetimes

Maybe those of us with multiple diagnosable mental disorders are skewing the statistics. lol

35 posted on 04/15/2013 9:24:56 AM PDT by steve86 (Acerbic by Nature, not Nurture™)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sodpoodle

36 posted on 04/15/2013 9:25:44 AM PDT by Lancey Howard
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: rlmorel

See post #32.


37 posted on 04/15/2013 9:26:35 AM PDT by Lancey Howard
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

is is all about the record keeping and the taking of rights via “medical need”.

There is no “judicial determination” requirement.

Drs. already have a “god” complex.


38 posted on 04/15/2013 9:28:39 AM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lancey Howard

I have long thought they moved the goal posts to diagnose ADHD in kids, broadening it to the point of making nearly any kid eligible for that diagnosis.

I have always thought that if I grew up today, there is 100% no doubt they would have me on some kind of behavioral medication.

I look at all my report cards (yes, I have them...my parents saved them all for me) and a recurring theme from kindergarden into high school was a “inability to exercise self control in class”. I wasn’t being a jerk (well, except for that time I lit a firecracker in French class and threw it under the chair of the kid in front of me) but I would generally not do what the teacher wanted me to do, which was sit there and absorb.

I would ask questions, make comments, sometimes talk to the kid next to me (which caused me to get paddled on two separate occasions) or not pay attention, so when I got called on, I had no idea what was going on a lot of the time. In spanish class in seventh grade, I got paddled after class for bursting out with the trademark Speedy Gonzales line “¡Ándale! ¡Ándale! ¡Arriba! ¡Arriba!”

I was just a goofy kid, I guess. And I hated Spanish class.

Nowadays, I am sure they would have me on Ritalin or something like that. (shudder)


39 posted on 04/15/2013 9:33:19 AM PDT by rlmorel ("We'll drink to good health for them that have it coming." Robert Duvall)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: neverdem
Lower the bar for mental illness.
Raise the bar for owning a gun.
When they meet, nobody can own a gun. That's the plan.
Except of course members of the ruling elite and their hand picked minions.

40 posted on 04/15/2013 9:35:28 AM PDT by BitWielder1 (Corporate Profits are better than Government Waste)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 121 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson