A Growing Mental Health Crisis
The suicide rate in the United States has reportedly increased more than 30 percent in the last 17 years.
There are millions of people today who are struggling with a mental illness, at least 1 in 25 adults are expected to experience some form of serious mental illness in their lifetime. 1 in 5 for teens.
Mental health care isn't going to those who desperately need it.
Suicides and overdoses might be on the rise in the United States and there isn't any clear explanation as for why that might be.
One recent study from Columbia University discovered that rates of depression are decreasing but outpatient mental health care rates are increasing. Researchers believed that because the suicide rates had been increasing that they would likely find depression to be on the rise as well, however that wasn't what they ultimately discovered.
It's suggested that a great deal of that mental health care also isn't going toward people who've reported experiencing severe distress of some sort. This has prompted researchers to conclude that perhaps there are many people in desperate need of mental health care who aren't getting it.
For many people who are suffering with little or no distress levels, who are receiving mental health care, researchers found that it's primarily coming from a primary care doctor and not a mental health professional.
For many of those individuals who have committed suicide in recent years, it's estimated that roughly half of them had not yet been diagnosed with any mental illness.
A great deal of people in society today feel a lot of pressure to keep up with the Joneses on social media and there is this pressure to portray the perfect life, which might be why so many people don't reach out for help or express themselves when they are truly suffering.
Previous polls have found that Americans are overwhelmingly struggling with debt, and feeling more alone and miserable than ever.
People who are suffering need care and there is still a stigma associated with mental illness which likely prevents many from seeking out the help that they need. However, thanks to the technology available today, the options have grown as far as how we can seek out help and who we can connect with, we can do it in a much more private and convenient way that should entice more to consider getting help if they need it.
If we turned to make in change in beginning to regard our mental health to be just as important as our physical health, then we might eventually see more people around who start to place their mental health as a top priority.
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The information that is posted above is not intended to be used as any substitute for professional medical advice, or diagnosis or treatment. The above is posted for informational purposes only.
There are two BIG causes of suicide that most people never EVER talk about.
boys are taught that they are bad, evil. Rapists in waiting. That they can do nothing right. That they are supposed to be good sacrificial slaves.
Social media, like f-c-book and Kritter, is designed to make people distressed and anxious. And i mean DESIGNED to. As in, from the get go, this was the root.
Using social media greatly increases the likelihood of suicide. So much so that if any drug had that effect, it would be banned by the FDA (even if they were being paid to hide it)
And boys are killing themselves at rates FOUR times greater than girls. Of all the talk about evil patriarchy and toxic masculinity, this is never discussed. Further, the mental health care industry is dead set against boys. As in, if you get advice from them, do the exact opposite.
Sam Vaknin: the TRUE toxicity of social media
@doitvoluntarily This is a problem that happens in much of the world, the causes are many, but I think that a very important factor is the material lack to meet basic needs, that greatly affects the mood of the people.
Many Garcias for spreading this news
I wish you a beautiful Sunday
Not to hijack your post, but a possible addendum? I think we should be more open in discussing our own mental health. You are 100% correct that technology makes mental health care more accessible, but it's our own brains and preconceptions we're working against to even reach out in the first place. We've been culturally conditioned to not seek help and to be self-sufficient, so we avoid even asking (although I would argue that using all your available resources wisely, including mental health care, is being self-sufficient).
I think if we were all willing to demonstrate a little weakness here and there, including on social media where we feel compelled to only portray our perfect selves, then that action would also encourage others to seek out help.
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There's some pretty obvious reasons that might be impacting folks, and not all of them are that those folks are ill. Society is ill, and people are social animals. I am pretty confident that it is the increasing destabilization of society that leaves folks feeling they are deranged, when it is the world around them that is broken.
There are also other reasons to not seek mental health providers help besides stigma. For example, millions of people were denied their inalienable right to purchase a firearm last year because of mental health diagnoses, the second highest reason for denials reported by the FBI - ahead of criminal convictions.
In a sick world, the sane are grievously injured.
Thanks!