A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression • Hacker News Board

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#171

Post by rwc » Wed, May 27, 2020, 7:36 PM UTC

3pt14159 wrote: post #160

JSavageOne wrote: post #131

As an American it's not surprising at all. Six figures of student loan debt, job insecurity, healthcare insecurity, rampant poverty / homelessness, the most despicable president to disgrace the white house (who didn't even win the popular vote), stay-at-home orders because the U.S. couldn't manage the crisis, lack of community (doesn't help that 99% of the country is sprawl), rampant obesity, and general lack of hope…

Don't forget the internet and the constant FOMO and comparisons to people at their best points in life, or the fact that the social dynamics of dating have gotten crazy. Attractive, fit, intelligent men get a completely outsized proportion of the interest on apps like Bumble and Tinder, while even median men are mostly ignored. America is in the worst shape in the West, but these trends are getting worse here in Cana…

uh “Attractive, fit, intelligent” seems like a winning combination regardless of the era.

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#172

Post by aszantu » Wed, May 27, 2020, 7:38 PM UTC

ithkuil wrote: post #7

username90 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A young person is building their life, lockdown is preventing them from doing that. For example a person looking to build a family will miss out on a few months they could find a partner, and the fertility clock is ticking

Arguably the fertility clock is ticking harder for those who in their late thirties just realized perhaps it's ok to stop waiting for full employment stability before starting to consider a family.

fertility clock was made up by fertility clinics, they say it's declining sharply, doubeling the rate at which bad things can happen to the child if u get it in ur 50ies, but it's going from 0,1 to 0,3 or so, it's really low if someone's healthy in her fifties and still has eggs left

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#173

Post by sdwa » Wed, May 27, 2020, 7:40 PM UTC

3pt14159 wrote: post #160

JSavageOne wrote: post #131

As an American it's not surprising at all. Six figures of student loan debt, job insecurity, healthcare insecurity, rampant poverty / homelessness, the most despicable president to disgrace the white house (who didn't even win the popular vote), stay-at-home orders because the U.S. couldn't manage the crisis, lack of community (doesn't help that 99% of the country is sprawl), rampant obesity, and general lack of hope…

Don't forget the internet and the constant FOMO and comparisons to people at their best points in life, or the fact that the social dynamics of dating have gotten crazy. Attractive, fit, intelligent men get a completely outsized proportion of the interest on apps like Bumble and Tinder, while even median men are mostly ignored. America is in the worst shape in the West, but these trends are getting worse here in Cana…

I agree about the toxicity of social media, it's why I don't have an Instagram and, well, Facebook is dead among my generation anyway so it's not an issue.

>Attractive, fit, intelligent men get a completely outsized proportion of the interest on apps like Bumble and Tinder, while even median men are mostly ignored.

Is this a real problem though? I've heard about how women rate most men as below average, yada yada, but monogamy is still dominant, it's not like these hot men are building harems---on aggregate the vast majority will end up with a life partner, just as always. Am I missing something?

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#174

Post by viklove » Wed, May 27, 2020, 7:41 PM UTC

Pfhreak wrote: post #126

qqj wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would caution against using any sort of chemicals, try to exhaust all other options first. You don't want the sort of problem where you feel unlike your own self without some substance, not to mention that most of them basically reduce you to a zombie. Sleepwalking through life isn't my idea of living.

This is dangerously wrong. I went way too long before trying an antidepressant because I was worried I'd lose who I was, that I'd face social stigma, and that I was somehow cheating. Turns out they've made me more expressive, energetic, and connected to others in my life. The biggest effect is an increased ability to break out of mental ruts much more easily.

> Turns out they've made me more expressive, energetic, and connected to others in my life.

Sounds like you did lose who you were, medications change your personality and that's not something I want for myself. More power to you for undergoing that change, though.

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#175

Post by watwut » Wed, May 27, 2020, 7:42 PM UTC

dgzl wrote: post #69

Pfhreak wrote: post #12

I've dealt with depression and anxiety for many years. I just want to tell anyone who happens to read this: it's ok to ask for help, it's ok to go to therapy, it's ok to use antidepressants. Find the tools that work for you and keep asking for help when you need it. (Believe me, I know how hard it is.)

I'm always ignored when I ask for help. Being a person who "takes it like a man" in a sense, as in absorbs these problems for greater overall execution, I'm always ignored when I bring up my problems. "Tough shit" is the general attitude. Unless I'm highly expressive or emotional nobody takes it seriously. But if I'm being that emotional it's already too late.

Squeaky wheel gets the oil. Absorbing problems for good overall execution benefits others, but they get used to it as normal and take it as granted after a while. Then they don't know what to do on change, because they have no experience with it.

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#176

Post by rb808 » Wed, May 27, 2020, 7:42 PM UTC

I can't read the article but does it say what it was before covid? I'm not sure if this is a virus related thing or just a longer term trend.

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#177

Post by conistonwater » Wed, May 27, 2020, 7:42 PM UTC

Diagnostic criteria for anxiety and depression are very broad because they are necessary as tools for practicing doctors seeing patients (as opposed to applying them to a random selection of people). If you turn the process back, and just ask how many people in the population fit under them, you'll always, even in normal times, get an unexpectedly large number. That doesn't imply that anything is wrong or that anything needs to be done about it, doctors don't use them like that. This is approximately the same phenomenon that causes medical students to self-diagnose themselves with every disease they learn about: one of the fundamental factors missing from such a diagnosis is that they haven't walked into a clinic. It's not a bug in the diagnostic criteria, it's just a misapplication of them.

One of the main ways of fighting over-diagnosis is to not apply diagnostic criteria for every known condition to random people who you have no a priori reason to suspect they might have those conditions.

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#178

Post by Red_Leaves_Flyy » Wed, May 27, 2020, 7:42 PM UTC

samdamsamm wrote: post #71

crocodiletears wrote: post #49

The nation's been psychologically wrong-footed during an election year where the incumbent is the most controversial president in decades (one who's been impeached, even), the challenging party's primary process has been subjected to accusations of corruption and favoritism (at best) by the presumed nominee's opposition, and been riddled with suspicious errors. That alone would be a memorable storm and a half for our…

America has a profound ability to diagnose individual problems, and an active inability to diagnose social problems. The American psychological industry cannot be let off the hook. DSM-5 is a handbook for how to blame society’s failures on individuals. We need scientific doctors capable of considering not only the realities they are allowed to accept but also the realities of the actually existing world in which thei…

The dsm5 is a billing manual. Psychology is still a juvenile practice rife with the problems of a juvenile industry. Fact is, psychology can't do much to make people happier if their life isn't great to begin with.

theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/19/bad-news-is-were-dying-earlier-in-britain-down-to-shit-life-syndrome

The solution is not legitimate metal health institutions, there are many great ones. They are merely powerless to meet their goals when their patients lives are the problem. Instead we need to put the people of this country first. This needs to be enshrined in law and people must be provided a bare minimum to allow them to thrive. Forced poverty to benefit shareholders has had ruinous effects of the people wherever it's been attempted.

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#179

Post by all2 » Wed, May 27, 2020, 7:45 PM UTC

3pt14159 wrote: post #160

JSavageOne wrote: post #131

As an American it's not surprising at all. Six figures of student loan debt, job insecurity, healthcare insecurity, rampant poverty / homelessness, the most despicable president to disgrace the white house (who didn't even win the popular vote), stay-at-home orders because the U.S. couldn't manage the crisis, lack of community (doesn't help that 99% of the country is sprawl), rampant obesity, and general lack of hope…

Don't forget the internet and the constant FOMO and comparisons to people at their best points in life, or the fact that the social dynamics of dating have gotten crazy. Attractive, fit, intelligent men get a completely outsized proportion of the interest on apps like Bumble and Tinder, while even median men are mostly ignored. America is in the worst shape in the West, but these trends are getting worse here in Cana…

> Attractive, fit, intelligent men

By and large these are results of choices people make, not accidents.

A guy with visible abs didn't just wake up one day and have abs. He put in the work. Same goes for attractive or intelligent.

Taking time to find clothes that fit, discovering a flattering hair style, and generally not being a slob can put an average man into the "attractive" group.

By intelligent, I mean "witty" or a good conversationalist. Wit/conversation are learned skills. Yeah, some people are better at it than others, but you can still learn.

Don't feel trapped on the outside. You can be excellent if you so choose.

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#180

Post by karatestomp » Wed, May 27, 2020, 7:48 PM UTC

Shit, our terrible healthcare system's given me what'd probably qualify as clinical anxiety for longish periods several times in the last few years, and that's despite being well into the top 20% most economically-fortunate Americans, consistently having health insurance, and not having really serious or chronic medical problems in my immediate family.