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

washingtonpost.com

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

#211

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

all2 wrote: post #195
rjkennedy98 wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stress is not just a matter of the facts of every day life. That's almost like saying all that matters is if you can eat and sleep. That is not what most people want out of life. They want meaning in their life, respect, and love. Those are all things that are way way way more difficult to get today than at almost any time during human history.

> Stress is not just a matter of the facts of every day life. Stress is the response to every day life. We don't have the coping skills we used to have. Kids, children, were conscripted, given weapons, and sent to a different continent to fight and die. Twice. After the first time, the Spanish Flu hit and killed millions of people. The kids who lived through that time were mentally tough and capable of coping with th…

Given that WW1 coined the term "Shell Shock", I think you're making heroic caricatures out of real people.

If anything the "softening" is that we can now speak of these things, rather than force them down under stoic veneers and alcoholism.

https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-48528841

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

#212

Post by Grimm1 »

all2 wrote: post #195
rjkennedy98 wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stress is not just a matter of the facts of every day life. That's almost like saying all that matters is if you can eat and sleep. That is not what most people want out of life. They want meaning in their life, respect, and love. Those are all things that are way way way more difficult to get today than at almost any time during human history.

> Stress is not just a matter of the facts of every day life. Stress is the response to every day life. We don't have the coping skills we used to have. Kids, children, were conscripted, given weapons, and sent to a different continent to fight and die. Twice. After the first time, the Spanish Flu hit and killed millions of people. The kids who lived through that time were mentally tough and capable of coping with th…

What world do you even live in?

The US has had constant military engagements for the last 20-30 years, the largest terrorist attack on US soil, the complete economic erosion of the middle class followed by the largest recession since the great depression and now the largest depression since the great depression with the largest pandemic since 1918 where we're also on track for millions dying. This is one of the roughest times in history to be growing up in compared to those times.

Then there is their idea of "effective coping". It was to drink more and smack their wives. Your romanticization of those people is utterly off the mark.

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

#213

Post by bobthepanda »

ssivark wrote: post #183
conistonwater wrote: post #177

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 anythi…

This is an important point about the role of priors — especially if one is using a statistical (correlation based) proxy for what is actually a causal question. But here’s a practical question: imagine a universal healthcare mandate which allows people to get a mental health check-up every year. What criteria should the doctors use? Would the diagnostics have to change significantly?

What do practitioners do in countries with universal healthcare?

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

#214

Post by all2 »

Grimm1 wrote: post #212
all2 wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Stress is not just a matter of the facts of every day life. Stress is the response to every day life. We don't have the coping skills we used to have. Kids, children, were conscripted, given weapons, and sent to a different continent to fight and die. Twice. After the first time, the Spanish Flu hit and killed millions of people. The kids who lived through that time were mentally tough and capable of coping with th…

What world do you even live in? The US has had constant military engagements for the last 20-30 years, the largest terrorist attack on US soil, the complete economic erosion of the middle class followed by the largest recession since the great depression and now the largest depression since the great depression with the largest pandemic since 1918 where we're also on track for millions dying. This is one of the rough…

> It was to drink more and smack their wives.

That is also a caricature. I think the middle ground between what you have said and I what I have said is more likely to be true.

> Your romanticization of those people is utterly off the mark.

Noted. In retrospect, I agree.

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

#215

Post by aianus »

rumanator wrote: post #20
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

> A young person is building their life, lockdown is preventing them from doing that. I find this comment utterly mind boggling. The US's stay at home orders were issued when? Mid to end of March? That makes it what? About 1 month? Are we supposed to believe that "young people" suddenly get into a tail spin because they have to endure a whole month of not finding a partner, get to know each other, make life plans, an…

> Are we supposed to believe that "young people" suddenly get into a tail spin because they have to endure a whole month

They've already basically cancelled college in Canada for September through December. All large classes (so all freshman core classes) will be online and it's doubtful dorms will be open. So that's at least 9 months ruined for high school seniors and college students.

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

#216

Post by third_I »

viklove wrote: post #165
third_I wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm gonna speak purely anecdotally, and this is personal opinion. I was born in 82 in France, was 19 on 9/11/2001. It definitely shaped my psyche and world view. You just don't grow up as naively when you know 9/11 is an option (the end result, however we got there). I realized last Sept (19) as I visited the Memorial in NYC for the first time that this had had a long, lasting effect on me. I sobbed in the room where…

> I was born in 82 in France, was 21 on 9/11/2001 Do they count years differently in France?

Yes, I was in fact 19. Oh my :) Edited.

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

#217

Post by war1025 »

coliveira wrote: post #209
freeone3000 wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

9/11 happened to me in grade school. Iraq war happened thereafter. Then the financial crash. Then the subprime crash. And now covid. My life is shaped MORE by crises than by stability - not just the current one, but ALL of them.

Yes, the US looks increasingly more like a 3rd world country. One crisis after another.

Europe was an even worse place crisis-wise for the majority of the 20th century.

The sad thing about humanity is our living memory only goes back fifty years or so. Everything past that is just "back in the old days" and we forget how extremely recently all those things were even on a human timescale.

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

#218

Post by cwperkins »

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…

I can't say I share the same feelings as you, but it certainly would be great to see young Americans be more excited about the future and I think some big investment in infrastructure could be a way to make that happen. There are many people worse off in other Countries that are happy because they are seeing vast improvements year over year and their own value goes up proportionately to how much effort gets put in.

We have low interest rates so I'd love to see shovel ready projects like the Gateway tunnels in NYC get off the ground. I'd love to see emerging industries in America get bigger like Robotics, new Energy Ventures, anything related to Space and Advanced Manufacturing.

Anecdotally, the largest problem I think we have is that there are vast amounts of people who feel like victims and just about everyone feels like they are under attack or have been violated. I want to create value with my life and hope that I can provide opportunity for others in the process. There are many culture wars things that are debated on social media that I see disingenuous actors from many angles that I need to drown out so I can focus on other things.

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

#219

Post by refurb »

JSavageOne wrote: post #130
presiozo wrote: post #27

I wonder what's the correlation between this and people being underpaid. I'm fortunate enough to have my own house after graduation so I don't have to pay rent. But I have friends that don't have this luxury and man, they are struggling. Besides eating and rent they can't afford anything else in a month. No question here what's giving them these feelings

On top of that, I wonder how much these statistics are influenced by the ridiculous student debt burdens the U.S. education system saddles their youth with. Getting a master's degree will easily have you graduating with six figures in student loan debt. In a sibling comment I see a mention of Denmark - a country where not only is higher education free, the government actually pays students a monthly stipend to help c…

Yup, America is in shambles. That's why everyone gets so pissed when they try to stop the millions of people that want to come here.

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

#220

Post by irrational »

What age? I've noticed way more young people (teenagers and early 20s) exhibiting signs of anxiety and depression than people my own age (mid 40s). I never knew anyone with anxiety or depression growing up. But that probably has a lot more to do with mental illness not being discussed back than it not being around. But, even among me friend group nobody exhibited the signs that I see so clearly prevalent among my own kids' friend groups. Is it social media? Some chemical that has entered our environment? Is it something having to do with growing up in a post-9/11 world?
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