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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

#161

Post by JacksonGariety »

curryst wrote: post #132
samdamsamm wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> DSM-5 is a handbook for how to blame society’s failures on individuals I staunchly disagree with this, this has never been my experience with any of the psychologists/psychiatrists I have seen (I've seen somewhere around 6 over the course of my life). Blame has never been a component of any psychiatric treatment I have experienced. The DSM is a book of diagnostic criteria to identify the issues you are experiencing…

> "and you can't change society, so you're stuck like this"

I think OP meant that psychologists/psychiatrists don't recognize the social nature of mental illness at all. Just because you can't change society doesn't mean you should tell patients that they can lift themselves out of depression through sheer willpower, healthy eating habits, and exercise. Those things can help but if you don't know how you're going to pay rent next month and you've got two kids, you're going to have serious anxiety.

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

#162

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

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.

I'm just entering my late 30's, and this made my decision for me - I didn't feel good about my resources the last few years and now this? It just got A LOT harder to see myself having kids - at this rate the clock is going to run out before I feel good.

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

#163

Post by avbanks »

username90 wrote: post #28
rumanator wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

It doesn't just put family building on ice, it puts almost everything on ice. Everyone who hasn't already built a life they are reasonable happy with will be feeling horrible right now, and most young people are in that stage. I'm already above that age so Corona doesn't affect me much, but I know that if I were younger I'd hate it.

This is a very eloquent way of describing my exact feelings toward this situation.

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

#164

Post by paulddraper »

Exmoor wrote: post #3

>“What’s worrying is the effect this situation is clearly having on young adults.” I wonder if this is a perverse side effect of normalcy bias [0]? For me, a person in middle age, I can look back at my life and see a lifetime of fairly stable history with only a few traumatic events (9/11, 2008 crash). If you're 22, the current circumstances make up a much larger portion of your life. >The toll has also hit the poor…

That plays a role, but I'd guess that overall stability (financial, career, friendships) may play an even larger role.

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

#165

Post by viklove »

third_I wrote: post #151
Exmoor wrote: post #3

>“What’s worrying is the effect this situation is clearly having on young adults.” I wonder if this is a perverse side effect of normalcy bias [0]? For me, a person in middle age, I can look back at my life and see a lifetime of fairly stable history with only a few traumatic events (9/11, 2008 crash). If you're 22, the current circumstances make up a much larger portion of your life. >The toll has also hit the poor…

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?

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

#166

Post by pengaru »

Exmoor wrote: post #3

>“What’s worrying is the effect this situation is clearly having on young adults.” I wonder if this is a perverse side effect of normalcy bias [0]? For me, a person in middle age, I can look back at my life and see a lifetime of fairly stable history with only a few traumatic events (9/11, 2008 crash). If you're 22, the current circumstances make up a much larger portion of your life. >The toll has also hit the poor…

> This seems completely, and sadly, reasonable. You probably couldn't design a situation in a lab that would screw over the poor more than COVID-19.

I'm in a very low-income rural community. With most the folks living off food stamps already, their lives were relatively unaffected by COVID-19, it's not like they were working much anyways.

If you wanted to maximally screw over the poor, you'd first get them all sitting pretty long enough to start making families while riding on a social system like food stamps, then yank it out from under them. This is something the current administration has been both working on and threatening, and that creates significantly more anxiety from what I've observed.

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

#167

Post by courtf »

watwut wrote: post #156
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.

I really don't think so. The people in the past were not getting automatic respect and were not getting automatic love. The marriage was often economic transaction and you often had to live among people who did not respected you. The marriage happened after short time of knowing each other and if it turned out mistake, that was it forever, no love. Some people's lives had meaning, plenty of others were basically surv…

We don't really know this with such certainty. Our records have gaps and only extend a few thousand years back, at most. Even then, we often only have bits and pieces for certain populations. It's a large stretch to generalize over human history.

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

#168

Post by brighton36 »

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…

this guy has it figured out: https://youtu.be/FM5HkpyXxsQ . We need to throw a party. It's time to celebrate. Emancipation is in sight.

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

#169

Post by aszantu »

As a person with a history of depression and social anxiety I really do feel calmer since the crisis started, as if my state of mind was made for this kind of life. Less people on the streets, it's quieter, no one breathing down my neck in the supermarket, home office, no expectations on how to pick my clothes, how to behave, no trying to hide the weird stuff I eat (carnivore, high meat, raw, cooked and aged whatever gets on the plate), no forced socializing.

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

#170

Post by viklove »

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…

My SO was supposed to start med school this fall, and now that's all up in the air. Try to empathize -- yes, the lockdown has only been in effect for a few months, but this pandemic is going to continue for at least a year or two. I'm planning on taking the GMAT in prep for business school next year, and even that is questionable at this point.

When you're in your mid 20s, delaying 6 months to 1 year of your career trajectory can have massive effects. If you already have your life established, you probably don't have the same concerns.

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