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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

#451

Post by to11mtm »

viklove wrote: post #170
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…

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 t…

Yeah this is going to impact things for a while most likely.

When I finished college, the 2008 recession had not happened yet, however there were definitely warning signs in the job market even after I graduated. Many of my friends from college were laid off before or during the downturn, I was stuck in a very dead end job just trying to make ends meet. I wound up not getting a job fully utilizing my degree until I had almost reached 30.

Lots of folks in this area were in similar boats; they aren't starting families until their mid or even later 30s because they had stumbling blocks due to the 2008 crisis.

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

#452

Post by pathseeker »

Havoc wrote: post #272

I find the direct linkage to corona to be a little misleading. My gut feeling says this is a broader sign of the times: * Rising youth unemployment * Gig economy & the uncertainty that comes with it * Crushing study debt * Little hope of owning property * Rapidly increasing inequality * Offshoring & automation * Healthcare system where serious sickness can lead to financial ruin * Debt fueled systems (or credit score…

>* Rising youth unemployment

Before COVID?

>* Little hope of owning property

This realistically only applies in a few hot cities in the US and to low income groups. The middle class still can easily achieve home ownership in most of the US.

>* Rapidly increasing inequality

This is just a political talking point. It has no realistic impact on the day-to-day life of the bulk of the population. Whether Jeff Bezos has 1 billion or 1 trillion doesn't really matter to someone making 90k living in Chicago.

>* Healthcare system where serious sickness can lead to financial ruin

Again, this doesn't apply to a huge portion of the US population because they have health insurance. Remember that the reason that healthcare is so hard to change in the US is because it works for the majority of the population.

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

#453

Post by Gibbon1 »

pathseeker wrote: post #452
Havoc wrote: post #272

I find the direct linkage to corona to be a little misleading. My gut feeling says this is a broader sign of the times: * Rising youth unemployment * Gig economy & the uncertainty that comes with it * Crushing study debt * Little hope of owning property * Rapidly increasing inequality * Offshoring & automation * Healthcare system where serious sickness can lead to financial ruin * Debt fueled systems (or credit score…

>* Rising youth unemployment Before COVID? >* Little hope of owning property This realistically only applies in a few hot cities in the US and to low income groups. The middle class still can easily achieve home ownership in most of the US. >* Rapidly increasing inequality This is just a political talking point. It has no realistic impact on the day-to-day life of the bulk of the population. Whether Jeff Bezos has 1…

> Again, this doesn't apply to a huge portion of the US population because they have health insurance.

Let me guess you've never had to use yours for anything major.

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

#454

Post by [deleted] »

nickthemagicman wrote: post #450
wbronitsky wrote: post #446

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for posting the data. These are both brand new from yesterday, however, so I’m not sure why the tone here is so belligerent. Either way, this is incredibly interesting, and something we should continue to look into going forward. It sure would be nice to ease up on the lockdowns if they are not the correct path going forward.

If you do some research and start questioning the narrative the amount of demonization and arrogant dismissiveness you get for it will make you belligerent. lol People are scared and when you disagree with the experts even if you're right you get treated poorly.

[deleted]

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

#455

Post by conistonwater »

anbende wrote: post #439
cshimmin wrote: post #414

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hold on, do I understand correctly your comment about the 20% false positive rate? So even if exactly ZERO Americans were experiencing depression, a random sampling would indicate 20% of Americans are showing signs of depression? And if it's 20% for both tests, that would would correspond to a 36% false positive rate for at least one condition [0]. So the headline that a third of Americans are showing signs of anxiet…

The situation is a little more complicated as these tests ALSO have a false negative rate. And that false negative rate is also about 20%. As well, the false positive rate is for scores at threshold , which is 3 out of 5. If they score a 4 or a 5, the false positive rate drops dramatically. As well, this isn't an antibody test. Diagnosis is not dichotomous but dimensional. A false positive on depression inventory doe…

This doesn't address in any way the point being made about false positives leading to overly high estimates of prevalence in the general population, whereas nullc's comment is probably quite close to explaining the issue.

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

#456

Post by ramblerman »

pstuart wrote: post #396
penagwin wrote: post #381

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not op, but to phrase it another way, consider if it's benificial to worry about - vote for who you want etc. But that doesn't mean you have to watch every political "event" - you'll just burn yourself out. I'm not saying bad things aren't happening - just that if there's nothing more you can do, try not to envolope your life with it. It's like high school drama - it can feel like it's your entire world but in realit…

I understand what you're saying and I would if I could (and I try). But my understanding of things is that shit's gonna get a lot worse. If it was just me I'd say fuck it, party and watch the world burn. But I have kids, and I don't want to go down without a fight.

Get worse how? apart from the pandemic, what has fundamentally changed in the US that is so bad. The world will go on, and yes maybe the balance is a bit more on the right, but the pendulum swings on. The partisanship is just a way to keep you tuned in to the news, it's a farce, there is not that much difference between democrat and republican.

So the real question is, would you like to pass on this kind of anxiety to your kids, or give up this fatalistic bs, and start filling your days with more quality content.

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

#457

Post by legacynl »

conistonwater wrote: post #455
anbende wrote: post #439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The situation is a little more complicated as these tests ALSO have a false negative rate. And that false negative rate is also about 20%. As well, the false positive rate is for scores at threshold , which is 3 out of 5. If they score a 4 or a 5, the false positive rate drops dramatically. As well, this isn't an antibody test. Diagnosis is not dichotomous but dimensional. A false positive on depression inventory doe…

This doesn't address in any way the point being made about false positives leading to overly high estimates of prevalence in the general population, whereas nullc's comment is probably quite close to explaining the issue.

> This doesn't address in any way the point being made about false positives leading to overly high estimates of prevalence in the general population

It does if you are aware of the fact that these tests are never used on its own to diagnose depression/anxiety.

The GP or psychologist determines if the client exhibits symptoms of depression, and THEN performs the test, often in combination with other tests that test similar things. Afterwards the results of those tests (as well as the dialogue that's been had with the client), are used in conjunction to determine if a diagnosis is appropriate.

I think it's rather arrogant to assume that psychologists/diagnosticians/statisticians are oblivious to the fact that tests have reliability/validity measures. Of course they are aware, that's their job.

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

#458

Post by tripzilch »

particleandwave wrote: post #426
aszantu wrote: post #169

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…

Sadly, I experienced the opposite. I also have a history of depression and panic disorders (not social, however), and I was getting better before the quarantine. When the quarantine struck about a week after I started feeling hopelessness as if I have no control in life anymore. Like things, bad things will happen to me, and I will not be able to cope with it. Then memories over past mistakes took over, and I started…

I found I just break down without human contact. Thoughts. No thoughts. Staring, not moving. It's not good. I'm thankful that the lockdown restrictions are easing up a bit where I live and I can meet with friends again. Otherwise I'd have been arguing to take it slower with opening up, if it wasn't taking such a toll on me.

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

#459

Post by [deleted] »

aszantu wrote: post #169

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…

[deleted]

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

#460

Post by pathseeker »

Gibbon1 wrote: post #453
pathseeker wrote: post #452

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>* Rising youth unemployment Before COVID? >* Little hope of owning property This realistically only applies in a few hot cities in the US and to low income groups. The middle class still can easily achieve home ownership in most of the US. >* Rapidly increasing inequality This is just a political talking point. It has no realistic impact on the day-to-day life of the bulk of the population. Whether Jeff Bezos has 1…

> Again, this doesn't apply to a huge portion of the US population because they have health insurance. Let me guess you've never had to use yours for anything major.

I have. Procedure totaling about $90k. HDHP covered everything after the first $4k. HSA that company contributes to covered the first $4k. My expense = $0.

Instead of talking about anecdotes or making lame personal accusations, just look at the data: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2690297/

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