re: Changing views on mental health

There is no question mental health is important and we know a lot more now than before which is a great thing. Mental illness can have an impact on you several ways, especially on your physical health, but I think it has also become similar how ADHD used to be (or maybe still is). What I mean is, it is overdiagnosed and overtreated.

Some doctors are quick to prescribe meds to treat mental illness instead of looking at a person's living habits first.. Checking their vitamin D levels, etc. Of course diagnosis like bipolar and other mental illnesses in which a person is possibly a threat to themselves and others is a different story, but I also think the media has turned admitting you have mental illness into something that is celebrated, its an easy way for celebrities, athletes, etc to just say to the media "I made this decision because of mental health" instead of telling them what's really going on.. just to avoid having to answer a bunch of questions, etc.

quote:

---

So what does that have anything to do with 76 and the Olympics?

---

means he sucked it up....kept his demons at bay and didnt fold. Represented his country.....didnt seek attention or pity. The world looked at the USA as a superpower back then......not so much anymore.....just the opposite actually

I don't like the trend of blurring the lines between legitimate, dangerous, and concerning mental health issues, and the plethora of "mental health issues" we now see talked about so often.

quote:

---

I'm pretty sure I have the same response to stressful or other adverse stimuli as a lot of people who talk about their anxiety, and possibly also depression, but I was raised and taught to persevere and overcome. That hasn't hurt me. It's helped me.

---

Doesn't seem like you've ever had severe anxiety or depression, actually.

quote:

---

I'm pretty sure I have the same response to stressful or other adverse stimuli as a lot of people who talk about their anxiety, and possibly also depression, but I was raised and taught to persevere and overcome. That hasn't hurt me. It's helped me. I'm sure I could have been taught more and better coping skills earlier, which would have also helped, but I still feel like people seem more attached to their mental illnesses in some way now. I see people embracing it as part of their identity. That's cool in terms of working toward reducing stigma, but it seems like people are letting it define them more.

---

We live in a world and culture now where people want other people to help them or just take over for them. It's not the John Wayne mentality anymore of "I'll deal with it myself".

We are overall a mentally weak people and continue to get weaker. You see it everyday in our society.

quote:

---

I'm pretty sure I have the same response to stressful or other adverse stimuli as a lot of people who talk about their anxiety

---

If you've never had repeated anxiety attacks, where you literally start shaking, chest feels like it's exploding, tingling hands, nausea of the brain, then, no, you've never had the "same response". I have to take a med for anxiety. It was so bad before the med that I had a tough time driving 5 minutes without feeling I was about to lose consciousness and drive off the road.

I smell what you're cooking and I do think that younger people are waaayyy too quick to claim some sort of mental illness as a "look at me" badge, but people that deal with true anxiety or depression aren't faking it, or whatever you're intimating they're doing.

quote:

---

I'm pretty sure I have the same response to stressful or other adverse stimuli as a lot of people who talk about their anxiety, and possibly also depression, but I was raised and taught to persevere and overcome.

---

False. I was an anti-pill person until my stress and anxiety manifested itself in ways I didn’t know possible. It can be physically debilitating.

quote:

---

I see people embracing it as part of their identity.

---

Nothing wrong with that.

The major problem is like most we see. Media/social media makes something trendy, and the intended and honest purpose is overblown. It’s the same reason that teens want to identify as gay or trans or whatever. The media has made it trendy, and it sucks for people who actually do deal with mental issues, need medication, etc.

i think its good for us as a society to better aware of mental stress, anxiety, and disorders and accepting them as legitimate things to tend to like any other ill affect.

it is the sudden change in that people are using these as crutches and excuses for poor effort and behavior and expect to not be held accountable because of them that is alarming.

Was a counselor for a while in college.

Found some people (albeit exceptional) whose existence was their mental health. Not inevitable but desired, so it seemed.