3 ms·

It's perhaps worth noting that in excess of 5% of the populace have one form of mental disability or another. ADHD alone is estimated to be a disorder present

It's perhaps worth noting that in excess of 5% of the populace have one form of mental disability or another. ADHD alone is estimated to be a disorder present in 5% of the adult population (2% are currently diagnosed; the 5% is based off childhood diagnosis rates and the fact it usually doesn't go away when becoming an adult). And while those with ADHD are unlikely to populate the OP's 5%, those with pathological narcissistic, sociopathic, schizophrenic (and other) disorders very well could.

frellus 4y ago
Spot on. It's a shame that we haven't prioritized (and de-stigmatized) mental health, especially at a young age, so horrible children don't grow up to be horrible ego-centric adults.
- PuppyTailWags 4y ago
  This probably also raises if you incorporate people who were traumatized as children. Someone having a trauma response can definitely look like horrible ego-centric behavior, when actually they're having an internal meltdown where they're emotionally re-experiencing their trauma with no coping mechanisms because we basically never teach adults to recognize when this is happening. A lot of hyper-toxic fiddly freakouts over small things actually turn out to be deeply rooted in some sort of horrible trauma.
  - frellus 4y ago
    Absolutely agreed, and I hate to sound like a Scientologist here, but I think a lot of people's struggles have roots in some trauma in their past. We're all shaped by bad things which happen to us, and for some people -- the ones especially with low Emotional Intelligence -- they can be re-balanced quite a bit in their thinking and patterns but ONLY if they're willing. That's like 80% the battle.
- Beltalowda 4y ago
  Arguably these kind of personality disorders aren't really "mental health" issues. Or, certainly not in the same way that something like ADD, schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, etc. are. It's basically a nice way of saying "your personality sucks so much that we've decided to label it".
  - frellus 4y ago
    I disagree, I believe they are mental health issues because they're highlighting a process breakdown in how someone is perceiving the world, relationships and challenges. Is that to say that people don't have personalities which suck? Of course they do. That being said, there are many ways of balancing a person's tendencies towards negative outcomes, but ONLY if they can admit they have a problem and they're willing to put in the effort to re-balancing themselves.
axiolite 4y ago
Except those disorders don't often translate to people acting terribly towards acquaintances. Sociopaths may be the nicest people you've ever met, if and when they want something from you. Schizophrenics may be various levels of detached from reality and perhaps difficult in that way, but only a tiny fraction of a percentage are so unhinged that they would act abusive or destructive. There just isn't a large enough population of mentally ill with symptoms that would manifest as described to make up 5%, though they surely make up some part of it.
nullsense 4y ago
Also when you consider other dimensions of personality that are normally distributed, and intelligence which is also normally distributed... it's not hard to imagine the bottom tails of some of those being contributing factors. I sort of think what you're really seeing within that 5% is a majority fraction of "baseline shitty" people, and a minority people of "momentarily shitty" people. The baseline shitty people are likely a kaleidoscope/patchwork of pathologies, and the momentarily shitty people fall within normal ranges but circumstances have pushed their stress levels north of what they can handle.

frellus 4y ago

Spot on. It's a shame that we haven't prioritized (and de-stigmatized) mental health, especially at a young age, so horrible children don't grow up to be horrible ego-centric adults.

PuppyTailWags 4y ago
This probably also raises if you incorporate people who were traumatized as children. Someone having a trauma response can definitely look like horrible ego-centric behavior, when actually they're having an internal meltdown where they're emotionally re-experiencing their trauma with no coping mechanisms because we basically never teach adults to recognize when this is happening. A lot of hyper-toxic fiddly freakouts over small things actually turn out to be deeply rooted in some sort of horrible trauma.
- frellus 4y ago
  Absolutely agreed, and I hate to sound like a Scientologist here, but I think a lot of people's struggles have roots in some trauma in their past. We're all shaped by bad things which happen to us, and for some people -- the ones especially with low Emotional Intelligence -- they can be re-balanced quite a bit in their thinking and patterns but ONLY if they're willing. That's like 80% the battle.
Beltalowda 4y ago
Arguably these kind of personality disorders aren't really "mental health" issues. Or, certainly not in the same way that something like ADD, schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, etc. are. It's basically a nice way of saying "your personality sucks so much that we've decided to label it".
- frellus 4y ago
  I disagree, I believe they are mental health issues because they're highlighting a process breakdown in how someone is perceiving the world, relationships and challenges. Is that to say that people don't have personalities which suck? Of course they do. That being said, there are many ways of balancing a person's tendencies towards negative outcomes, but ONLY if they can admit they have a problem and they're willing to put in the effort to re-balancing themselves.

axiolite 4y ago

Except those disorders don't often translate to people acting terribly towards acquaintances. Sociopaths may be the nicest people you've ever met, if and when they want something from you. Schizophrenics may be various levels of detached from reality and perhaps difficult in that way, but only a tiny fraction of a percentage are so unhinged that they would act abusive or destructive. There just isn't a large enough population of mentally ill with symptoms that would manifest as described to make up 5%, though they surely make up some part of it.

nullsense 4y ago

Also when you consider other dimensions of personality that are normally distributed, and intelligence which is also normally distributed... it's not hard to imagine the bottom tails of some of those being contributing factors. I sort of think what you're really seeing within that 5% is a majority fraction of "baseline shitty" people, and a minority people of "momentarily shitty" people. The baseline shitty people are likely a kaleidoscope/patchwork of pathologies, and the momentarily shitty people fall within normal ranges but circumstances have pushed their stress levels north of what they can handle.