4 ms·

The jump from 1 in 8 people in 2019 to 1 in 2 people now suggests to me that the pandemic and probably a few other global crisis’ like the inflation thing might

The jump from 1 in 8 people in 2019 to 1 in 2 people now suggests to me that the pandemic and probably a few other global crisis’ like the inflation thing might have a role to play, and actually perhaps the depressed moods, and the anxiety are normal responses to the current social climate we’re living in? Maybe more work needs to happen around case conceptualisation in the context of diagnosis of mental illnesses? I think this speaks to major social issues rather than mental health issues at an individual level. With that said, when people are suffering from depression, anxiety or one of the very many other mental illnesses, whether it be in response to larger social issues, or something else, they still need support.

anon373839 3y ago
> anxiety are normal responses to the current [insert thing here] we’re living in? This is a commonly shared theory on the internet, but I don’t think it really makes sense when you consider how anxiety and depressive disorders operate. What characterizes these disorders is not having a negative feeling, but getting stuck in negative feedback loops that perpetuate the feelings and interfere with daily life. The original triggering event or “cause” isn’t what sustains this pattern, and when the pattern is disrupted (for example, through behavioral treatment), people recover and find peace again. My personal take on the past few years is pretty straightforward: a lot of stressful stuff happened in a short time span, and it revealed that people need to be tending to their mental health more than they have done. Just as having the elevators go out in a tall office building would show that people need to tend to their cardiovascular health.
- Quinzel 3y ago
  It’s not just a commonly shared theory on the Internet, it’s also becoming a concept taught as part of modern clinical psychology courses. It’s not taught to minimise the mental distress a person is experiencing, or in order to brush things off, it’s done so in order to considered the entire person in the context of their life experiences - the reason is because of the over-pathologizing of what can be normal human responses to life experiences and events. This is also useful in informing how one might approach treatment for an individual and allows a clinician more freedom to take into consideration social and culturally specific aspects of an individuals life and can mean treatments can be provided without having to necessarily give someone a label that might result in stigmatisation, but also - in instances like this, it’s useful in considering some wider social issues going on, and might provide some insight into how people can improve these social issues in order to reduce the number of people experiencing a mental illness.

anon373839 3y ago

> anxiety are normal responses to the current [insert thing here] we’re living in? This is a commonly shared theory on the internet, but I don’t think it really makes sense when you consider how anxiety and depressive disorders operate. What characterizes these disorders is not having a negative feeling, but getting stuck in negative feedback loops that perpetuate the feelings and interfere with daily life. The original triggering event or “cause” isn’t what sustains this pattern, and when the pattern is disrupted (for example, through behavioral treatment), people recover and find peace again. My personal take on the past few years is pretty straightforward: a lot of stressful stuff happened in a short time span, and it revealed that people need to be tending to their mental health more than they have done. Just as having the elevators go out in a tall office building would show that people need to tend to their cardiovascular health.

Quinzel 3y ago
It’s not just a commonly shared theory on the Internet, it’s also becoming a concept taught as part of modern clinical psychology courses. It’s not taught to minimise the mental distress a person is experiencing, or in order to brush things off, it’s done so in order to considered the entire person in the context of their life experiences - the reason is because of the over-pathologizing of what can be normal human responses to life experiences and events. This is also useful in informing how one might approach treatment for an individual and allows a clinician more freedom to take into consideration social and culturally specific aspects of an individuals life and can mean treatments can be provided without having to necessarily give someone a label that might result in stigmatisation, but also - in instances like this, it’s useful in considering some wider social issues going on, and might provide some insight into how people can improve these social issues in order to reduce the number of people experiencing a mental illness.