But we recently discovered that a whole slew of mental disorders start much earlier than we thought they did - half of them by age 14 and 3/4 by age 24[1]. So even if the number of people who have mental disorders has stayed the same, simply by recognizing that they start earlier means we start figuring out what those early signs are so we can start treating it early (which is vital since the average delay in treatment across all mental disorders is a decade and untreated mental disorders tend to get both worse and more resistant to treatment[2]). So it's not simply a matter of parental hypochondria - it's a reflection of some really important information about when mental disorders appear and are then (not) treated.
[1] Source (PDF) (no relation ;P) [2] Source (PDF)
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2010-02-09 11:27 pm (UTC)[1] Source (PDF) (no relation ;P)
[2] Source (PDF)