Mental Illness

[dancerjodi]

This http://childrenshospitalblog.org/do-our-youth-really-have-more-mental-health-issues/ is one of the questions I ponder sometimes as I look around at people.

In days gone by, were these issues there and just not mentioned?
Have our lives gotten harder?
Have we become softer?
Is our environment taking its toll on our minds through our bodies?

I'm sure the answer lies in a combination of all of the above, which is why I find psychology and sociology so fascinating. :)

Comments

[benndragon.livejournal.com]

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)

[christmasjedi.livejournal.com]

I agree with this. I did say some. :)