Without Dash

There is an amazing increase in mental illnesses in the population. And it is not that it is documented better or that we are more aware of it. More and more people are affected with one or more mental illnesses.

The development of mental illnesses in a person can be caused by many factors. Social and cultural circumstances are playing a large role in it. In the last decades there has been an increase in divorces, single parents, suicides, crime rates, economical fluctuation, unemployment, and so on. Personally, I blame the cultural revolution of the 60’s for the whole mess we are living in, but I will not dwell on that subject very long. Fact is we live with the issue now.

To outline how large the issue is, here are a few facts:

• The United States is ranking No. 1 globally for mental illness. It goes even so far that according to research immigrants quickly increase their risk of mental health problems.
• Approximately 4.7 % of the US population suffers from persistent depression or anxiety disorders.
• 4% of US population is affected by ADHD.
• 2% of the general population suffers from borderline personality disorder
• Antisocial personality disorder appears in 3.6 percent of the adult US population.
• 1 % of the population is obsessive compulsive.
• And so on.

Before you think that we will go over 100% when adding all disorders, I need to state that Comorbidity (the simultaneous occurrence of two or more illnesses) is common. Nearly half of people with one mental disorder met the criteria for two or more. So, there are still some mentally healthy people left.

All in all, a national research conducted in 2004 concluded that 30.8 million American adults (14.8 percent) met standard diagnostic criteria for at least one personality disorder. A quarter of those had a “serious” disorder that significantly disrupted their ability to function day to day. (Note: schizophrenia, autism, and some other severe and relatively common disorders were not included in the research)

And if you are not shocked yet, apparently there is a mental illness called “intermittent explosive disorder”, which is characterized by aggressive, violent behavior in which you react grossly out of proportion to the situation. Over 7% of the population has temper tantrums that express themselves in road rage, breaking objects or domestic abuse and may suffer from IED. One generation ago people would not have called that a disorder, but have said that these are bad folks from a background where disciplining was taken seriously.

What happens when almost everybody is classified as mentally ill? Are we then normal again? This reminds me of a novel about a man in a home for mentally ill, while he was the single normal person around. At least, according to his point of view. I can’t remember the name or the author. (Please leave a comment if you do know which novel I’m talking about.)

The Mayo institute states that there is no sure way to prevent personality disorders. All we can do is trying to avoid the highest risk factors as neglect or abuse of children, controlling your stress, boosting your self esteem, learning to adapt and find inner happiness.

Tags: self improvement