<p>You’re missing the point. I think a large portion of the increase aren’t “faking” mental illness, but that they actually believe that they have serious depression as a self-fulfilling prophecy because they’re helpless, whiney little ****s.</p>
<p>Narrow-minded? We’re talking about college kids here. KIDS. 100, 50, hell, even 20 years ago, much more was expected of 15-18 year olds, but now even “kids” turning 20 are the norm. They’re raised these days with no responsibilities and babied until they leave their house with their mommy and daddy fixing everything for them, and so they’re not going to grow up over the course of a couple years out of the house. If they suddenly realize that they’re unambitious little punks who waste their parents tuition money, it isn’t because they’re lazy and undisciplined and clueless, it is because they’re depressed or they have ADD, which the parents will support because otherwise they would have to affirm that they raised a bunch of hacks.</p>
<p>@tobaccoNchcolat: How would people develop mental illnesses like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia as a “self-fulfilling prophecy”? That makes no sense. I’m not disagreeing with your rant about spoiled rich kids, or the over-diagnosis of ADD and ADHD in upperclass kids - I just don’t see what that has to do with mental illness is all. </p>
<p>I think you’re confused about what “serious depression” is if you’re equating it to people acting like immature party kids. People with depression are usually the opposite of that - constantly tired, no appetite, no desire to be social, aches and pains all over, constant anxiety and overwhelming feelings of sadness, suicidal thoughts, etc. Often these are people who have had serious personal problems and come from unstable family backgrounds, the opposite of coddled.</p>
<p>Also, I based those symptoms of depression on someone I know who had it, I’m not a psych major or something - so if you are, please excuse me if I got something wrong there :]</p>
<p>Springreen - I am not saying it’s party kids. I think it is more the CC type of character. Kids who thought they were unique and special and then stood in the corner at parties because they’re awkward and insecure, and then they developed a disparaging attitude about the “party kids”, and then they found out that they had no friends (because they’re bitter and boring), and so then they adopted a woe-is-me attitude, and then they became “depressed”, the symptoms of which are probably psychosomatic.</p>
<p>Depression has run in my family for generations. My dad lost multiple cousins to suicide in the '50s and '60s. We are good with family history, and have records of depression in the writings of family members going back to ~1850. So mental illness is entirely a modern thing? A weakness?
It seems that you are saying that mental illness is largely a result of our culture. If you are saying only that mental illness has always had some physical origins, but that modern culture has increased the incidence slightly, I apologize. I’m not sure whether I agree with the second opinion, but I do respect it.
And depression’s the easiest one to dismiss. I’ve only met one schizophrenic, but with her it was like Down’s syndrome…mental abnormalities came paired with slight physical unusualness (it was mostly in the way she moved). If her problems didn’t have biological origins, neurochemistry is imaginary.</p>
<p>I definitely believe that there are a large number of people with real mental disorders, but I also believe there are many who adopt them as excuses for not handling their life responsibly.</p>
<p>I feel the same way about homosexuality. There are definitely people who are actually gay, but there are probably many people who chose to be gay because if they didn’t fit in or weren’t satisfied with themselves being straight, they could fit in with the gay community, because the gay community takes in everyone who is gay.</p>
<p>i think the self-pity these kids have stem from the teen angst crap.</p>
<p>but in 2010 it has manifested itself to an enormous culture
e.g. “scene” and “emo” kids.
i remember myspace and the stupid emo kids had names like “chloe catastrophe” and “paula poison” or something extremely absurd like that.</p>
<p>who does that? who names themselves after something unpleasant? like a catastrophe?</p>
<p>it’s these same kids with names like paula poison who brag about how they have “depression” or “anxiety attacks” or something completely fake and STARVE for attention.</p>
<p>if anything they should be diagnosed with NARCISSISM, which by the way, i’ve seen people claim themselves to be (nikki narcissism. woooooooooooooow.)</p>
<hr>
<p>now this is completely different from kids who actually HAVE depression, AKA a chemical imbalance in your brain.</p>
<p>being down is completely different from having depression.</p>
<p>“I feel the same way about homosexuality. There are definitely people who are actually gay, but there are probably many people who chose to be gay because if they didn’t fit in or weren’t satisfied with themselves being straight, they could fit in with the gay community, because the gay community takes in everyone who is gay.”</p>
<p>Are you serious??? How do you have any friends at all?? You come off as really judgmental to me; you can’t just group people into categories based on how you perceive them. Unless they specifically have told you in private that they fake mental anguish or are pretending to be gay I see you as disrespectful. I guess I’m just offended because like Lizrael, a LOT of people in my family have mental problems, and I’m gay, so everything you’re saying is just confusing me. You have no personal experience dealing with the things the people you’re attacking deal with.</p>
<p>Look about 2/3 down the bio for example. Its actually very common. Not just with “pretending to be gay” or something, but to wish one were in a minority to explain one’s inability to fit into the majority group.</p>
<p>And why is that? I haven’t said anything that isn’t true. I never said “all” or use any phrasing of words that eliminated any possibility for explaining ones actions. As a responsible and rationally thinking person, I acknowledge that while there are people who legitimately have mental disorders - or are gay - there are probably also a fair number of people who have ulterior motives.</p>
<p>Being blind about this just means that you have an inability to judge.</p>
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<p>Who am I “attacking”? I am not “attacking” anyone who actually deals with mental disorders. I hold negative views of those who don’t have any mental disorders but find a place to hide in pharmaceutical profits and denial.</p>
<p>I don’t have anything against gay people, either. I live in the freaking West Village off Christopher street.</p>
<p>Sorry, it’s just that I do feel a great feel of sympathy for those who suffer from mental disorders and it makes me uneasy to know that people don’t realize what they can do to a person or how it makes them feel. I’m sure there are some people who fake disorders for attention or pretend to be gay, but I can’t see how the number of people faking is comparable to the number of people who aren’t faking.</p>
<p>I don’t use the word “faking”. The people I am talking about don’t think they’re faking. They believe themselves to suffer from all sorts of problems when they don’t. I think there are plenty of these people. I do, however, also believe that there are people do do fake mental illness, but they are probably much fewer in number since these kinds of people would have to rationalize this behavior to themselves, which isn’t easy to do.</p>
<p>Both of those groups are less than the amount of people who actually have mental illnesses, but the first group I describe has been quickly growing.</p>
<p>Maybe they should take an introductory psychology class so they can learn about the details of a mental disorder… or when they get a psychiatrist who is competent he can explain that the person doesn’t have a real problem.
The medical field and pharmaceutical company definitely caters to the people you’re talking about–I see what you’re saying. I went to a psychiatrist once and I walked out with RXs for bipolar disorder and an anxiety disorder (which I do have, but the one he RXed isn’t explicitly labeled for what I deal with). There are many factors that contribute to people believing they have a problem. I don’t think the pharm commercials help, either, since they just give a brief list of symptoms that everyone feels from time to time.</p>
<p>I don’t understand what you are suggesting with the psychology class idea.</p>
<p>And about a psychiatrist explaining that:</p>
<p>1) Given an explanation, the personality and flawed character of the type of person we’re trying to weed out of the system will always believe they suffer from it if they can give a name it. As Chris Rock once said about pharmaceuticals, if the psychiatrist said “do you go to sleep at night, and wake up in the morning?”, the patient will hysterically believe that they suffer from an illness.</p>
<p>2) Most psychiatrists would rather string the patient along for money or even fall into their own psychological trap and make themselves believe that there is something wrong so they don’t even feel bad about milking them for cash and giving them drugs.</p>