38% of Europeans are suffering from a mental disorder

[Dr. Richard Grossman]

Hi everybody,

A new study authored by Wittchen et al. reports that 38% of Europeans are suffering from a mental disorder.  I have not seen the study so I don't know whether Narcissistic Personality Disorder or other personality disorders were included.  The 4 most prevalent:  anxiety disorders, insomnia, depression, and dementia.  See, for example:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/sep/05/third-europeans-mental-disorder

And this at a time when pharmaceutical companies (facing the loss of revenue as their blockbusters lose patent protection and become available as generics) are cutting back on research in brain disorders:

http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110614/full/news.2011.367.html


Richard

[BonesMS]

Quote from Dr. G:

"And this at a time when pharmaceutical companies (facing the loss of revenue as their blockbusters lose patent protection and become available as generics) are cutting back on research in brain disorders:

http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110614/full/news.2011.367.html"

Can we say Corporate Greed by Big Pharma?

Bones

[Guest]

So 62% of Europeans are not suffering from a mental disorder? I bet they mostly live in the sunnier places, with access to the Med sea, olives, red wine, a little cheese...

As for the 38%, well, have you met my family?



Bones

I could say something different, but I tend to be quite polite on this board.

[sea storm]

I really like this topic however I am late in replying. I could write a book on why but I will spare you. If 38% of the people are miserable maybe it is not the people but the culture that needs looking at. Medicating everyone for anxiety is so 1984ish. The money that pharmaceutical companies make off of human misery is obscene.

Thanks for bringing this up.

Sea storm

[Hopalong]

I think Western culture is going through a crisis that is manifesting in these ways in people...

It's Africa's turn. Asia's turn. Latin America's turn.

We blew it.

We can build something different if we want, but there are a lot of human ashes.

Hops

[Meh]

I think there are pockets of healthy family out there and that has a significance to the greater community...yet to me personally it doesnt make a difference! People are becoming more savy even if slow to catch on, I think in a couple of decades there will be a greater mass realization of basic things like anxiety and depression as being normal responses to an unhealthy situation.

About dementia, well part of the deal with this is that humans biologically were not meant to live this long anyways.
People are skewed...taking every kind of supliment and hormone replacement therapy and viagra and hair replacement etc...to always appear as young as possible. We are living a life that is artificial in context to what the human biology dictates.

[sea storm]

Just what is a mental disorder anyway?  It sounds like these 38% are not happy with the status quo. Some of them probably have some serious problems but labeling them as "disordered" is laden with judgement.
This is so helpful to pharmaceutical companies. No wonder the rivers and stream of the Have part of the world are full of antidepressants.

I agree that there are pockets of healthy people. I wonder what they are doing to stay off the anti depressants. I think some of them are part of communities like the Christian community. I flit around the churches in town and can't really commit to one.
Families are breaking down at an alarming rate. At the same time more people are homeschooling and trying to raise their children in a kinder, gentler world than the school system.

If they looked at the problems of this 38% such as poverty, trauma and abuse I think there would be a different picture.

Sea storm

[Hopalong]

in a couple of decades there will be a greater mass realization of basic things like anxiety and depression as being normal responses to an unhealthy situation.

Couldn't agree more, Boat.

I think this is one reason I am so strongly attracted to those "outside" the culture.
Though I'm superfically in it, my psyche's way over the line.

And I'm faking it.

Hops

[Meh]

I agree that there are pockets of healthy people. I wonder what they are doing to stay off the anti depressants. I think some of them are part of communities like the Christian community. I flit around the churches in town and can't really commit to one.
Families are breaking down at an alarming rate. At the same time more people are homeschooling and trying to raise their children in a kinder, gentler world than the school system.
Sea storm

I'm going to a little church in a smallish town. Only been a few times. It's really quaint and when the pastor dismisses the children to go off to Sunday School during the service they all run down the isles smiling. I'm more agnostic-ish or open-philosophical about the practice and don't feel like I'm a hardcore participant but it gives me a reason to get out of bed on Sundays.

[finding peace]

Hey Doc. G,

I have not read through every post on this thread.

IMO, if 38% were diagnosed, then these were the honest ones.

I fear/believe the count is much higher.

Maybe I am cynical given what I lived through, but I am coming to the conclusion that dysfunctional is actually functional.  And the term dysfunctional should be redefined... to functional.

And maybe,with all my limitations, fears, PTSD, ....

I am functional? 

In the "real world."

Peace

[Meh]

In general terms, this could mean that on average:

38% of European politicians have a mental disorder
38% of nurses and doctors have a mental disorder
38% of school teachers have a mental disorder
38% of military personnel have a mental disorder
38% of police have a mental disorder
38% of judges have a mental disorder
38% of bankers have a mental disorder
38% of daycare workers have a mental disorder
38% of celebrities have a mental disorder
38% of IRS employees have a mental disorder
38% of clergy have a mental disorder
38% of your family has a mental disorder
38% of your European neighborhood has a mental disorder
38% of European news reporters have a mental disorder

It truly is a crazy world out there

[sea storm]

Yes it is.

Sea storm

[Hopalong]

Madness can be a sane response to an insane world.

Ever read The Politics of Experience by R. D. Laing?

In a way over-glorifying schizophrenia was in vogue, but it was also a wonderful reminder that there's meaning in delusion (just like there is in dreams).

Hops

[finding peace]

Yes,

It is a crazy world out there.

One I am sooooo tired of.

Yes, madness can be the response to an insane world.

But, is it madness or clarity?

Is the world insane rather than me? Or has my insane world driven me to sanity?

I had an aunt with a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia  – she “saw and talked to dead people.” 

I know first hand the difference between mental illness and reality.

I can only speak from my world.

I had a therapist who told me I could choose to see the world as:

·   Negative

·   Positive

·   Neutral

Prior to this, I saw the world as negative.  Since then, I have tried and tried and tried to find the world as neutral – but IME it is not.

It reminds me of the series of publications/studies of how people who are depressed actually see the world as it really is.

I believe in what I see, sense, detect…sadly, I wish better.

Peace

PS - I live on a street with 50 homes back to back, which means approximatley slightly less than half of those people are dysfuntional.  In the world of diagnostics and people who decide what is funtional and not?  Sadly, less than half the majority of my street is funtional - is this true? Or is it an opion of someone who has decided for us?

[sKePTiKal]

Hey Peace,

applying those statistics to your neighborhood is a discouraging thought! (But it sure would explain a lot wouldn't it? LOL...)

I think it's possible that functional/dysfunctional people locate in community clusters... in other words, out of those 50 homes, maybe 40 are functional... or other combinations. Ever notice how 4-5 homes all appear to be well-cared for, in a group? Everyday life proceeding with very few upheavals? And then, there'll be one that sticks out like a sore thumb... 

I'll stop there. This topic has the nasty tendency to open up my "rant-channel".