Nicely done article. I wonder about the interaction effects of food (chemicals), pharmaceuticals (more chemicals), lack of physical exercise (80+% of kids no longer qualify for draft) and computers (activates the chemicals) in contributing to the problems cited in this article.
Like grandma always said “ If you look hard enough you’ll find it”. Mental health problems have almost become this weird social currency, in how it to excel. We have lost the ability to focus on overcoming obstacles and instead succumb to them. Thank god someone has finally said it
There is a whole lot of unconscious fiscal convenience in the mental health world, particularly among practitioners with non-research doctoral degrees and below. Especially those that startvwith an M. Especially those with kids in private school and college. They need patients like you need your paycheckm
I am now approaching 80 and almost so old no one will care for my opinions. My mother had a tried and true method for solving her three sons' "anxiety/physical/imagined ills". If discussions didn't resolve the issue and if you are Catholic you will understand her command to "offer it up." That was the final verdict and that command seemed to work. My wife of 54 years used it on our 5 children and uses it on me occasionally.
I agree that we're over pathologizing ourselves into a risk-averse paralysis, but as an autistic person, I hate how autism is specifically being targetted as the villain here. Autism is a permanent developmental disability, not a hormonal imbalance that can be cured through drugs and therapy. The fact so many people still don't understand this shows that we need autism awareness education (and the neurodiversity movement as a whole). I agree the neurodiversity movement has it's issues/extremist views. But it's made me way less "neurotic" than I was before I understood my diagnosis. This is the third article I've seen this month blame society's ills not on social media, but for my quest for basic accomodations and a high quality of life.
Insightful, with a call for much needed perspective in a time perspective is in short supply. “We must come to grips with the terrifying, ego-destroying realization that most of our problems are ordinary.”
I could not agree more with this article. I am a parent of two, one one of whom has autism who was diagnosed over 25 years ago, under the stricter standards. Your discussion about the DSM is right on the money. "Last year, Dr. Allen Frances, a world-renowned-psychiatrist who helped loosen the definition of autism for the DSM-IV, told the New York Post he regretted his decision: “More clinicians began labeling both normal diversity and a variety of other psychological problems as autistic.” Dr. Frances estimated that his changes would triple the rate of autism. According to the CDC, it has more than quadrupled since 2000." Moreover kudos to the reference from a respected professional who recognized the danger of "mental health professionals . . . pathologizing normal childhood behavior. Shyness has become social anxiety, sadness replaced by depression." Life is full of uncomfortable emotions and conditions that act in concordance with the rest of our experience to produce functional adults capable of navigating the world. That is not the case for individuals who genuinely have serious medical or psychological conditions. Not all discomfort or searching for your way through the trials and tribulations of life are mental illness.
The idea that overdiagnosing mental health disorders has deleterious effects is catching on quickly.
When everybody is mentally ill, nobody is mentally ill. Finding an illness in everyone dilutes the (much needed) services for those who are truly mentally ill. When I worked in special education, parents were unhappy when we told them there was nothing 'wrong' with their kid!
Why is there mysteriously little info online for the cited “thank you for sharing” documentary? I can’t find anything beyond the YouTube trailer. If anyone has more info on this film, I’d love to know so I can find it whenever it comes out
Thank you for writing this. I have believed this for some time and have been told that I'm minimizing real problems. I do think that some people need to seek professional help but, currently everyone you meet has some diagnosis which prevents them from functioning in the real world. We all have ups and downs and unique characteristics which should make us interesting individuals, not individuals with deficits that need medicating. A certain percentage of people will willingly grab on to that diagnosis or label and sadly never reach their full potential. Why do we want to be sick? I don't get it!
I was an anxious teen before it was cool, and I've raised two kids on the autism spectrum into healthy adulthood in spite of it all.
First, River, personal advice for you. Look at a person's cheekbones, not their eyes. It's more comfortable for both of you, and it's close enough to looking them in the eye that it counts.
Second, the Mental Health Industrial Complex thrives on dysfunction, and, therefore, to survive, it must perpetuate dysfunction. The labels for every last little nuance of humanity promote focus on dysfunction and, therefore, perpetuate it. Ka-Ching!
Third, never underestimate the self-serving nature of school systems and their superfluous bureaucrats. So many times teachers tried to get me to slap a label on my son so they could get extra funding. For example, when he was seven, we got, "We don't really think your son need Special Education, but if you'll sign here, that will allow our own school psychologist to do the testing herself." That was a hard NO from me. My son was not a typical student, but he was definitely not special ed. Now? That "Special Ed" kid is set to go into a Robotics Engineering masters program next semester. His teachers would have been perfectly happy to let the Special Ed label severely limit his paths in life in order to make their own lives more convenient. FOLLOW THE MONEY.
Fourth, everyone is a head case. Everyone. We must be taught how to be strong and to handle life in spite of our issues, not to label them and wallow in them ad nauseam. Address them, accept them, compensate for them, put them in your navel and contemplate them occasionally, but never, never make them the focus of life. We are not our labels.
All the labels only give kids permission to focus on the "can't," and kids should never be told they can't anything. They and the adults in their lives should only focus on what they CAN do.
You were brave to share this, River. Ditch the labels. Embrace the fact that at the end of the day, the only real label is "human," with all of the imperfections that come with that. And that's okay. Good luck!
Exactly! "...everyone is a head case. Everyone. We must be taught how to be strong and to handle life in spite of our issues, not to label them and wallow in them ad nauseam."
If people would learn to tame their mind through sitting meditation, almost all of their mental health problems would go away. (There are exceptions, yes.) Most of our mental illness is self-created. Learning to master the art of dropping all thought is the cure.
I have a “higher education” inflation theory that I believe contributes mightily to the phenomenon we’re seeing with overuse of therapy. It’s also one that I think explains the rise of DEI, and other oddities in American public life recently.
It’s fairly simple: Colleges and universities have significantly increased their enrollment since many decades ago, and are “in the business” of finding new students. But college really is not for everybody, and many students funnel into cake majors to get through and get their degree. When I went to college in the 90s, psychology was a HUGE major for students who didn’t know what they wanted to do. But they eventually graduate, and the fact that they majored in it makes them comfortable applying it everywhere. Seeking therapy for themselves, for their children, and recommending it to others. Of course, there was an overproduction of psychologists who also need to start their own businesses after graduating, and obviously are looking for regular patients who pay on time.
You can apply this theory to why DEI has become such a sacred cow juggernaut: We also have a huge overproduction of LGBT studies majors, Women’s Studies, Black History, Asian History…… Majors that often set themselves up in opposition to actual, mainstream History departments and other social studies departments, and which on many campuses have been focused on grievance. Those people graduate, too, and may seek to apply their “theories” to corporations and institutions that may eventually hire them to do something real.
I’m glad that Mr. Page, Abigail Schrier, and others are shining a light on this. And I’ve appreciated, too, that many critics are accurately pointing out that there is a place for therapy in specific niche areas. But that maybe we need to consider the possibility that it’s really not necessary for everyone. And we could stand to consider whether our colleges and universities need to review whether they’re wisely allocating their scarce (yet enormous) resources towards the developing needs of our country.
Autism is a universal excuse for turning in your homework late or not at all.
First of all, what an a-hole move from your roommate for saying your autistic. Secondly, my teenage daughters tell me autism is trendy right now.
Nicely done article. I wonder about the interaction effects of food (chemicals), pharmaceuticals (more chemicals), lack of physical exercise (80+% of kids no longer qualify for draft) and computers (activates the chemicals) in contributing to the problems cited in this article.
Like grandma always said “ If you look hard enough you’ll find it”. Mental health problems have almost become this weird social currency, in how it to excel. We have lost the ability to focus on overcoming obstacles and instead succumb to them. Thank god someone has finally said it
it is absolutely social currency
Should say How Not to excel
There is a whole lot of unconscious fiscal convenience in the mental health world, particularly among practitioners with non-research doctoral degrees and below. Especially those that startvwith an M. Especially those with kids in private school and college. They need patients like you need your paycheckm
I am now approaching 80 and almost so old no one will care for my opinions. My mother had a tried and true method for solving her three sons' "anxiety/physical/imagined ills". If discussions didn't resolve the issue and if you are Catholic you will understand her command to "offer it up." That was the final verdict and that command seemed to work. My wife of 54 years used it on our 5 children and uses it on me occasionally.
I agree that we're over pathologizing ourselves into a risk-averse paralysis, but as an autistic person, I hate how autism is specifically being targetted as the villain here. Autism is a permanent developmental disability, not a hormonal imbalance that can be cured through drugs and therapy. The fact so many people still don't understand this shows that we need autism awareness education (and the neurodiversity movement as a whole). I agree the neurodiversity movement has it's issues/extremist views. But it's made me way less "neurotic" than I was before I understood my diagnosis. This is the third article I've seen this month blame society's ills not on social media, but for my quest for basic accomodations and a high quality of life.
Insightful, with a call for much needed perspective in a time perspective is in short supply. “We must come to grips with the terrifying, ego-destroying realization that most of our problems are ordinary.”
I could not agree more with this article. I am a parent of two, one one of whom has autism who was diagnosed over 25 years ago, under the stricter standards. Your discussion about the DSM is right on the money. "Last year, Dr. Allen Frances, a world-renowned-psychiatrist who helped loosen the definition of autism for the DSM-IV, told the New York Post he regretted his decision: “More clinicians began labeling both normal diversity and a variety of other psychological problems as autistic.” Dr. Frances estimated that his changes would triple the rate of autism. According to the CDC, it has more than quadrupled since 2000." Moreover kudos to the reference from a respected professional who recognized the danger of "mental health professionals . . . pathologizing normal childhood behavior. Shyness has become social anxiety, sadness replaced by depression." Life is full of uncomfortable emotions and conditions that act in concordance with the rest of our experience to produce functional adults capable of navigating the world. That is not the case for individuals who genuinely have serious medical or psychological conditions. Not all discomfort or searching for your way through the trials and tribulations of life are mental illness.
The idea that overdiagnosing mental health disorders has deleterious effects is catching on quickly.
When everybody is mentally ill, nobody is mentally ill. Finding an illness in everyone dilutes the (much needed) services for those who are truly mentally ill. When I worked in special education, parents were unhappy when we told them there was nothing 'wrong' with their kid!
Why is there mysteriously little info online for the cited “thank you for sharing” documentary? I can’t find anything beyond the YouTube trailer. If anyone has more info on this film, I’d love to know so I can find it whenever it comes out
Thank you for writing this. I have believed this for some time and have been told that I'm minimizing real problems. I do think that some people need to seek professional help but, currently everyone you meet has some diagnosis which prevents them from functioning in the real world. We all have ups and downs and unique characteristics which should make us interesting individuals, not individuals with deficits that need medicating. A certain percentage of people will willingly grab on to that diagnosis or label and sadly never reach their full potential. Why do we want to be sick? I don't get it!
I was an anxious teen before it was cool, and I've raised two kids on the autism spectrum into healthy adulthood in spite of it all.
First, River, personal advice for you. Look at a person's cheekbones, not their eyes. It's more comfortable for both of you, and it's close enough to looking them in the eye that it counts.
Second, the Mental Health Industrial Complex thrives on dysfunction, and, therefore, to survive, it must perpetuate dysfunction. The labels for every last little nuance of humanity promote focus on dysfunction and, therefore, perpetuate it. Ka-Ching!
Third, never underestimate the self-serving nature of school systems and their superfluous bureaucrats. So many times teachers tried to get me to slap a label on my son so they could get extra funding. For example, when he was seven, we got, "We don't really think your son need Special Education, but if you'll sign here, that will allow our own school psychologist to do the testing herself." That was a hard NO from me. My son was not a typical student, but he was definitely not special ed. Now? That "Special Ed" kid is set to go into a Robotics Engineering masters program next semester. His teachers would have been perfectly happy to let the Special Ed label severely limit his paths in life in order to make their own lives more convenient. FOLLOW THE MONEY.
Fourth, everyone is a head case. Everyone. We must be taught how to be strong and to handle life in spite of our issues, not to label them and wallow in them ad nauseam. Address them, accept them, compensate for them, put them in your navel and contemplate them occasionally, but never, never make them the focus of life. We are not our labels.
All the labels only give kids permission to focus on the "can't," and kids should never be told they can't anything. They and the adults in their lives should only focus on what they CAN do.
You were brave to share this, River. Ditch the labels. Embrace the fact that at the end of the day, the only real label is "human," with all of the imperfections that come with that. And that's okay. Good luck!
Exactly! "...everyone is a head case. Everyone. We must be taught how to be strong and to handle life in spite of our issues, not to label them and wallow in them ad nauseam."
If people would learn to tame their mind through sitting meditation, almost all of their mental health problems would go away. (There are exceptions, yes.) Most of our mental illness is self-created. Learning to master the art of dropping all thought is the cure.
I have a “higher education” inflation theory that I believe contributes mightily to the phenomenon we’re seeing with overuse of therapy. It’s also one that I think explains the rise of DEI, and other oddities in American public life recently.
It’s fairly simple: Colleges and universities have significantly increased their enrollment since many decades ago, and are “in the business” of finding new students. But college really is not for everybody, and many students funnel into cake majors to get through and get their degree. When I went to college in the 90s, psychology was a HUGE major for students who didn’t know what they wanted to do. But they eventually graduate, and the fact that they majored in it makes them comfortable applying it everywhere. Seeking therapy for themselves, for their children, and recommending it to others. Of course, there was an overproduction of psychologists who also need to start their own businesses after graduating, and obviously are looking for regular patients who pay on time.
You can apply this theory to why DEI has become such a sacred cow juggernaut: We also have a huge overproduction of LGBT studies majors, Women’s Studies, Black History, Asian History…… Majors that often set themselves up in opposition to actual, mainstream History departments and other social studies departments, and which on many campuses have been focused on grievance. Those people graduate, too, and may seek to apply their “theories” to corporations and institutions that may eventually hire them to do something real.
I’m glad that Mr. Page, Abigail Schrier, and others are shining a light on this. And I’ve appreciated, too, that many critics are accurately pointing out that there is a place for therapy in specific niche areas. But that maybe we need to consider the possibility that it’s really not necessary for everyone. And we could stand to consider whether our colleges and universities need to review whether they’re wisely allocating their scarce (yet enormous) resources towards the developing needs of our country.
You don't know how correct you are. Kenneth Marks, DO. Psychiatrist, ABPN Board Certified.