Are too many people getting diagnosed with mental illnesses?

[5794488d84]

I'd hate to admit it, but sometimes the pills are necessary. Yes, the side-effects are horrible but sometimes it's worth it to be able to function normally.

[macrobiotic]

I think this is just one of the many signs of what is wrong with our society.

"Just get the masses to shut up by prescribing pills to make them into zombies!
They aren't real problems that need to be dealt with, shove them under the rug with a happy pill. Your problems will come back to haunt you, but for now take this!"

instead of teaching people how to live and understand each other, our society is isolating us. :[
I love going to the farmer's market. The people there are so friendly.
People in big cities are cold and don't show any warmth to people outside of their immediate circle.

[ShaDawna]

If you're mentally ill enough to be easily convinced that you're mentally ill, then you must be mentally ill.
loljk

way overdiagnosed/overmedicated
often times more than not, treatment could be completely med-free
but psychologists didn't go to school to treat you holistically
so if you go see one, know that they are trained to give you prescriptions
it's in their framework to find you a pill

start with therapy
there's a lot of types of really cool therapy out there
that are often more effective

drugs can actually cause a lot of damage
and they usually don't get you high or nothing fun
meh

[ShaDawna]

I was 9 when a doctor who saw my mom(not me) for 5 minutes was willing to put me on ritalin to "take off the edge"

some dr.s are legit
and some just go
QUAAAACK QUAAACK

[Silvyee]

It's a lot easier to diagnose a patient with a mild mental illness and give them a pill than to fix a sick society.

Notice I said mild. I'm not talking about psychotic people.

[StopLookingHere___x]

Do you think mental disorders are getting diagnosed too much?
Yes.
When is it appropriate for someone to be put on meds?
When they cannot control their life and body, such as people who have PSTD. When it wrecks them either mentally, physically, or both.
Do you think people have become way too dependent on medication?
Most people are. However, when it makes the difference between being suicidal and spending time with family and actually laughing, you're going to pick the latter hands down.
What are bad experiences you've had with meds? Good?
Bad experience, I gained some weight and it left me feeling more insecure than ever. It did nothing to help my disorder.
I haven't gone on any yet that I consider good, most of them don't really effect me.

[Naked Bacon]

Depends on if you count self-diagnosis.

There are millions of ways to be ******** up, so it's not a shocker that most would be ******** up somehow, but shoving them in a box and throwing some mood-deadeners at them seems like a pretty inefficient way to help anyone.

[maggoty tacos]

Do you think mental disorders are getting diagnosed too much? Maybe. Or it's because people are able to get more access to care?

When is it appropriate for someone to be put on meds? If they would like to be put on them

Do you think people have become way too dependent on medication? Society as a whole has. We don't want to feel sick or bad.

What are bad experiences you've had with meds? Good? When I was 13 I was put on anti-depressants. I took them for over a year and my doctor took me off of them abruptly and I got pretty sick for a week or two.

[RyaZombie]

permafrosted

RyaZombie

The best cure for mental illness is

....to just look at flowers...

Lol, what show's that from?

[RyaZombie]

permafrosted

RyaZombie

permafrosted

RyaZombie

The best cure for mental illness is

....to just look at flowers...

Lol, what show's that from?

eek

lol, just kidding. It's the walking dead right? There's like three things I watch on tv and that's not one of them xP

[K-r-e-v-y-e-t-k-a]

I think it's that people are trying to diagnose things that, most of the time, it is impossible to get to the root of. Say you have seasonal depression, but to you it just seems like it's an everyday malady. By the time you feel compelled to see someone, you may be so frustrated that you don't even realize it's not constant. So you may get misdiagnosed with either bipolarity or chronic depression. You also have people who, perhaps on a subconscious level, want to hide that they have an mood irregularity or any other symptoms of disorder. Seeing a psychologist once likely won't be as telling as their long term behavior around people they trust, but it's not like you can interview their relatives.

You can also be completely normal, but still be a d**k. People can diagnose you with a borderline or narcissistic personality disorder, but in reality you may actually have empathy / understanding of peoples' emotions and know that you're being a d**k to them. The results are the same though if you just don't care, and a careless psychiatrist may not notice.

I'm also not surprised that people have anxiety episodes. We have high stakes exams throughout our education, and the majority of the people on anxiety medication (under the counter or prescription) are students who are just trying to get by. What would actually help them is change in curriculum and universities / public schools giving them instructors that actually want to teach and are good at it. People shouldn't be staying up several nights in a row to finish their homework or to study for an exam. If the exam material is that intense, it should be broken down into portions rather than just become material you cram for and then forget after summer break. You would have more exams, but the stress load may be less exhausting.

It also depends on what offices you go to. There are those that are for the public and are paid for by your tuition or by some other nameless entity / organization. After a while, they may just want to get you out of the door and declare you mentally healthy. Real psychological therapy could take years, but some psychologists don't have that much time or are unwilling to, so they refer you to psychiatrists who can diagnose you and prescribe medication.

I don't think children should be taken to any psychologists or psychiatrists though. They just need to have better parents who aren't afraid of them and are willing to tell teachers / professionals to ******** off. If after their formative years, where they actually care about peer assessment and fitting in, they're having trouble adjusting or develop some symptoms of depression talk therapy might be best. It's better than just letting it fester until they're adults and develop some weird perception of themselves or suffer from emotional scars to their self esteem.

[WickedClover]

I have a mental disorder, I am not on meds because I do not like the way they make me feel.
My daughter was recently diagnosed with Autism, I have Asperger's ( a form of Autism), I think that disorders are being thrown out by doctors to make money but a lot of the uprise in mental disorder diagnosis is due to research, for example for the longest time females with Autism were going undiagnosed due to their signs of Autism are more subtle than a males but never the less it is there and shows in most cases.

[Yirah]

I can at least agree with ADHD being diagnosed too much. My old psychiatrist seemed to think I had it and put me on a med for it that made me lose too much weight.

I do have trouble concentrating, and maybe I do have it. But there are many other things that can cause concentration issues such as lack of sleep, dehydration, etc. I think they ought to rule out other possibilities first.

I suppose it's like that with other mental illnesses as well, since the same symptoms can be caused by many things.