america is undoubtedly more medicated than europe. you guys take the cake when it comes to anti-depressants, painkiller abuse, over-prescription and over-diagnosis of things such as ADHD. our media continually portray YOUR shit to be the one that is crazy. as for "40% of europeans suffering mental illness" - what nonsense. 40%? that would have to encompass a VERY wide definition of 'mental illness'. it says "on an annual basis" and can include "stress, depression, insomnia". well? and, as it says, only a 1/3rd of that putative and fantastical 40% figure are medicated/treated, which seems like a much more realistic number. really it's a complete non-story: 1/3rd of 40% of people, once a year, go to the doctor to seek help for stress/sleep problems/feeling low. so about 15% of europeans go to the doctor once a year for a complaint that could generally be called a 'mental' health complaint, as opposed to a physical ailment. okay. really alarming! and that's not even counting these: "wittchen's team looked at about 100 illnesses covering all major brain disorders from anxiety and depression to addiction to schizophrenia, as well as major neurological disorders including epilepsy, Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis." so really that 15% makes up a HUGE range of problems.13rin wrote:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/ … JJ20110904
^anything to this?
and as for the rest of the article, e.g. mental health being the "biggest problem facing modern europe", well, it's a little disingenuous of the article to make out it's euro-centric or euro-specific. mental health disorders are the biggest health problem facing the advanced western world, PERIOD. every single psychological and sociological study that traces the 'fault-lines' of stress, anxiety, disorder-type illnesses pretty much traces it to causes and influences of modern western life. the US and europe are not exactly dissimilar when it comes to the everyday lived-experience.
all in all, a total puff-piece. the one good thing i get from it is that now mental health problems are at the top of the agenda. well: good. i'm glad that mental health issues are getting the attention and treatment that they deserve. if anything, europe has been more progressive and more accepting in bringing mental health out of its taboo-like shade, and into the open with treatment. europe have been pioneers in their treatment of the mentally ill for a lot longer than america, for e.g. the french grand hospitals at la salpetriere, etc. the piece sounds alarmist, but the tone of it is quite misjudged, considering how many average american citizens are (over) prescribed 'mental health' medication. you could say that mental health issues have always been here... just it has taken until now for them to get the medical research, funding, and appropriately compassionate care that is deserved. as opposed to just throwing them in an asylum, or sending them out on the boats.
tl;dr: this is a western problem, not a european one, if anything. mental illness seems to go hand in hand with our increasingly competitive, atomized, and materialistic life. stress and anxiety are parts of our overworked, over-stimulated lifestyles. people feel insecure and unsafe financially, class-wise, gender-wise, race-wise, and every other tender social issue nowadays that are brought into the open fora of 'liberal democracy'. basically: read into it all you want, all we're seeing over here is a self-satisfied american trying to find conspicuous faults with 'them europeans'. trying to make out that nearly 1/2 of all europeans have a mental health problem is absolutely ludicrous. but okay. europe is in peril! the sinking project! this is the fallout of 60 years of socialism!!! etc.etc. yawn.
i read foucault's 'histoire de la folie à l'age classique' (a history of insanity in the age of reason)' a few weeks ago. it is a great book, if you are truly interested in the history of and attitudes towards mental health in the western world. fascinating book.
Last edited by Uzique The Lesser (2013-04-21 19:05:58)