Is There Really More Mental Illness Nowadays? Part 2: Factors to Consider
Is There Really More Mental Illness Nowadays? Part 2: Factors to Consider
The last post discussed how mental illness can get passed along while taking different forms, some of which aren’t detectable with current diagnostic criteria. The younger generations technically have higher observable rates of clinical diagnoses, but there is a lot to understand behind those numbers. There are factors for and against the idea that there really is more mental illness nowadays.
Research Methods. First we must consider how data is collected. The definition of “depression” looked different 30, 60, and 90 years ago. Someone who is generally unhappy with low energy and motivation now qualifies as “depressed.” Back then, this person was just grouchy and lazy and they had to get over it. Survey answers would look very different. Definitions of mental illnesses are still being modified.
Research methods were much less refined in the past, and the internet has drastically changed how social research is conducted and who can be studied. Could you honestly conduct a reliable study of mental illness in the 1930s, considering the low literacy rates, high generalized stress, and undefined mental health terms? It’s hard enough to get reliable results today. Comparing observed rates of mental illness across time may not actually tell us much.
Macrotrauma. However, there are some factors that can be more easily measured. Wars, corrupt governments, slavery, crime rates, drug and alcohol usage, terminal illness, and teen pregnancy have all gone down significantly in the past 100 years. Our kids have actually never been safer to play in the streets. Of course, our ability to report and consume news has heightened our awareness of the traumatic occurrences around the world, giving the impression that we are less safe. The actual reduction in macrotrauma would be evidence against more mental illness today, but maybe the increase in exposure and sensationalizing of the news increases anxiety?
Technology. The spread of the internet and electronic devices has had a double-edged effect. On one hand, people have the potential to be more connected than ever. Those who would have remained isolated, especially ethnic, religious, political, and sexual/gender minorities have greatly benefitted from digital social contact.
However, for many, the ability to stay entertained through electronics, and the increased use of social media, have decreased meaningful interaction. People talk a lot, but not about vulnerable feelings. You can text for hours, and come away not knowing someone any better. Some argue that the decrease of natural interaction and comparison currency of social media is directly responsible for the spike in observed symptoms, especially suicidal ideation.
Suicide Rates. Suicide completion is an easily measured factor that has definitely increased in recent decades in the US, but this may not necessarily be due to increased mental illness. Suicide and suicidal thoughts, like all symptoms, are adaptations. Though this is an extreme way to cope, it requires certain conditions to exist. Extreme pain alone does not cause suicide, and we observe that even developing countries with frequent and intense macrotraumas do not apparently have suicide rates as high as those of wealthier countries. We can consider other possible explanations:
-People who would have “killed themselves” in other ways in the past, such as drug/alcohol usage, gang violence, reckless behavior, or stress-induced physical diseases, now consider suicide a more realistic (perhaps less sinful) option. It’s hard to say whether someone who coped with pain differently in the past might have chosen suicide if they had as much exposure to it as we do today.
-Suicide is an adaptation to a certain kind of pain. This pain must be accessible, constant, and unbearable. In Part 1, I mention a state of “limbo,” where emotions are not necessarily punished harshly, but they also are not validated and allowed to process. Severe intolerance of emotion (such as beating a crying child) often leads to a dissociative adaptation. The child becomes void of feelings, even pain. This explains why some who have experienced the most severe trauma in slavery or war may not have suicidal thoughts, but a middle-class teenager with moderately critical parents and common social stressors may struggle with them constantly. The first has adapted with a strong numbing mechanism, while the other is not threatened enough to dissociate, but does not feel safe enough to release the buildup of painful emotions.
*I don’t assert whether suicidality or dissociation is preferred, just that increased suicides in younger generations doesn’t necessarily mean they are objectively more ill than those of previous generations. Whatever the case, we should be trying to create environments where people can safely experience their full range of emotions and heal, rather than need to adapt to hostile or invalidating environments by numbing.
Awareness of mental illness is greater now than ever, which reduces the stigma of seeking help and choosing therapy as a profession. But others may argue that too much emphasis on feelings is “coddling” for younger generations, decreasing their exposure to adversity and disagreement, thus reducing emotional resilience: “All this talk of depression and anxiety is causing problems and making people sick.” This might be true, but I don’t know of any research that supports this argument.
Chemical Exposure. We have less exposure to brain-damaging substances like lead and asbestos than ever before. On the other hand, there is much more pesticide in our produce, mercury and plastic in our fish, and pollutants in the air and water. Our foods have more preservatives and colorants than ever before, and we have debatable research showing their detrimental effects on mental health.
Nutrition: I’m highly impressed by people who make a majority of their own meals from raw ingredients. The convenience and sheer deliciousness of the fast food industry has made caloric deficiency a thing of the past (for those not deliberately starving themselves), but nutrient deficiency (and its effect on brain health) a serious issue.
Attachment. Babies of the past, and in developing countries, could count on a long attachment period with their mothers (which has strong links with later mental health). Though the modern push to have more women in the workplace may have positive effects on mothers’ health (which is good for kids’ mental health), the lack of workplace accommodations and parenting leave may contribute to insecure attachment, and thus anxiety, in young children.
Numbing. The last factor I’ll consider is people’s ability to process stress through natural means. This basically means spending time in nature and having meaningful social interactions. Numbing with screens has been a way to cope with stress since the invention of television, but smart phones have really changed the nature of numbing. It has never been easier to distract yourself from unpleasant emotions. This means that, even if the big traumas are less abundant, the small traumas can rack up more easily. In the past, people may have been more likely to go on a walk or talk to someone in real time to cope with their stress. But now, people can access a constant stream of digital painkillers, and are taught to do so (what else are you gonna do when everyone else at the dinner table is on their phone?). They don’t process the microtraumas as they come, leading them to develop symptoms as severe as if they had PTSD from a big “T” trauma.
If there is more mental illness these days, I would attribute it more to the easier access to numbing mechanisms like social media, than to the actual effect of those mechanisms.
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