Why is mental illness so much more common now than 50 years ago? The pressures of todays society?

why was there no bipolar or schizophrenia 50 years ago......or not as much at least......pressure? hormones/additives in food? etc.

It only seems that way...
Mental illness has been around for as long as the human race has existed. There are historical accounts of many individuals displaying the symptoms of mental illnesses as they are defined today.

There may be an increased awareness of mental illness in the more recent past, due to the efforts of advocates to help decrease the stigma that has historically been associated with psychiatric illness.

It's not that it is more common. We just want to blame all of our problems on something other than ourselves or that which is out of our control.

types of foods we have now, computers, video games, tv, mass production of illegal drugs, pressure from society about who we should be.

There were mental illnesses long ago...but they didn't understand them or have a way to treat them as we have now. That is why people were locked away in institutions for having any type of seizure disorder...it was misunderstood, and mis diagnosed

50 years ago, these types or illnesses were not known, they were still being discovered. And you're right, now days, with all the publicity through television, internet, and the more awareness, it has become a bigger problem, none the less all the junk food we put into our bodies.

Fifty years ago, people were much less likely to report these kind of symptoms and doctors were probably misdiagnosing mental illnesses. Bipolar may have been written off as just being "moody". And schizophrenia was at one time considered to be satanic possession. I think that in today's society, we are much more aware of mental illness, therefore patients are less likely to feel "alone" or "odd" because they have certain symptoms.

ppl didnt talk about things like they do now if your father was depressed he didnt take pills he just drank more whiskey. with drug company propaganda and so many grants for medical studies they find symptoms and cures for everything except what matter like cancer and aids.

Mental illness was as prevalent back then as now. The field of psychiatry was still developing and people were many times misdiagnosed and mistreated. If there is any indicator of an increase in mental disorders it would be the spread of drug companies as medicine has evolved, doctors today are too quick to diagnose and even quicker to sell more prescription drugs to people. Also, the betterment of medicinal fields has led to people suffering from disorders able to live relatively normal lives and reproduce spreading their genes.

No one knows the answer to this (assuming your facts are correct). Nutritional status has deteriorated dramatically over the last century and is well known in the scientific literature to be associated with most affect, mood, and behavioral brain disorders. Heavy metal toxicities (lead, mercury, arsenic, etc.) may also be involved; although, lead is definitely decreasing in the environment.

Additionally, there may be a role for the massive exposure to antibiotics (in food as well as commonly prescribed to everyone for 'everything') and the resulting bacterial imbalances in the gut. Also, food intolerances seem to becoming much more common and often 'connect' the gut to brain issues. The gut/brain connection is a rapidly evolving science that strongly suggests a role in these types of disorders.

Best wishes and good luck.

This might seem a little odd but I believe our society has fallen away from God and his laws. I'm not saying that it has caused all our problems but not obeying the main man's laws can cause some problems. It's a long argument that I'm not going to get in.

I know that I have mental disorders and it has been because of this society! I hate it! I want to puke every second! (I don't have an eatting disorder...FYI)

However, I have clinical depression and I know I wouldn't have it years ago. I also have social anxiety and agorophobia. it is hard to be with my friends. I can't even have a conversation with them.

There are many factors that I believe are the causes and I'm trying to fix them. It is a difficult struggle though and will not come easily. I have fallen away from many close friends and may cause me to lose the change to make other close friends, unless I get this straightened out in time.

I switched schools once and I want to go back because I realize that it wasn't my school that was the cause of my problems (although at the time, I thought it might be)

I know this doesn't help answer your question but I'm just giving my POV.

Having worked in the field of MH for 30 years, I saw many changes. So 50 years ago those in the field of MH had much less information and diagnostic criteria to use.

In the past 30 years, not 50, a person who was gay no longer was considered mentally ill. The medical abilities to find genetic causes for various symptoms of mental illness were discovered, i.e., Prater Willie, Williams Syndrome, Bipolar, etc.

For generations, and in some cultures today, the family would deal directly with the issues of mental illness. Families would lock their "problem" in the attic or in the basement. More than 30 years ago people, especially women, could be placed in a mental hospital at the whim of the parent or the husband.

In the past 30 years new medications to treat the symptoms of mental illness have been honed. Today with the right supports, i.e. counseling or family, plus psychotropic medications people with a variety of mental illness symptoms can live productive and independent lives.

I don't think it is the additives in foods or the pressure of the work that make MH a common aliment. It is socieiy recognizing that people with a mental illness did not choose to have this disease, that the disease can be treated, and therefore people are more willing to discuss the problems. Today with electronic media and instant communication, information is readily and quickily available and thus people are more likely to recognize the symptoms of a mental illness and reach out to help the person rather than ignoring the problem, hoping it will go away, or locking up the person for the remainder of their life like a common criminal.

The statistics are that one person in four either has a family member or close friend with a mental illness.

I'm not entirely sure there is. #1.There are a LOT more people in the world today- than there was 50 years ago. So naturally there's going to be more of just about everything. #2. Mental illness was not talked about much in those days, it was often kept "in the family..." & out of sight. & #3. Most mental illnesses tended to be lumped into ONE "condition", & anyone who suffered from whatever that WAS- ended up in an asylum. -Where again, nobody heard anything about them. So I'm not so sure there's more mental illness around now than there used to be. Maybe there's just more awareness, openness, & understanding on the matter...

GOOD QUESTION!

History does prove that mental illnesses have always been around. I know from asking older adults, the same issues, disorders of the mind that exist now have always existed.

I know even when I was first asking for help as a 12 year old, people simply refused to accept that kids could have mental problems and that is 29 years ago. My grandmother who died at 96, about 20 years ago, was suicidal as a child and her Aunt told her to not tell others or they'd lock her away for ever.

In the olden-days, even back before the 1960's, people just didn't admit to or talk about mental health issues, it was seen as a sign of weakness, something that the person adn family needed to be ashamed of. As our society is maturing some, we are beginning to see mental health issues in the same light we do physical health issues so more people now admit to having such problems. We are also learning more about what causes many disorders, both social problems that can lead to depression, to self abuse, to alcohalism, etc. We are learning more about how some disease, mental disease can be passed on Genetically as clearly we know Bi-polar seems to run in famlies and Schizophrenia seems to be more common in males, then females and also has at least some hereditary factos.

People in earlier centeries were just referred to as MAD who had illnesses like Bi-polar and any form of Schizophrenia. Many of the great Musicians, Poets, artists and inventors throughout history have been reported to have suffered from depression, commited suicide, had Bi-polar or other mental health disorders or diseases.

We do also know from modern research that our physical environment, meaning chemicals in the environment, pollutants, etc. can make mental health issues worse and some believe they are the cause of the increase in ADHD and some scientist are claiming certain chemicals in the environment may make a person more likely to develop schiophrenia.

The increase in dysfunctional home environments is creating more incidents of depression in teens and adults who come out of these homes. There is more and more problems with sexual abuse, but it has always existed. When anyone is sexually abused they are more likely later in life to abuse drugs to numb out their pain and problems created by their abuse. They are more likely to turn to alcohal to numb out. Sexually abused people as well as others abused in other ways are more likely to turn to self abuse because of having unresolved pain from the past, low self-esteem and often they were not shown as children positive copying skills, so the older they get, the harder many find it to cop with their past as well as present social obligations.

People are also less willing to hide the fact that they have emotional problems, no longer playing the lets keep it the family secret game and pretend as much as possible that all is well.

I've studied since age 12, everything I can on mental health issues, in an attempt to help myself. I've studied social sciences, health and psychology while in college. I am also very interested in why people are the way they are and will ask people about their lives so I can learn more. From this I see that the problems of society have a great deal to do with many mental disorders people have.

What this all has taught me is the disorders such as depression, being suicidal, self abuse, anorexia and bulemia, etc. are all becoming more and more common, because of people growing up in abusive homes as more people grow up abused, then don't get the help they need and they in turn pass that abuse on to their own children. The social stresses of being perfect, succeeding as a primary goal in life is also causing many to feel depressed, to feel anxiety.

There are many factors in why mental disorders and mental illnesses like Bi-Polar and Schizophrenia seem to be on the increase. Some are increasing, while others are just more openly acknowledged by all in society.

Beginning in the seventies and on, more people seek help for mental health issues. Sadly the quality of help is not anywhere where it needs to be. Poor people seldom have access to the same quality of mental health help, that's why poor people seem to many to have more problems then their counterparts who can seek quality mental health help, because they have good insurance or can pay for it. Those stuck in County Mental Health systems often sought help, but get little more then drugs.

Our society needs to assure that all people, regardless of income, have access to the best resources society has to offer when they ask for help.

I'm sure there were many more people suffering from bi-polar disorders, schizophrenia, etc. 50 years ago, they just weren't diagnosed. Remember, not too many years back, any kind of mental disorder or emotional disorders carried a lot of stigma. People didn't understand mental illness. People with obvious problems were locked up in asylums, and the methods of treatment were, by today's standards barbaric. Electroshock therapy, water treatment. powerful drugs that incapacitated the patients, but didn't help, etc.
Also many forms of disorders were undiscovered in those days. Postpartum depression, depression, different types of schizophrenia,psychosis, chemical addiction,eating disorders, and on and on. New treatments, drugs and great steps in therapy occur all the time, not to mention greater public awareness of mental illnesses and the removal of social stigma makes people more willing to seek help in diagnosis and treatment.

Open the books on the war crime trials of '46 to '48. It was sixty years ago that the world heard of the belief and practice of Eugenics . The German doctors charged with atrocities cited the American books on Eugenics where the disdain for the mentally ill and crippled babies was seen as hereditary evils of the human race. They were actually put to death in Germany by order of law before the second world war started . Fifty years ago the world was afraid of these ills and the doctors who managed them.

There has always been mental illness 50 years ago they were the special cases that got sent away never to be herd from again now they are living as normal a life as possible.