It’s no coincidence that our politics and our mental health have declined so rapidly, at the same time.
Everyone has his or her own definition of a political crisis. Mine is when our collective mental health starts having a profound effect on our politics — and vice versa.
It cannot be a simple coincidence that the two have declined in tandem. The American Psychiatric Association reported that from 2016 to 2017, the proportion of adults who described themselves as more anxious than the previous year was 36 percent. In 2017, more than 17 million American adults had at least one major depressive episode, as did three million adolescents ages 12 to 17. Forty million adults now suffer from an anxiety disorder — nearly 20 percent of the adult population. (These are the known cases of depression and anxiety. The actual numbers must be dumbfounding.)
The really sorrowful reports concern suicide. Among all Americans, the suicide rate increased by 33 percent between 1999 and 2017.
All of this mental carnage is occurring at a time when decades of social and political division have set against each other black and white, men and women, old and young. Beyond bitter social antagonisms, the country is racked by mass shootings, the mind-bending perils of the internet, revelations of widespread sexual predation, the worsening effects of climate change, virulent competition, the specter of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, grinding student debt and crises in housing, health care and higher education. The frightening environment helps cause depression, depression causes catastrophic thinking, and catastrophic thinking makes the environment seem even more terrifying than it is.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/02/o...ica-trump.html
evince (01-05-2020), Guno צְבִי (01-05-2020), Iolo/Penderyn (01-06-2020), PoliTalker (01-06-2020), reagansghost (01-05-2020)
Putin wanted Americans triggered by the chaos
hense all the snowflake and triggering talk
reagansghost (01-05-2020)
The only people "depressed" in this country are Democrats and liberals. They have been since 2016. No one of consequence cares.
Charoite (01-05-2020)
And how does reiterating what you thanked trigger you so? If you tried to teach a youngling what America is supposed to represent while showing them the ropes of current society, it would seem like the grown-ups are just kidding them. AKA a sad joke. I don't know about you but I don't like being part of the disgrace. The reasoning for America just seems like a damaged shell anymore.
PoliTalker (01-06-2020)
I wouldn't consider it a sad joke. I would consider a lot of idealists to be a sad joke, but that's because idealism is something you're supposed to grow out of by the time you're 30.
America is exceptional in its historical role for the evolution of governments, but beyond that, we're a major world power that has interests and shortcomings just like everyone else. We still have a higher quality of life than most of the world.
The reason for depression is that we don't properly handle mental health, and progressivism has rendered a lot of the West aimless. When you erode the importance of family and tradition, people tend to lose a sense of meaning.
Plenty of people in poorer and more traditional nations than us are happier, but that's because they have better priorities now.
Truth Detector (01-06-2020)
Oh no, honey, not at all. Yes, we've been disheartened as TRE45ON has done what one inept corrupt clown can do to destroy environmental protections, women's reproductive freedom, international relations, small farming ops, the Constitution, and the dignity of our nation. But that's balanced by watching the entire world mock IMPOTUS and those like you who continue to slavishly lap his shoes with your drying tongues. He's comedy gold!
From the all-day-every-day screeching, personal attacks, filth, anger, rage, and venom you Reichwingers spew here every day, I'd say it's not the left who is suffering depression.
"Conservatism is the blind and fear-filled worship of dead radicals." -- Mark Twain
Iolo/Penderyn (01-06-2020)
PostmodernProphet (01-06-2020), Saudade (01-05-2020), Truth Detector (01-06-2020)
evince (01-06-2020)
Bookmarks