CDC: 20 percent of U.S. youths have mental health issues

[xchrom]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/16/cdc-20-percent-of-u-s-youths-have-mental-health-issues/



As many as one-fifth of American children and teens suffer from a mental disorder such as anxiety or depression and the incidence of such ailments is rising, a study released Thursday said.

“A total of 13 percent to 20 percent of children living in the United States experience a mental disorder in a given year,” according to the report examining the mental health of adolescents released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The data, reported in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), said mental problems among youth are “an important public health issue in the United States because of their prevalence, early onset, and impact on the child, family and community, with an estimated total annual cost of $247 billion.”

The study found that the most prevalent mental ailment was Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), which was found in 6.8 percent of the nation’s youth, followed by behavioral or conduct problems (3.5 percent); anxiety (3.0 percent); depression (2.1 percent); autism spectrum disorders (1.1 percent); and Tourette syndrome (0.2 percent.

[bemildred]

1. I think it's way more than that, and not just kids either.

Especially the way they try to analyze it into a bunch of little categories with precise definitions. Mental health is a process, not a state, how your mind is working today, not what it is.

But we live in a crazy society, and being sane can get you in all kinds of trouble.

[xchrom]

2. very wise observation...

'Mental health is a process, not a state, how your mind is working today, not what it is.'

[bemildred]

3. I have a lot of experience with craziness.

[KurtNYC]

4. "issue" is wiggle word but dysfunctional is usually the standard -- one person's ADHD is another's

'multi-tasking'.

But certainly the suicide rate that they cite is not a healthy response to an admittedly stress-inducing world.

It is a brief and sensationalistic article. The inclusion of "anxiety" and "cigarette dependence" makes it seem like they are making the criteria as wide as possible.

[bemildred]

5. Yes. ("Issue" is a wiggle word.)

Overcrowding raises all sorts of issues. Humans are very social, intelligent, and adaptable, and thus much better at dealing with it than, say, rats, but nevertheless this sort of thing is to be expected.

Suicide can be quite rational, it is we that are irrational about it, and that seems to be learned. At least some societies are much more blase about it than others.

The article is not much, no.

Your last sentence reminds me of Henry Miller again:

For the man in the paddock, whose duty it is to sweep up manure, the supreme terror is the possibility of a world without horses.
-- Henry Miller in Tropic of Cancer"