About 25 percent of U.S. adults have a mental illness, according to the CDC

[chervilant]

19. For about the last 5 years,

I've wondered if our species is experiencing an epidemic of mental disorders, especially depression and anxiety disorders. Certainly, here in the US, we have an epidemic of taking drugs for these kinds of diseases.

We seldom acknowledge that we now live in exponential times. This temporally challenging new paradigm means that we are deluged with visual and auditory stimuli from the time we wake up until we pass out each night from sheer exhaustion. Virtually ALL of our social constructs—but most particularly our parenting strategies and our system of public education—do not reflect this ginormous socio-cultural change. We've had far more change and faster change in the last two decades than we've had in the last 5,000 years. Our species simply hasn't had enough time to adjust to this new reality.

Another factor, IMHO, is overpopulation. Calhoun's research with rats suggests that overpopulation results in mental disorders (and a plethora of bizarre, increasingly mortal behaviors). I wonder if we've even begun to adjust to our current population, given that we seldom discuss this reality.

The most important issue, to me, is finding ways to be supportive and compassionate with those whose lives are marred by mental disorders. It's far too easy for some of us to poke fun and make sarcastic or derisive remarks. This form of verbal bullying needs to stop.