Why are mental health issues increasing?

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I once asked a wise woman why are mental health issues increasing? Many years ago. She was my sober buddy at work. She would talk to me whenever the going would get tough, and she'd talk me out of the drama in my head. She was also my line manager. This was around my first steps into sobriety; when I was a young budding admin guy with world-dominating aspirations in my head but nowhere to spend that energy. Thankfully that business I worked at took advantage of my passion to be better.

The question was a tough one for me, why are mental health issues increasing, because I began my journey in 2001 locked up in psychiatric hospital, where regular joe public related mental health with people in straight jackets. I remember having a conversation with a Taxi Driver once who thought I had split personalities. It was around then I realised I should just probably keep quiet about my craziness. I can remember when I was first brought in by the police and they tried to administer drugs to me and I thought I'd be like a zombie.

"You watch too much TV, Raymond," they laughed.

That being said the world has got up and gone in a hurry. Now we're not only shouting hard about it, but people are aware and empathetic to the cause which was a far cry from what we were as a society in my early twenties. I can remember being laughed at whenever I would mention mental health -- but I think mostly it was because people didn't understand. It came from a place of ignorance, and whilst it was annoying, I can mostly understand it.

My ex manager, one of the wisest women I knew at the time when I asked why are mental health issues increasing? Would tell me that in about fifteen years from now everyone will be talking about mental health because most people will be fighting a struggle with it.

She was right, you know, my line manager. I didn't believe her at the time but now they say one in four people struggle with mental health. One in four. That's crazy. When I was a young man no-one had even heard of it; we were all just lumped into the crazy-strait-jacket category.

You have to realise though I don't think even she would realise how big of a problem it would become as I will show you below. I think her exact words to me were that in ten years there will be an epidemic of mental health issues and something will need to be done about it.

And here we are, sixteen years later with quite a sizeable problem on our hands, with full to the brim psychiatric wards and emergency mental health teams with wait times of several months.

It's not a bad question, why are mental health issues increasing? Because there couldn't be more of a problem.

So what's caused this?

Low soil mineral


I've added this one first because crazily only in the last week I've found it out and it's changed my life in a way I didn't think possible. When I was a young lad fruit and vegetables used to be seasonal. The farmers would grow their food on their farm and sell it in the season for harvesting and send it off to the supermarket. The field would then be left to regrow for a period of a few years.

This process has changed now. Farmers now use their fields every year and what the soil used to wield in harvest it does not anymore. Without getting into too much of a long story about the process of over farming, the grain does not hold as much vitamins and minerals as it once did. This is why it would probably be a good idea to supplement yourself.

Through a lengthy process of research I found out that because of my panic attacks and my anxiety I was low on Magnesium. Magnesium helps increase calmness and relaxedness. Through further research I found out that there are different types of Magnesium, and the best supplements are those with high absorption. There is such a wide detail on supplementation, but damn taking just magnesium changed my life on an insane level.

I also take Krill oil and I feel different in mind sharpness too!

Low vitamins is a key factor as to why are mental health issues increasing.

Screen time


When I was a young boy our daily routine was to go to school and then we would race back home to be with our friends. A lot of that would consist of riding our bikes, climbing trees, playing football, golfing, rolling around in the mud -- you name it! Today kids (and most adults) sit in front of their computer screens and play games and work. The streets are empty; there's no kids climbing trees, very few on their bikes, and it's rare that I see anyone in the local park.

A good amount of time in front of the computer (or mobile phone) increases your anxiety. It has been documented that blue screens (monitors, phones) give off charged ions and can increase anxiety and depression in the user. You can't tell me that you've never felt horrible after an hour straight on the phone or computer.

If you were to ask me why are mental health issues increasing? I'd probably talk lots about phones and screen time!

Awareness


A lot of it is awareness too. When I ask myself why are mental health issues increasing? I realise I went through my entire childhood and young adulthood thinking I was a regular human being that just felt odd around other people. I didn't know why or how, but it was that I always felt that I didn't fit in anywhere. I was always floating around clicks desperately trying to find where I fit in, but I never felt like I did anywhere.

When my son was born and observing him through his younger years I came to the conclusion that I was in fact autistic on some level. Most likely high functioning like my son.

The same can be said in the mental health sector, we've just grown more aware. What was normally thrown off as strange behaviour is now categorised and documented and solutions have started to appear.

So where I was being laughed at twenty years ago, people are now understanding it more because everyone has a friend or relative that has had a struggle with mental health.

I often wonder, when thinking about why are mental health issues increasing, how much of it is actually just awareness, when a lot of us were missed at a younger age but recognise it now.

Back when we were young mental health wasn't a thing -- but it didn't mean it did not exist.

The Internet and Relationships


The internet has brought us many wonders of the third age. From faster payments to talking to someone instantaneously on the other side of the world. Geographically the walls between countries have vanished as we can now converse with anyone we want to at any given time.

However on the flip side friendships and relationships are much easier to break down. I have had long standing friends for over twenty years destroy our friendship over trivial things. Silly things, little things. Social media and the likes are breaking down the very fabric of connection between humanity, and it's hurting us very badly.

I think a great answer to why are mental health issues increasing? Is that the fabric of our nature is being stripped away to the binary basics.

If you talk to any biologist or psychologist they will tell you that we need to be in the presence regularly of people that we like because when we are they give off a hormone that the body needs -- and that's how we form strong friendships and tight bonds. Something humanity has needed since the dawn of time.

This is being impacted significantly and is ruining whole friend groups and families as information is being spread faster; the negative as well as the positive. Why are mental health issues increasing? Because we're growing further apart as we see ourselves as digital rather than in-person.

Why are mental health issues increasing? Because we are a cog in the machine


Not many people feel like they matter anymore. They feel like just a small cog in a very large machine and they will be doing the same things until they die without much to show for it.

My Grandad had many hobbies. He kept a flowering garden, and he would also paint when he had time. He was prone to building things in his shed. He had mostly retired when I was born so I'm unsure what he did for most of his working life but I'm sure it was much of the same.

If you were to ask my Grandad why are mental health issues increasing? He'd probably say because no-one has any pride anymore.

Now we have Netflix, we have Amazon Prime, we have the Internet, and soon we'll have a version of VR you can probably touch and feel. People are wasting too much time on dead things. There has to be somewhat of a balance. There's no feeling of achievement from watching a film or playing a game, not one that matters anyway.

There's is far less creation from general joe these days. No pride in their work. People just feel like they are part of nothing. Communities don't get involved with one another like they used to. There's no real sense of pride in what one does. That again, is a fight we are losing.

And so we just end up existing


Oh Man. Why are mental health issues increasing? It just feels like we just survive and that's it. No passion or zest for tomorrow, no excitement to what the future will bring, and everyone is real angry about something or other. It's sad, but true, and it's just getting worse.

It's not all bad though. There's a plethora of help and advice you can get from many, many places that will jump over the counter to help you, and since there's way more awareness than before then people are willing to be empathetic to your plight because believe it or not there's probably just as many people, like me, that have been through the journey.

I hope this has been helpful in answering your questions as to why are mental health issues increasing?

Freshly pressed here: https://learnisart.com/why-are-mental-health-issues-increasing/



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Fascinating thoughts, it seems as if all of these effect mental health. I also think there is a spiritual and psychological element to all of this, especially concerning the mass psychosis of (what was thought of at the time as) the killer virus, there was a lot of irrational psychological behavior. World society as a whole is still recovering from the psychological and spiritual damage done as a result of the world-wide attempt to subjugate all people before the self-proclaimed elite of the world. The spiritual and psychological damage caused by "social distancing" and "face coverings" and a two class system of "the compliant" and "the uncompliant" is still being felt, even now. And we're bracing for the next big thing, whatever that will be. Good to discover what steps can we take now to build up our psychological immune system, so-to-speak, that we can continue to become whole again and not damaged any further.

!WINE
!ALIVE

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I dunno. It never made any difference to me when I was in lockdown. I've been used to home working for years, so it didn't feel like control to me - but then it could be just me :)

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