> what‘s the reason so many of use are anxious, depressed, neurotic, autistic, ADHD, etc. without obvious cause?
Because modernity hasn’t been an unmitigated success. In the pursuit of abundance, we’ve made all sorts of trade offs that we are now realizing have had unintended consequences to mental and physical health. Every leap forward has felt like progress but has underlying negatives. The world has trade offs!
The move from agrarian to industry to service/knowledge based economies, as an example, has produced countless benefits, but as another commenter mentioned: sitting at a desk certainly isn’t as healthy as moving in the fields. Being in big urban environments to facilitate the new economy has produced amazing culture and a more inclusive community, but at the cost of tight-knit lifelong social networks, noise and air pollution, crime, etc.
I’m not saying yesteryear was better - I’m pointing out the trade offs that were made and how we are now recognizing some of the costs. Perhaps the pendulum needs to swing back to some degree to ease these costs if we as a society aren’t happy with the price paid. There is a return policy!
Mental illness is not a byproduct of modern society, its study and treatment is. Why is the rate of mental illness going up? It's because the stigma over mental healthcare is dropping rapidly and more people are getting formally diagnosed.
That's like saying schizophrenia didn't exist in antiquity, people were just attacked by actual demons and everyone else was "normal".
"Mental illness is not a byproduct of modern society, its study and treatment is. "
If you have data on the incidence of depression in hunter gatherer societies we can compare to modern societies feel free to share it.
"Why is the rate of mental illness going up? It's because the stigma over mental healthcare is dropping rapidly and more people are getting formally diagnosed."
So in your mind the functioning of a society has no impact on the rate of mental health problems?
>Mental illness is not a byproduct of modern society, ...
I didn't state that it is solely caused by modern society.
> Why is the rate of mental illness going up? It's because the stigma over mental healthcare is dropping rapidly and more people are getting formally diagnosed.
Because modernity hasn’t been an unmitigated success. In the pursuit of abundance, we’ve made all sorts of trade offs that we are now realizing have had unintended consequences to mental and physical health. Every leap forward has felt like progress but has underlying negatives. The world has trade offs!
The move from agrarian to industry to service/knowledge based economies, as an example, has produced countless benefits, but as another commenter mentioned: sitting at a desk certainly isn’t as healthy as moving in the fields. Being in big urban environments to facilitate the new economy has produced amazing culture and a more inclusive community, but at the cost of tight-knit lifelong social networks, noise and air pollution, crime, etc.
I’m not saying yesteryear was better - I’m pointing out the trade offs that were made and how we are now recognizing some of the costs. Perhaps the pendulum needs to swing back to some degree to ease these costs if we as a society aren’t happy with the price paid. There is a return policy!