1 in 5 young adults has mental problems

[kiryan]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/12/ ... onBlock204

How can this be. We are getting to the point where no one is normal, and everyone has an excuse to be f*d up and on a bunch of meds. This of course eventually leads to I have special challenges so I need government assistance.

I look around, I see these kinds of people. Is it so unreasonable for us to expect these people to toughen up... to perform anyways... to get over their problems without a bunch of counseling and drugs? 1 in 5, 20% of our future is apparently screwed up in the head. This is absolutely ridiculous no matter how you look at it.

[Sarvis]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/12/02/health/main4642121.shtml?tag=lowerContent;homeSectionBlock204

How can this be. We are getting to the point where no one is normal, and everyone has an excuse to be f*d up and on a bunch of meds. This of course eventually leads to I have special challenges so I need government assistance.

I look around, I see these kinds of people. Is it so unreasonable for us to expect these people to toughen up... to perform anyways... to get over their problems without a bunch of counseling and drugs? 1 in 5, 20% of our future is apparently screwed up in the head. This is absolutely ridiculous no matter how you look at it.

Thank the drug companies who are constantly advertising solutions to every real or imagined problem. Thank the doctors who have every profit motive to prescribe anything and everything.

In short, thank capitalism.

[kiryan]

Seems like to me this is more a problem with socialism and a push to get everyone the help they are entitled too with the government footing the bill and providing for your housing and food to boot.

[Ragorn]

Seems like to me this is more a problem with socialism and a push to get everyone the help they are entitled too with the government footing the bill and providing for your housing and food to boot.

Nope. Drug companies are for-profit enterprises that advertise their medications on TV with the tagline "ask your doctor for our drug."

You can't blame everything on socialism.

[Sarvis]

Seems like to me this is more a problem with socialism and a push to get everyone the help they are entitled too with the government footing the bill and providing for your housing and food to boot.

Socialists aren't the ones prescribing the drugs, "subsidizing" doctors to prescribe them OR advertising every possible problem so people can think they have it.

In fact, since we don't have socialized health care it's also private companies paying for the drugs!

Oddly enough I'm pretty sure countries with socialized medicine DON'T have this problem. Strange, isn't it?

[daggaz]

Denmark has socialized healthcare (thankgod), and no, this kind of thing doesnt happen here. You _never_ see advertisements for drug prescriptions on TV or in magazines, they are flat out illegal. You will see plenty of articles in the paper about new drugs and techniques, their effects, how much of the population is taking them and why, and what various high ranking doctors think about it.

That's not to say that doctors dont overprescribe certain remedies or are immune to "lobby" effects from bigPharma. There is quite the big debate right now raging about Prozac and how easily so many doctors prescribe it. (On the other side of the fence, that other overly-prescribed behavioral "correcting" drug, Ritalin, is highly curtailed in use).

But really, its hard to get alkaseltzer with aspirin in it here, everything is heavily regulated to avoid overuse, over the counter drugs are extremely limited.

Sweden and Norway are the same. Iceland, which is a mix between Socialism and Banana-Republicanism, its a bit easier to get ahold of prescriptions.

[Ashiwi]

It's a problem with multiple causes...

1) For-profit drug companies and the push of advertising designed to convince the general public that they have problems they need to fix with this amazing pharmaceutical.

2)Doctors who cater to the money, meaning there are way too many doctors out there who encourage their patients to think the least little issue they have is a treatable disease they can fix if they only keep coming back to the doctor for it (and that is NOT socialism).

3) People who want to be able to blame their actions on anything else but themselves. If you're too lazy to hold a job, or your temper is so bad that it swings out of control, or you're so apathetic you can't even be bothered to wash your own socks, let alone move out of your mom's house at the age of thirty, it's a lot more acceptable, not just to the public at large, but to the individual, to be able to blame those actions on something out of that person's control. If the problem is something that can be fixed with a little hard work, consideration for others, or admission of personal fault, and that person doesn't fix the problem, then society has every right to ostracize him.

So there you go, the root of all evil ... capitalism feeding off of self-centered egoism, combining to create a society where everybody pays.

Just a note: we already know that I acknowledge there are plenty of people out there with lots of real problems. That doesn't mean that I don't think that everybody who is capable of holding a job should get off their lazy bums and work. If you are capable of doing something to help pull your weight, and you actively refuse, then get off the planet.