Mental health is a huge crisis in the United States right now on multiple levels. How do we address it?

One of the first steps needs to be to stop using mental illness as an excuse for actions that aren’t caused by mental illness. 

42 minutes ago, TheDeuce said:

One of the first steps needs to be to stop using mental illness as an excuse for actions that aren’t caused by mental illness. 

There are many levels to this. I think mental health issues go far beyond mental illnesses. There are so many people that lack caring and empathy, that are disassociated  from society. I am more concerned about them than those diagnosed as schizophrenic, bipolar or some type of mental illness.

17 minutes ago, Voice of Reason said:

There are many levels to this. I think mental health issues go far beyond mental illnesses. There are so many people that lack caring and empathy, that are disassociated  from society. I am more concerned about them than those diagnosed as schizophrenic, bipolar or some type of mental illness.

There are levels to it, I agree with that. Lack of empathy or hate are not examples of mental illness. Hate is taught. Hate is learned.  

4 minutes ago, TheDeuce said:

There are levels to it, I agree with that. Lack of empathy or hate are not examples of mental illness. Hate is taught. Hate is learned.  

Mental health. Yes, hate is taught and that is what I am concerned with. I know it is difficult to define but that is where the crisis is in this country.

2 minutes ago, Voice of Reason said:

Mental health.

Semantics for me. Blaming these incidents on mental health/illness is doing those who truly suffer a disservice. 

8 minutes ago, TheDeuce said:

Semantics for me. Blaming these incidents on mental health/illness is doing those who truly suffer a disservice. 

Not semantics. I purposely titled the thread mental health instead of mental illness. Is there a better term for what I am talking about?

Social health is a huge crisis in the United States right now on multiple levels. The way we interact with others. Things that may seem basic like caring for others. Distrust, anger, hate are the norm for far too many. There is an undercurrent of paranoia. I would call the prevalence of conspiracy theories of all sorts a sort of paranoia. How do we address this social disfunction that is undermining our society? Where has all this come from? Is this a product of technology? How do we build a culture of trust and connectivity and common purpose?

Not sure you truly can.  The population is too large to keep tabs on everyone effectively. Covid certainly didn’t help, it made it the norm for people to isolate themselves. Then some of these folks also began obsessing on 24 hour news cycles, social media etc.  Sadly, IMO, the fall out from the past two years of Covid will last for years, perhaps decades at the psychological level. 

Obviously this started well before Covid but I think it’s only getting worse because of it all.  Also think a portion of it falls on parenting. The amount of parents out there that don’t have a clue about parenting is alarming.  When you have parents calling the police regularly because their child doesn’t want to go to school, or arguing with teachers or doctors over their child’s mental health and choices.   That’s alarming.  Truth be told there are a lot of factors at play. 

Social media has run its course, IMO. Bottom line, a large number of people who use social media are not smart enough or responsible enough to be on there. It is doing more harm than good at this point. 

Paranoia stems from people thinking they are important enough that someone would want to spy on them or keep tabs on them, and from a lack of education. They are concerned with being tracked, while walking around with a portable GPS device in their pockets. They are worried about "The Man" keeping tabs on them, while they apply for credit using their social security numbers. 

Again, not smart enough to figure it out. 

There is definitely blame to be put on SOME parents. They want to be buddy buddy instead of Mom and Dad. Afraid to discipline their kids for fear of repercussions. People don't want to take the belt to Little Johnny, but then will send out "Thoughts and Prayers" when LIttle Johnny shoots up his school. 

There are a lot of things to be addressed, and many different conversations that could be had that would all be relevant. As I said in the other thread, one of the first steps to solving any public mental health/illness crisis is to stop using that as a crutch for behavior that isn't caused by it. Social media isn't isolated to the US. 24 hour news isn't isolated to the US. COVID isn't isolated to the US. Violent video games aren't isolated to the US. Hate, bigotry and discrimination aren't isolated to the US. But the US is the only developed country that has the problem with gun violence that we do. That's not a coincidence. 

 

It’s too late.  We are too far gone.  There is no fixing this. 
 

Let me rephrase.  These problems will never get fixed because it doesn’t benefit the ones who can fix it.  

30 minutes ago, TheDeuce said:

Social media has run its course, IMO. Bottom line, a large number of people who use social media are not smart enough or responsible enough to be on there. It is doing more harm than good at this point. 

Paranoia stems from people thinking they are important enough that someone would want to spy on them or keep tabs on them, and from a lack of education. They are concerned with being tracked, while walking around with a portable GPS device in their pockets. They are worried about "The Man" keeping tabs on them, while they apply for credit using their social security numbers. 

Again, not smart enough to figure it out. 

There is definitely blame to be put on SOME parents. They want to be buddy buddy instead of Mom and Dad. Afraid to discipline their kids for fear of repercussions. People don't want to take the belt to Little Johnny, but then will send out "Thoughts and Prayers" when LIttle Johnny shoots up his school. 

There are a lot of things to be addressed, and many different conversations that could be had that would all be relevant. As I said in the other thread, one of the first steps to solving any public mental health/illness crisis is to stop using that as a crutch for behavior that isn't caused by it. Social media isn't isolated to the US. 24 hour news isn't isolated to the US. COVID isn't isolated to the US. Violent video games aren't isolated to the US. Hate, bigotry and discrimination aren't isolated to the US. But the US is the only developed country that has the problem with gun violence that we do. That's not a coincidence. 

 

You said a word right here.  

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59 minutes ago, PurplePride92 said:

It’s too late.  We are too far gone.  There is no fixing this. 
 

Let me rephrase.  These problems will never get fixed because it doesn’t benefit the ones who can fix it.  

Disagree. It is not too late. There is always hope. As bad as things are in some ways, there are a number of things better than ever today.

3 minutes ago, Voice of Reason said:

Disagree. It is not too late. There is always hope. As bad as things are in some ways, there are a number of things better than ever today.

Let me rephrase.  We won’t see any significant change in our lifetimes.  Maybe in the future(I doubt it) there will be change but we won’t get to see a change in our lifetime.  
 

Or in the future the change that comes isn’t necessarily for the better.