• Replies 13 replies
  • Subscribers 88 subscribers
  • Views 3911 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

Mental illness caused by a bad society

Roswell

Where do you draw the line, is mental illness medical or caused by society?

If a Jew was mentally ill when they were being persecuted in Nazi Germany, it would be hard to draw the line.

Black men are a lot more likely to be sectioned in mental health hospitals. Perhaps that's linked to racism being more prevalent towards black men in the UK?

Autistic people are significantly more likely to kill themselves and die young than other people. Is that genetically inevitable or because society drives people to it?

Parents

  • I felt depressed (I didn't get a diagnosis) when I was long term unemployed after leaving university in the early 1980s, which was a time of very high (over three million) unemployment. My feeling of depression was caused by lots of job applications being rejected (difficult seeing light at the end of the tunnel), gloomy economic news plus a load of negative attitudes towards unemployed people. Eventually after further training, I found stable employment for quite a few years.  Quite a lot of people are unemployed for years and I think that this can be a vicious circle leading to deep depression.

    I have read that unemployment is higher amongst people on the Autistic spectrum. I felt better when I have been in work, even though the work environment can be problematic.  So I believe that government policies that lead to high unemployment can cause mental illness.

Reply

  • I felt depressed (I didn't get a diagnosis) when I was long term unemployed after leaving university in the early 1980s, which was a time of very high (over three million) unemployment. My feeling of depression was caused by lots of job applications being rejected (difficult seeing light at the end of the tunnel), gloomy economic news plus a load of negative attitudes towards unemployed people. Eventually after further training, I found stable employment for quite a few years.  Quite a lot of people are unemployed for years and I think that this can be a vicious circle leading to deep depression.

    I have read that unemployment is higher amongst people on the Autistic spectrum. I felt better when I have been in work, even though the work environment can be problematic.  So I believe that government policies that lead to high unemployment can cause mental illness.

Children
  • in reply to AutToFindOutMore

    I agree. High unemployment is a policy of Conservatives and has been almost religiously followed since the 80's because it drives down wages and employment security thus driving up profits for big business. It's no coincidence that poverty sky-rocketed in the 80's & 90's and again from 2010 onwards under Conservatives where millions are still on zero-hours contracts and using food banks to this day. 

    And again, under Cameron, we saw the same pattern & tactics used of the 80's & 90's of creating mass unemployment by the government on one hand and demonising the unemployed on the other hand. It's a very cruel & barbaric yet successful way of forcing people to scramble and fight for any scraps of work they can get their hands on because of the very real threat of benefit sanctions that can and has led many into mental health crisis, destitution, homelessness or suicide.