Mental Disorders In America

The fact that almost 46% of Americans could be diagnosed with a mental disorder is just appalling. Although the number of mental disorders should have increased as the psychological field has grown to identify more diseases and the world is geared to be more strenuous on the mind than ever before, this drastic increase in mental disorders is just ridiculous. I have realized that with modern studies, a lot of Americans are considered unhealthy in all aspects (diet physical health, sun exposure, etc.). But to call almost half of Americans mentally ill is just wrong. The main cause of this improper labeling is that mental states that were previously considered Normal as well, as things that are medical in nature as a mental illness in the main cause of this.

By naming some medical conditions as mental disorders, the percentage of Americans with mental disorders will be inflated exponentially.

Just one example of this is that the DSN-5 considers breathing-related sleep disorder. This arises from medical problems that interfere with sleep and is more of a medical disorder than a mental one. Now considering sleep apnea is a sub-division of breathing-related sleep disorder and 1 in 5 Americans are said to have at least a mild form of sleep apnea, anyone could clearly see where the bulk of this 46% is coming from. This is just one case, there are many more such as caffeine intoxication which basically consist of the after effects of drinking too much caffeine, and caffeine withdrawal, which is basically the after effects of trying to quit taking daily energy boasters. This isn’t even the only

problem.
Lowering the standards of previous medal disorders will also create the same effect. The DSN reduced the requirements to be classified with certain mental disorders making some the patterns of thoughts, feelings, or behaviors that were previously thought of as normal, are now said to be characteristics of mental disorders. For instance, a person who avoids most people and just want to be left alone could now be diagnosed with avoidant personality disorder when not too long ago these traits were just labeled as shy. Also the DSM-5 will change in the criteria for generalized anxiety disorder, which is a disorder that involves excessive and persistent worrying, by cutting the time period the symptoms must persist for in half. With the world becoming more complex and more problems arising each year worry and anxiety are common traits of Americans. The last thing that should have been done is lowering the time needed to be diagnosed with this disorder.
It makes no sense to label such simple behaviors and traits, such a harsh word. This whole idea of what a mental disorder is has been blown out of proportion and needs to be revised. There is just no way that something as innocent as sleep apnea should be clumped into the same word as something drastic as schizophrenia. They need to create a new term to fit these lesser “mental disorders” under. This way it will be easier for people to distinguish the less detrimental and easily solvable “mental disorders” from the ones that desperately need medical attention.