‘High-Functioning Anxiety Isn’t a Medical Diagnosis. It’s a Hashtag.’ | NYT Opinion
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 มิ.ย. 2024
- Soaring rates of anxiety and depression among adolescents. Medical groups declaring a “national emergency.” The surgeon general calling for an “all of society” response to a “devastating” mental health crisis among young people.
By all indications, kids these days are in rough shape, giving additional urgency to Mental Health Awareness Month, which began on May 1. But in the Opinion video above, Lucy Foulkes, an academic psychologist at Oxford University, argues that the problem may not be a lack of awareness but rather too much.
Amid an enormous societal push to destigmatize mental illness and encourage more conversation about emotions, young people have been flooded with mental health information on social media and elsewhere. But much of it is unreliable and counterproductive.
“I’m deeply concerned that this awareness craze,” Foulkes says, “is ironically making their mental health worse.”
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One of the things my psychologist really drilled into my head when he was giving my diagnosis, was that this diagnosis is *NOT* a personality.
It's tough though because anxiety can affect personality. People will assume you're aloof when really it's anxiety kicking into high gear
Except when you have a personality disorder. I had to say it. 🤭
Now this is something that the video should have echoed and expounded on! Well said.
That is true for *your* diagnosis, which is likely not a contributing factor to how your personality has evolved. For a diagnosis like Asperger’s, it can heavily influence one’s personality, and includes a high degree of anxiety, which can be triggered quite easily.
@@abb0tt I think what OP is trying to say is that one’s diagnosis is not a label we have to fit ourselves into. Diagnosis of any illness whatsoever, be it in your bones, your organs, muscles or brain, is not and does not have to be a determinant of how you behave. The key word is “does not have to be”. That means that we shouldn’t be limiting our lives by virtue of the illness - other than, of course, treating the problem and not doing things that make existing symptoms worse. Personality is always independent of such factors. I think what you’re going for is “neurotic” or “psychotic” traits, which are expressed strongly in certain people with certain diseases. Highly neurotic people will not necessarily develop “disordered” anxiety, which is a specific pathology.
I worry that many young people implicitly believe that unless their experience constitutes a medical condition, it isn’t worthy of attention. In some ways, I think reaching for psychiatric terminology is a way of trying to signal to oneself that one’s feelings are real and matter.
At the same time, it is important to recognize that your experience might be temporary.
I think you nailed it. I have visible disabilities and sometimes just my presence will make ppl start acting funny. I have had ppl apologize to me for things like "feeling sorry for myself" or "complaining" when i was not even around to hear the complaining. As if their problems mean nothing compared to a girl in a wheelchair. In reality, i wouldnt trade my disabilities for their relationship troubles in a million years!
It seems to be a victimhood contest these days. What ever happened to being a survivor/overcomer?
Exactly this! Ironically, this is something I'm working on in therapy. I don't know how common this experience is, but I know for me that since I was a teen (since I got on social media -- coincidence?) I've been constantly beating up on myself for any negative emotion because "so many people have it worse" and "I don't have any Real Problems". Obviously the shame spiral is worse than whatever triggered it in the first place! But content like this video is discussing acts as a temporary soothing balm, a reassurance that you don't have to feel that shame because you do actually have Real Problems. ...until you scroll on and are confronted with someone experiencing a horrific ordeal and you remember that all of your problems are trivial.
I think we just aren't meant to be this aware of what everyone else in the world is going through all the time.
Yeah but I also don’t think they understand that anyone that walks into a therapist’s office gets diagnosed…… or else the therapist doesn’t get paid. Lol. At least in America if insurance in involved.
I agree. I have been wondering why people are so keen on pathologizing themselves these days, and find it quite counterproductive. I think that people who feel a bit different from the average person would be better off claiming their place on the spectrum of normal. I feel that over-pathologizing only further marginalizes people. My TH-cam feed is constantly pushing videos on me to suggest "signs" that I have autism or ADHD and I've watched a few out of curiosity. Most of the "signs" seem more like indicators of having an introverted personality, having an active mind in a highly distractible world, and having some big passions and interests. And some "signs" seem more applicable to anxiety than anything, which is quite common.
As someone who has had dreadful depression in the past that destroyed entire years of my life, I get really annoyed whenever people try to out-depress each other for social clout when it's trending to be unwell.
@@milikoshkiNot everyone is so lucky.
Wait but isn't your comment doing exactly that, though?
Admittedly that is very mentally I’ll behavior lol.
Yes, way too many people are getting SAD confused with DEPRRESSED. Sad comes and goes. Depression pulls you down and feels inescapable each day that passes.
@@Tom-rg2exIts okay for him to do it becuase he actually had it, is the rational I assume he used to differentiate himself from the people he is mocking.
“Interpreting normal everyday struggles as a mental illness” so well said 👏👏
How does that BRITISH psychologist know? Did she talk to all the Americans she seemed to have derived her conclusions from?
@@AtomicGirlNYC-fu9xy girl, in what way is her nationality an any shape or form relevant to the conversation??
@@AtomicGirlNYC-fu9xy British and American are of the same descent
@@AtomicGirlNYC-fu9xy i'm not sure psychological differences are based on geographic region... especially between two cultures that are so similar
@@davidletarte214 We are not "so similar." We speak the same language and share some history. That's about it.
I just finished my psych degree, I've been part of research team and presented our findings at the SPSP conference and I start grad school for clinical mental health counseling in the fall. This video is absolutely spot on. What's worse about these arm chair diagnostics is the 3rd order effects it's creating. People are using a self diagnosis to shield themselves from accountability or to avoid addressing an underlying issue that would normally lead to strengthening their well being. Look at how many relationships are ending because their ex partner was a "narcissist", which let's them conveniently avoid any accountability for their own actions while putting all of the blame on their partner.
Stop pathologizing normal feelings and behaviors. Being sad doesn't mean you're depressed. Anxiety is a normal response to the unknown or difficult challenges. Seeing a situation in a different way from your partner doesn't mean you're gaslighting them. Instead, just speak YOUR feelings and what's going through YOUR mind as you're feeling it.
absolutely accurate about terms like narcisist and gaslighting. In the effort to achieve validation, laypeople are misusing actual jargon or pop psychiology (gaslighting) to show that their perspective is the one that matters. Validation at the cost of validity.
Thank you for standing up for people like this, the world needs more psychologists like you before the whole world ends up being diagnosed with ADHD or autism.
@@thirteenthhour370 oh man, I'm stealing that term; validation at the cost of validity. That's a great way to say it.
I think it’s important to note that narcissists DO exist and gaslighting is indeed something that they do and that although there are a few people who use the term incorrectly, there are those who DO NOT and they should be wary of these kinds of people, especially if they don’t seek help. Personally, if someone comes across as a narcissist (consistently putting you down, always changing the goal posts so that they are right and you are wrong, they’re extremely arrogant, only like people who can do things for them) then I avoid them or appreciate them from a long distance because they are draining and detrimental to your self-image. The issue comes up if someone tries to call you a narcissist and gaslighter in order to force YOU to change and fit what THEY want you do and be. Then that’s a manipulative tactic.
But to be honest, I don’t have the experience you have in the field…that is just my layman’s take on it and how I use it to help better my life. Discovering what a narcissist and gaslighting was helped me eliminate toxicity in my life and improve my personal well-being. Hence, I just want for anyone else who reads this to just be SURE that what they’re facing isn’t a genuine obstacle to their mental health.
@@NoIDontActuallyLiveInSeattle I hear what you're saying, and yes; narcissists do exist. I also think what you said at the end of your first paragraph is perfectly said. The situations where people are claiming someone is narcissistic and/or gaslighting looks eerily similar to a manipulation tactic. In reality, Narcissists are rare, like only .5 to 5% of the total population but even then that's a guesstimate. If you look at all the people claiming their ex partner/friend/spouse is a narcist, besides practically zero of them being certified mental health professionals, they all seem to have a shared experience of a failed relationship. They use narcissist when simply saying they feel sad, lonely, and rejected would perfectly suffice. Even better, they are taking ownership of their own feelings rather than making it someone else's responsibility. In fact, most of the behaviors you pointed out exist regardless of a narcissist disorder and don't require being pathologized. People can be arrogant, or selfish. People can be jerks and condescending. Bad behavior is simply human. It's better for us to look within and know as well as enforce our boundaries with others. Doing so will be far more helpful in safe guarding you from other's behaviors than simply labeling others as narcissistic.
It isn’t a surprise to me that young people struggle more to function and find their way in the world as it is today. Social media is one aspect of the problem, but also just look at how much more difficult it is to establish yourself in the world as you become an adult. Post-secondary education is more expensive than ever, wages are lower than ever (relative to inflation), the cost of living has become astronomical, and the deleterious effects of climate change are becoming more and more apparent in many people’s lives.
Rather than point out flaws in society, it’s much easier to point to flaws in individuals and pathologize feelings of discomfort, discontentedness and stress that are absolutely reasonable for a young person to have when living in a difficult environment. It’s easier to commodify mental health disorders to tell kids, “you’re the problem because your brain is sick” than it is to take a long hard look at the messed up world that kids are being handed today.
And it’s especially sad because many kids fully believe it. They feel so disempowered to change the environment they exist in that it feels more reasonable to say “I must have a problem.”
YES this
BINGO!
Absolutely agree
I am a young person and hate how people in my age group self diagnose. Literally all my family members in my age group are self diagnosing themselves with autism and anxiety. They will even claim going to the doctor is stupid. They look down on me who went to the doctor and got a proper diagnosis rather than self diagnose. I have actually been diagnosed with depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder. My mental struggles are not a joke and are not self diagnosable. This is insanity at the highest level and belittles the struggles of actual sufferers of mental illness
It’s a bad side effect of social media. On the one hand, the awareness is great. On the other hand, we’re all armchair experts now. I haven’t been formally diagnosed with anything but after 37 years on this planet and struggling with my issues… I’m waiting to save up a bit so I can afford to see a professional and get some help. The older I get, the harder it is to maintain everyday life. Was much easier to cope in my youth.
Well put! Thank you for sharing, young person ❤
Are they also treating themselves or are they using their diagnosis to excuse inappropriate behaviour?
If it's the former, then self diagnosis can be perfectly valid.
@@pattyofurniture they are using self diagnosis to excuse bad behavior and they aren't willing to seek treatment or listen to an actual medical professional
@@SL-lz9jr not its not
About ten years ago a TH-camr noted that mental illness wasn't stigmatized, it was romanticised, afterall it had its own merch proclaiming the buyer's struggle with depression and/or anxiety. I've never seen Crohn's disease merch, or hypercholesterolemia merch.
They have merch for physical conditions too, it's not uncommon. I've seen it for Chron's, for EDS, for T1D...
It's not nearly as common and definitely not going back 15 years. No contest.
@@llIlIlllIIyou can't be serious. breast cancer merch is all over the place, for decades, both worn by people who do and don't have cancer themselves.
Mental illness is absolutely smigmatized. It all depends which disorder we’re speaking of. You can’t seriously tell me schizophrenia isn’t stigmatized.
"Are you consuming too much social media?"
Right, we’ve sort of capitalism’d media, so that we are rewarding what people are choosing over what people _need_ so of course, people are going to keep choosing the junk food options bc they are easier to consume than the DSM5 and years of psychotherapy. Also, a pretty major tenet in psychology is that you can’t diagnose someone under 18 bc most of the behaviors and traits of adolescents resemble personality disorders. They’re impulsive, sensitive, mercurial, aggressive, narcissistic, and obsessive. Remember when we understood how damaging to young people a diagnosis would be? They need to learn how to deal with their emotions, not be defined by them.
We are consuming to much everything, we are out of control.
I've felt this way for several years now. I used to have a friend who would describe themselves as having Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder because they liked a clean apartment. No, you don't have OCD! It is normal to enjoy a tidy, uncluttered living space. Are you obsessed with it? Are you compulsively cleaning? No! Sure, you could learn to unwind a little, but you don't have OCD.
We are pathologizing every negative mood, emotion, or behaviour, while in reality we are animals with very complex social lives that have peaks and valleys. Some people have different tendencies and personalities than others too: deeper social wells, a greater tolerance for stress, more comfortable public speaking, more introverted, others more extroverted, etc. Embrace who you are.
I'm not sure where the balance lies, I suppose that is Dr. Foulkes job. I'm glad she is talking about it.
My colleagues at work know I have severe horrifying OCD and STILL make jokes about it while I’m in the room. It’s a completely devastating illness yet people can’t even respect me at work.
Right. I have real OCD and my apartment is a mess, but I _do_ have constant intrusive thoughts that are images of horrific, traumatizing violence against kittens and I often have to stop eating or wait to pee bc if I don’t my friend might die in a car accident. When I hear “I’m so OCD” it just proves to me that not only are you not “OCD” (it’s not a thing you can be, it’s a thing you have) but you’re also clueless, and probably a jerk.
I 100% agree..and as a teenager its really getting out of hand, almost everyone in my class / school somehow has anxiety or depression or something else without even visiting a psychologist
Maybe if such a large percentage of young people are experiencing distressing levels of anxiety (regardless of whether they meet the criteria for diagnosis)...maybe it has something to do with the environment they all share?? Maybe there's something unhealthy and anxiety-inducing about the "ordinary" experiences of young people these days?? Idk just a thought
Being miserable is largely just part of being human. Some people actually can't function, or have episodes they can't leave their home for weeks or months at a time. It's really awful that those things are being conflated with commonplace misery because it silences those who need actual intervention.
The "professional clinicians" saying this don't "mean well". They mean to make money. 💰
A couple things:
- Nocebo really resonates with me. I’ve been doing a lot of research on some of my bad mental patterns recently, and it definitely helps to be aware of nocebo.
- I think it’s hard because these things all exist on a spectrum. I saw a therapist for the first time a few months ago, and he wrote generalized anxiety disorder down on my profile, but I don’t know if my anxiety is that bad. But I also have a lot of friends on anti anxiety / depression medication who don’t seem to have it any worse than I do.
- As you mention, I think people are just looking for labels, and most mental health labels come from quite severe conditions.
I saw a comment earlier that said insurance wouldn’t pay for therapy if they didn’t diagnose you with something… I wonder if this is true?
@@JacyndaMinor yes, why would insurance pay for therapy to help/heal your mental disorder if you don't have one? doesn't mean they just diagnose you tho, most therapist have a waiting list and working ethics, ICD 10/1 and dsm 5 have diagnose criteria they work through
I don’t know about the high-functioning part, but I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder a few years ago. Doesn’t feel like it’s treatable, but it’s manageable with the right coping mechanisms: exercise, mental exercises, therapy and time off from work.
ofc it's treatable, you just have to change the way you think about life and the world.
@@rongike "just"
@@boondogle381 I didn't say it was easy, you basically have to disagree with the masses and most people don't actually know how to think for themselves.
I'm struggling to understand how this comment relates to the video. I mean, good for you? 🤷♂
@@rongike i wish it was that simple and easy. My anxiety has been cripling, to the point where i would sabotage relationships out of a fear of abandonment, going out for my grocery-shopping could take all my energy for the day, and when i went in to pick up my gym-membership card, i bawled my eyes out after leaving- as well as having cried before i entered.
I'm in a much better place, i can go work out, i'm in the process of re-entering the workforce, and i'm way more outgoing. But i'm not cured, if i dont go out of my way to keep exposing myself to those (previously) triggering things, i'll slip right back into that dark hole.
I've managed my anxiety (some may call it "treated it"), but it'll always be there
Love this take on anxiety, for a while I have been feeling like there are more and more people that have been rising to talking about anxiety but also self-diagnosing anxiety.
Feel sad - depression, worry about something - anxiety disorder, like things to be tidy - OCD, have healthy self-esteem - narcissistic PD, don't have iota of self-discipline - ADD.
Commodifaction of mental disorders hurts everyone and especially the real sufferers.
How does it hurt everyone?
@@ceterisparibus8966because people are no longer improving themselves, they now have a ton of excuses
@@ceterisparibus8966One way I can think of is that if you had symptoms of something, you might not recognise it for what it is because it doesn’t match the stereotype. I have terrible OCD yet no one knows what it’s actually like for me.
Edit: worse access to treatment as well.
I think needs to be treated in a very exceptionally nuanced way. As someone with diagnosed GAD, it's easier to say high functioning anxiety, because I mask that I have it. So well, I didn't know I had it.
I was complaining about all over physical pain at a doctor and she asked had me take a questionnaire and asked if I tried anxiety meds. Oddly enough was going to PT at the time for a tweeked back. Every time I went my PT would ask why my muscles were so tense. After I started the meds I felt physically better. And the first PT visit I had after starting, she asked what I had done because my muscle tone was normal. Also finally figured out one of my physical symptoms I got from time to time (my esophagus trying to choke me) really was anxiety attacks.
When it comes to teenagers, I think we should be more conservative about handing out mental diagnosis. The hormones are wild, the brain is still developing, its an awkward time. Therapy is good to teach how to regulate emotions, but we should be extra sure before handing them drugs to fix the problem.
I have been depressed for a long time, but after taking shrooms few months ago, l feel much happier and highly motivated and my ADHD gone , lost a ton of anxiousness and had a few epiphanies about how I should live my life. I decided to buy an ounce for backup, but haven’t yet felt the need to take any more since then.
I have autism, I was diagnosed with it when I was 15. I tried shrooms and it made me function so much better.
Eek I’m autistic too and might wanna try mushrooms. How do I go about it?
Yeah doc.brenttt is your guide. Man is exceptional with anything psychedelics.
Hello Can he be reached on IG?
Yes doc.Brenttt
Thank you for that reporting. We need a lot more of that kind of clear thinking in journalism against pernicious but well-intended cultural, viral phenomena.
What I got from this video: TikTok (social media) is full of BS and should not be used for self-diagnosis instead of consulting a mental health professional.
True, but nothing new.
I also saw that NYT tries to combat short oversimplified videos with a short oversimplified video. Where are the research citations? Who is the "we" in the "We call this the nocebo effect".
@@JungleEd17 I mean as I understand it the nocebo effect is actually well-documented, like the placebo. The "no" doesn't have to do with the word "No", it's from the Latin nocere, meaning "to harm"
@@cheydinal5401 I'm sure it is, but this video was far to casual. Not only do I know what "we" means, I don't even know if this woman is a researcher, reporter, or opinion columnist.
@@JungleEd17it's so you buy their newspaper or subscribe online. They're not going to give away five years of journalism for nothing.
@@dannyquinn9128 That's what teasers or for. This wasn't that. Masterclass has excellent teasers.
2:00 the idea by that TikToker that "Are. You. Hurting? If yes you have trauma" is ridiculously dumb. There's many reasons why somebody may be hurting, including physical pain that the brain doesn't realize is physical pain and therefore assumes must be from social/emotional reasons. I had an undiagnosed constant mold infection for a few years, turns out the mold was in my mattress, was in a lot of pain but turns out that low-grade pain in the lungs often doesn't feel like pain in the lungs but more like a really bad vibe, and it affects the way you speak as well, makes your voice very strained and the pain and effect on the voice distracts you during social interactions and makes it less easy to emotionally open up when you're in physical pain
How long did it take you to start seeing improvements? I got sick in a house that had mold everywhere, it was covering the entire wall behind my bed. I feel like if you mention mold docs look at you like a crazy person, but severe arthritis suddenly coming on at 29 isn’t normal, and the mold and stress were the main factors. I’m still dealing with arthritis tho, 10 years later, even as I type this it hurts my hands. I just want to get better, I’m an artist and it’s hard to paint.
I think it’s important for people to note that mental illness and health operates on a spectrum. There are reasons why certain disorders are comorbid. There are also reasons why there are some diagnoses that pretty much say, “your issues fall into this category of disorders but you don’t quite check the boxes for very specific conditions.”
You can have traits that are characteristic to a disorder without having that disorder. I thought I was bipolar for years. Turns out I was adhd, autistic, and VERY burntout (officially diagnosed).
this it can be so hard to figure out what mental illness you have because so many symptoms overlap and have what can seem like minor differences
This also gets at a problem of access to care. I first self-diagnosed as autistic in my teens. Ten years later, I was finally referred for a full psych eval (at that point, I had been invalidated so many times that I was not at all expecting an autism diagnosis). I was an adult willing to pay full out of pocket if insurance didn't cover it, and I still spent 8 months on multiple waitlists before I could be seen. I'm a more complex case than people had been assuming and having 10 hours with a specialist clarified a lot of things. I wonder if part of the issue is that youth simply aren't able to access effective and afforadable care. Of course, they should be seen by a professional if they suspect a mental illness. But can their parents afford that? Are their parents willing to make the appointments? Do the relevant professionals even exist in their area?
I have anxiety and depression. I also have traits of avoidant personality disorder, dependent personality disorder, and OCD but not enough to have any of them.
Thank you! I thought I was the only one who felt this way! Took the words right out of my mouth. I’m someone who actually suffers with a load of real mental health issues and am seeing people around me self diagnose themselves. I have never self diagnosed myself and I never post anything like that. I wish more people spoke up about the glorifying of mental health issues. I have suffered from multiple mental health issues and been diagnosed since I was 5. It wasn’t me who realised I had these problems, but my parents. They effect me so much.
As somone who's been clinically diagnosed with depression and talks about it openly, I often get people come to me expressing distress and trying to label what they feel
I don't like self-diagnosis, yet at the same time resolving a problem requires recognizing it, and if someone feels something wrong, their mind & body might actually be communicating an issue
In this case, I ususally just try to validate their experiences, share mine, and encourage them to talk about it with a professional
I mean I think people have to realize that depression is a symptom not a specific disease. If somebody is in chronic physical pain, perhaps low-grade inflammation in say the lungs (from say a chronic mold infection, like what I had for years now until recently), or some other physical issue where it's easy to not realize it's a physical issue (the brain often doesn't realize that low-grade pain from the lungs actually comes from the lungs, it feels more like a mood), that can result in something we'd call depression, so can a stroke which is a completely different thing, or weak blood supply from heart issues, or too much or too little of certain electrolytes which affect every cell including neurons directly, etc
Those things *interplay* with social experiences, when you're feeling quite bad for physical reasons, chances are your social life will also feel pretty bad usually, and thus that makes it easy to find social reasons for bad feelings, when the real underlying issue is physical. And some undiagnosed physical issues are lifelong or span many years anyway, so perhaps the reason why certain experiences during childhood felt not just bad but earth-shatteringly bad were because the person was feeling very bad at all times anyway and then experiencing traumatic events *really* hurt and for years, rather than hurting a bit for a few days or weeks and it then being mentally resolved
@@cheydinal5401 oh wow I never knew physical pain/illness could manifest itself into emotional pain/mental illness. People tend to talk about the reverse. Thanks for sharing your experience!
This was a very interesting video - as a teenager I was severely depressed - and to cope I looked for evidence why I secretly might be a genius and depression would be part of it. I became obsessed with looking for reasons, why I might be way smarter than the average person. Many years, later, today. I can say that I am not a genius and I am fairly grateful not to be one. But I was depressed; I was suicidal, I had many forms of anxiety over the years and also latent phases of panic attacks. This is all diagnosed. Well, I have been diagnosed with CPTSD. Weird to type that all out under such a video. What I want to say is.. that with my awareness now its easier for me to distinguish a bad day from the onset of a depressive episode. I dont misinterpretate excitement for anxiety anymore. And so on. It took me some time.
And I have realized that people really say they are depressed when they are not. They say they had panic attacks or this and that, when they havent. I dont blame them. I even feel happy for them that they havent suffered the real blow (yet) in life. What bothers me is vise versa, they believe, that I had the exact same experience then. That my depressive episodes where just a bad week and not months of agony and feeling like slowly drifting out of existence, day by day. When "high functioning" people have a breakdown, because they cant work/be active 24/7 and people with depression cant even get out of bed, cant even bring themselves to shower or eat.. its a bit out of whack.
I dont want to say that the problems these people face dont have to be taken seriously, because they could lead into something more severe; and their subjective reality is still valid. I just wouldnt try to medicate those people or feed them with information thats not catered to their needs. When I am having a bad week now, I have a different kind of tool set than when a depressive episode hits.
I feel like past under-diagnosis must be a part of the apparent rise in mental health problems. I wish she at least acknowledged this as a counter point, even if to just disprove it.
It would be best to acknowledge it and have balanced view of reality.
Also, how exactly would she be able to disprove "it"?
But the rates have become almost abnormal... If everyone is ill, then no one is
There is no way to test for over- or underdiagnosis, so talking about is always hollow speech not actually referring to anything.
Lol no. The rates of all these diagnoses are way overblown, much like it was when doctors were claiming every slightly hyperactive child has ADHD so you can pump them full of legal meth and then act baffled when your child develops ACTUAL problems later in life because of Ritalin or similar meth derivatives. I always find it funny that in a world filled with greed and greedy people, the average person is far too trusting of the medical industry, when it is just that. AN INDUSTRY. That profits. And profits always supercede all else. The more you can diagnose someone and throw a pill at them, the better. I can't imagine taking medication for 'depression' or 'anxiety'. The people I know in real life who do take those meds are zombies, more or less. And they're hopelessly addicted.
I have OCD and it’s been debilitating. I really think 80% o these people claiming they have a “condition” are just looking for attention.
Life in general is pretty stressful. That doesn’t mean you have a mental condition.
I honestly feel the same way when everyone now says they’re autistic.
Something to note is that there is almost jealousy or even competition for who is worse off. People are literally resentful of actual victims for having something genuine to say. It's absolute madness.
My sister is an alcoholic and crashed her car into the side of a liquor store. She had some soreness from the accident that lasted about a month said to me “I’m in so much pain, no one knows what it feels like”. I looked at her with my mouth open like are you serious?! I have a dozen chronic debilitating illnesses including EDS, POTS, MCAS, Endometriosis, Chiari Malformation, occipital neuralgia, etc., and have had multiple surgeries including two on my kidney from a blockage that caused unbearable pain. She is one of those people that lives in her victimhood and could care less about anyone but herself. She has always expressed jealousy because I “don’t have to work”. As if being disabled and poor is a blast! 😂 I’m not like that so it baffles me how competitive and jealous people can be, but you’re right, and people like that make society question those of us with legitimate health concerns.
@cherrycoke3254 People are jealous of the attention and sympathy they can get out of others. And yeah, good example. Someone can get angry if someone else has a legitimate ailment that could take attention away from them. They need to be the biggest victim around.
I think we all kind of feed it, especially with social media nowadays. Thanks for sharing your story. And I wish you the best. Peace ✌️
The U.S. is (I believe) the only country that allows commercials for prescription meds, which has led to higher rate of scripts for anxiety/depression, but also diagnosis for those mental disorders.
New Zealand surprisingly also allows it
The US is like someone implemented the worst parts of the Bible & said why do the good parts?
@@agapikukliNot true. Only the US and New Zealand. If you see a commercial on TV of a medicine in Brazil, it's probably an OTC one, not s prescription drug.
That's effed up...
This was so well put, and I'm glad it came across my feed. It's something I've been noticing the past few years and it's great to see others noticing too.
I will say that the terms “high functioning anxiety” and “high functioning depression” have been around well before TikTok. I remember first seeing those terms in 2015 on Web MD I believe. Internet diagnosing has existed long before TikTok. This same phenomenon happened on Tumblr over a decade ago.
You’re right, in that people shouldn’t self-diagnose a mental illness based on one, or even several, videos. These creators are talking about their personal experiences, and they’re just that - personal experiences. They’re not definitive representations of mental illness. It’s important to get mental health information from reliable sources, although that’s a matter of media literacy than MH awareness.
In a perfect world, perhaps a teen would see some videos about depression, realize they relate to a lot of the symptoms, then visit a doctor or a therapist to determine a diagnosis (or not)/treatment plan (if any). But of course not everyone has access to affordable healthcare, therapy often does not accept insurance, or even the teen does not have trusted adults to share their struggles with. As an older Gen-Z person (25), I think the reason teens (and adults, let’s be real), turn to social media for this stuff is because they might not have anywhere else to go. They might be looking for someone to listen to them and give them emotional validation which WE ALL NEED during difficult times.
Quick reminder: the only professionals allowed to give out diagnosis are doctors.
And also something I learned from experience: sometimes, talking to a doctor or psychologists is as effective as talking to a wall. At least when you talk to a wall you don’t get any worse, so that’s a plus because I’m sure most together forgot the “first do no harm” deal.
Yes, this video is about how the current way validation for teenagers is commodified (content creators on sites like TH-cam and TikTok are paid, making this behavior predatory) is doing harm.
My anxiety and depression come under high functioning as I am able to go to work, go out to run errands, etc. If my inner critic creeps up, I might end up in a depressed mood, crying when alone, beating myself up mentally, etc. I also might cry in public if I end up in a situation where I get hurt emotionally (such as dealing with an exceptionally rude customer).
Before I was diagnosed, I thought my on and off funk were too small to be anxiety and depression because they weren’t the stereotypical “can’t get out of bed” kind.
Therapists are de facto clergy now, and I become more convinced of this with each passing week.
seriously...the whole mental health field is adding to peoples problemns. before people would have normal emotions that are heightened and horrible now they're heightened and horrible and medical issues on top of it. life often sucks lets work on making it better
People with legitimate mental health crises now can have a 2-month waiting period to be seen for an initial consultation!
THAT'S BECAUSE YOU DON'T FIGHT FOR A *GOOD AND FREE MEDICAL SYSTEM*, and not because of tik tokers
What’s Biden’s excuse for not having desperately needed psychiatric help??
@@ninblau2095 People of the NYT clearly are too mentally ill to do so. Think about it! In 2 seconds flat progressive democrats protest and riot over rich executives (who are the only people who have money to pay them for a job), the environment, some black crack addict (they pay to avoid in their private neighborhoods), feminist issues, LGBTQ+++ issues, political issues and foreign countries but NO PROTESTS FOR UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE?!?!
Then you wonder why people outside the liberal bubble make fun of them and go about their lives ignoring them…😂😂😂
@@user-zq4fv8sj6vGod you Russian bots are insufferable
@@Ashkanman Just be honest with yourself instead of being hypersensitive.
This reminds me of when people say someone who identifies as an addict isn’t really addicted to something because there isn’t empirical evidence that that thing is addictive. This is often a harmful argument because it discounts the real problem someone’s “addictive” behavior is causing in their lives.
Similarly, if someone is saying they are suffering, it shouldn’t matter if they have a medical diagnosis of a particular medical disorder. It’s also questionable the validity of diagnoses to begin with because they are so subjective even from a psychiatric viewpoint. I have personally been diagnosed with bipolar type 1, bipolar type 2, general anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, OCD, OCPD, and PTSD. At a certain point, it just feels laughable.
As someone who has anxiety, and forced myself to go out and try to do things while actively having panic attacks, the idea that someone would just resign themselves to "not doing anything because they already have anxiety" is mind blowing. I do think that eventually these people will "grow out of it" that is to say, the fads around mental health in social media might wane with time and the next pointless fad takes over. But it does seem crazy to me that perfectly normal behaviours and memories are now being rebranded as "trauma" or "mental illness"
Just because you "forced yourself to go out and try to do things" while having panic attacks" doesn't mean that someone else facing the same issues and having resigned themselves to not doing anything isn't valid.
@@jnhartonNobody said it's invalid, but it definitely isn't beneficial for the person and it's exactly the opposite of what is considered to be a part of anxiety treatment. By not doing anything and shutting yourself from the world your anxiety will undoubtedly become much worse and you're at significant risk of developing depression.
This is the best video about mental health I've seen in a while. Thank you!
recently have definitely been dealing with some form of anxiety that I have gone to the doctor for, and she prescribed me sari's for, and while I have always been a big over thinker and shy since I was a kid, I used to think that I had anxiety, while I definitely had a panic attack once or twice growing up, its been nothing like what I've been experiencing in the past month and a half. It made me realize that I probably didn't have anxiety before and if I did/still have it it was/is probably a mild-moderate case of social anxiety. Im glad that this is being talked about and I think anxiety has also been something that people have really watered down, people with normal fear levels don't understand just how much of a physical experience it can be, how scary it can be when you have an attack, and how much it can really impact your daily life. I feel like that part needs to be talked about more. Because I certainly wasn't aware of that before
I’m opposite in that after being diagnosed with anxiety and depression, I realized my anxiety may have started when I was a kid and been more than just shyness. I was afraid of my teachers growing up, afraid I would be yelled or laughed at if I got an answer wrong or didn’t know an answer. I needed a friend with me for moral support if ai had to go up to one of my teachers about something, and other times I was too scared to talk to them. I also developed the bad habit of chewing the insides of my cheeks around second grade.
Those online mental health tests come off as ambiguously as online personality tests. “Do you seek reassurance?” “Do you find reassurance doesn’t actually make you happier when you get it?” Those are pretty universal things young people deal with.
As someone with legitimate bipolar (diagnosed by two separate psychiatrists who don't know each other), I shudder at how young people today romanticize mental health diagnoses. Romanticizing is not the same as destigmatizing. Having bipolar is NOT a badge of honor; it is something you have to live with and manage. For some young people, they get it twisted and say I got bipolar whoo hoo I'm so cool
With a lack of affordable healthcare for most Americans, it’s no wonder so many of us turn to these social media apps for support in an effort to diagnose ourselves.
Yeah, that's sometning not mentioned in this article. Why ppl are searching for support in Social media? Because it feels like taking forever to find a decent professional support that you could afford.
It's not about lack of affordable healthcare. It's about lack of social and cultural institutions. In the past, your entire life was laid out for you in terms of rites of passage. Now you're forced to figure it all out on your own.
The more I see the NYT talk breathlessly about how hospitals, nurses and now doctors are in perpetual crisis I don’t trust them. You don’t seek help from so-called ‘professionals’ who are so emotionally unstable they strike, complain and are combative to seek care for yourself. I’ve given up and am taking care of myself alone after dealing with and watching doctors act out like nut cases.
@@AtomicGirlNYC-fu9xyI think it’s both.
@@VictorPaixao4funAgreed, it also doesn’t help that many therapists don’t accept insurance, so you’ll wind up having to pay $100+ out of pocket per session.
(Yes, I know therapists have to make a living, but that doesn’t mean I have an extra $100 to spend every other week).
I really think a diagnosis is important. It is the first step to getting professional treatment. I am diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder and I get treatment with medication. Plus, a self-diagnosis cannot be completely trusted. I have self-diagnosed and thought I had other disorders such as bipolar disorder and body dysmorphic disorder but when I went to a psychiatrist for it they were like “nope, you don’t have it.”
Anxiety is a self reported symptom. If it does not interfere with your functioning, its not diagnosable medically. For a medical problem like anxiety to be diagnosed it has to interfere with your functioning. It is literally a requirement in the DSM. Ppl just love pathologizing everything. But it makes those of us who do have debilitating conditions feel like you are making light of our condition. Just like ppl who claim to be "slightly autistic". There is no such thing. If you have autism traits but they do not interfere with anything, you are not autistic.
From the DSM criteria: D. Symptoms cause clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of current functioning.
This is the exact reason why psych diagnoses are BS. Two people could be experiencing similar things phenomenologically but one person could just be better at coping. You're basically saying you can only considered to have mental illness if you're not successful, and if you became successful your diagnosis wouldn't be valid anymore
A great book related to this topic is Saving Normal: An Insider's Revolt against Out-of-Control Psychiatric Diagnosis, DSM-5, Big Pharma, and the Medicalization of Ordinary Life by Allen Frances, a psychiatrist who chaired the DSM-IV Task Force.
This video needs to be seen by a lot of people.
I was diagnosed with mild to moderate anxiety and depression and the average age of 32 in 2018. I had referred to it as an on and off funk because I had thought it was too small to be anxiety and depression. I did look back and realize that the anxiety might have started when I was a kid and been more than just shyness. I was afraid of my teachers growing up, afraid of being yelled or laughed at if I got an answer wrong or didn’t know an answer. I also developed the bad habit of chewing the insides of my cheeks around second grade.
Or maybe America has normalized operating in state of stress and dead endedness and a lot of suffering is happening.
No, that would require this british woman to do some level of societal critique that can't be blamed on the individual.
You're proving her point. People ARE suffering, but this doesn't mean they all have a diagnosable mental illness. The belief that people need a diagnosis to have their suffering legitimised and empathised with is a problem. As a society we need to respond to suffering with compassion regardless of it's diagnosable or not.
@lohsab6410 but her point isn't... that. Her point is 'young people are making THEMSELVES suffer.'
I completely agree here and I so appreciate that the New York Times is taking the time to even recognize at least this negative aspect of the online lives of young people and how this one trend of awareness that everyone touted as amazing and beneficial for all really does have a dark side of used in the wrong way. But there is one thing to note. Self-diagnosis is extremely important and a crucial part of healing, in fact. I mean, a doctor isn’t always going to check if you have some rare disease every time you go for your yearly check up. Usually there is some symptom present that you yourself find odd before that checkup. Usually it is you who will be thinking, “Hmmm, something’s not quite right”. And that’s important, because then it will be you who will go to the doctor, describe your symptoms that you think you have, and then they will run tests to confirm or deny your worries. So go ahead, diagnose yourself. But then go and see a therapist and take some action. Don’t post it online and leave it at that because, if you’re wrong, then you’re literally tricking yourself into thinking that your life is much more troubled than it actually is. And that’s really bad.
Is there actually research on this cycle?
Thank you for this video. It highlights the risk of using shortcuts when assessing your own wellbeing and negative impact of social media.
love this video. straight to the point and saying what a lot of us our thinking. as a member of gen z it’s outright sad how many people use their self diagnosis as excuses for why they can’t show up as good and respectful friends and partners. I feel like one of the few people that goes throughout my day with the mindset of “i may be having a hard time but i’m overall doing well, let me practice gratitude rn” vs the many who are finding solace in remaining comfortable in a diagnosis that may or may not be accurate
I think it's important to mention that the hardest hit individuals are the people with real mental disorders: whether its normal people appropriating self identitying slang that autistic people have made in their community, like "acoustic," as a slur, or people who actually face these disorders nearly all the time being discredited as just another part of the self-diagnosed wave, this kind of culture is tipping the scale a little too far forward.
So weird how when the capacity to watch everyone enjoying the best perfect life became available everyone got anxiety and depression. I bet it's TOOOOTALLY unrelated....totally. I don't understand how the amish or people that live in farms or unplugged areas of the world don't have anxiety or depression. It's so mind blowing...like a lot...
This is the most sensible presentation I've seen on this topic in a very long while. I also want to point out that many of the people yammering on social media about "what you should know" and "5 things you didn't know," etc., are actually making money doing this. They have monetized their TH-cam, Instagram or other social media accounts, and are essentially getting paid to provide false, misleading or simply unprofessional advice to insecure or struggling people of all ages. Having the feelings these people describe are simply a manifestation of being HUMAN.
Most of the "symptoms" these TikTok people are listing are the opposite of what you'd be feeling/doing if you actually had an anxiety disorder.
even medical healthcare providers are for the most part highly ignorant about mental health, or internal struggle. Take a pill....
“If everybody’s ill, then nobody is ill” => That’s not how it works
Yes! Everyone has a cold or a flu from time to time, but it doesn't mean that those are not illnesses
I feel like this needs to be delved deeper into, as fixation on the overuse of words or personalization of a subject doesn't just happen with mental illness and I doubt it's a new phenomenon.
Understanding the roots and how it works would do well in helping us understand our errs.
Thank you, this needed to be put out
A friend likes to say if we are all special, no one is special. I think he got that from a kids show.
It’s from the Incredibles
I started to fall into the self-diagnosis rabbit hole, but I thankfully realised EVERYONE has hard feelings and it's normal to go through rough patches, even if they last months.
Thank you.
As an overweight person, diet and exercise play a huge factor. I know I feel better when I eat better. But it’s hard to stay on track. Anyone else feel the same?
THANK YOU FOR SAYING IT!
I've worked with kids on the autism spectrum for years in my line of work. It's crazy how many socially awkward teenagers I see identifying as having "High functioning Autistism" now that most likely don't.
This gets to me so much. Just because you’re a little quirky or have an intense interest or loud noises etc doesn’t mean autism. It’s like the cool new diagnosis. These tik tok folks cash in and have normalish lives and can converse as normal and have jobs and do whatever . My son actually has it and could barely speak til he was 6, still can’t do basic math at almost 10 and finally was completely toilet trained at 9 and can’t hold a regular conversation without just saying things or phrases at complete random. I know it’s a “spectrum” but it’s like they think being a little different equals neurodivergent and then make it their entire personality. And if you met them, you’d literally just think they’re normal. I hope I’m explaining myself right .
@@malloryhead You explained it perfectly. We've all noticed the increase in quirky teenagers claiming to be Autistic online.
@@rhystekely5622 I’ve always been pretty weird myself. I was 10 years old and obsessed with Conan OBrien and Letterman , no Latino background but loved Spanish tejano music in middle school and high school and was just all around a bit different than a typical kid in the 90s/early 2000s and still like that as a 40 year old and have a little trouble making friends with my weird interests.Am I autistic? Nope . Just have my own little weirdo stuff I enjoy . Going against “mainstream” of what’s considered normal or little quirks isnt neurodivergent.
If someone could tell me I don’t have something or I do have something - I’d be happy with that, but at the moment I’m on a 2 year waitlist to find out, so maybe I should self-diagnose so I can find other coping mechanisms, till I can be told properly.
lol you are a clown then
That felt like it should have been significantly longer. I'm honestly a bit offended to hear her say that she's studied this for ten years and to not immediately follow it up with statistics and further facts to back up her argument. I'm beyond a doubt sure she could, I just don't understand why this video didn't. It makes it seem like the start to an argument and not the argument itself.
THANK YOU. I’m a therapist and agree 100%
THANK YOU!!
Thank you for this enlightening video.
You should make a video like this for other similar social trends.
This is a great message
Thank you!!!
Selling sickness! What a concept!
Please examine the business cases behind the surge in mental health awareness especially those pushed by social media and pay for digital mental health services.
Imagine being anxious about your work life balance vs being anxious while being at a high level of competence and work product.
You’re not ocd if you are the bread winner and have negotiated roles with your partner and they fail to maintain it, but if you spend 1/3 of your income on cleaning products that you excessively use unnecessarily you might be.
In this insane world, crazy is the new normal. It distresses me how this short video is so focused on the individual and their problems while completely avoiding dealing with the real societal problems: greed, bad parenting, poor education, poverty, racism, sexism, and the like.
Not just teenagers. Adults too
Thank you for the nuanced take!
So good and so well said! Thank you
I feel like no one talks about subclinical levels. I used to have clinical depression and clinical social anxiety. After a lot of therapy and hard work my social anxiety is sub-clinical: perhaps I exhibit more symptoms than the average person, but I no longer exhibit sufficient symptons to merit the full diagnosis.
Subclinical is the *goal*, remission is the goal. Anxiety isn't a mental illness; it's an emotion, and emotions (even the crappy ones!) aren't full on mental illnesses. GAD, panic disorder, PTSD, OCD, these are clinically defined diagnoses that should only be identified by a psychologist, psychiatrist, or LCSW (in the US).
Very surprising to see the NYT put something out like this. Happy to see it
Yeah I have mixed feelings on all of this. People got so carried away with the “anxiety/depression doesn’t always look like this, sometimes it looks like a fully functioning person,” that they forgot those on the more severe end of the spectrum literally end up with their lives uprooted from nearly every angle. Now because everyone claims to have clinical anxiety and depression, those who really have it are ignored even more. On the other hand, even if someone has sub clinical anxiety or depression, I still think they deserve support. It’s difficult to navigate in a world where humans tend to want to think in black and white.
Wow! Yeah it has gone nuts on the internet. It does make it harder for people to get legitimately diagnosed as having or even better not having a mental health issue.
As someone with invisible disabilities that were ignored for over a decade, with dozens of specialists telling me my symptoms were psychosomatic when I knew they were not:it’s a slippery slope to try and naysay the reality of others experiences. Women in particular and people of color are notoriously ignored by our doctors. Perhaps instead of assuming the younger generation is making up illnesses, we are just discovering more information and able to diagnose more throughly? I have Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and about a dozen co-morbid conditions including MCAS, POTS, ADHD, endometriosis, SIBO, etc. While EDS was once considered extremely rare, we are now finding out it’s been massively under-diagnosed. That is of no surprise to me with the amount of distrust from medical professionals I experienced. I personally will never do what others did to me and invalidate a person’s medical symptoms/diagnosis, as doing so is dangerous and leads to worse outcomes. Mental illnesses in America is profound, and awareness is import. I’d rather there be MORE awareness versus less. I think this doctor like many is condescending and rather believe those of us with legitimate conditions are hypochondriacs. I was called that by at least 7 doctors. Thank goodness I didn’t listen to them! Think about how many medical errors there are. Once the rate of misdiagnosis and medical error goes down, then I’ll trust a doctor that is complaining about self-diagnosing. Knowledge is power and doctors are just mad that we can now empower ourselves against their egos.
You are exactly who she’s talking about. The diagnoses you’ve listed are NOTORIOUS for people who WANT to be sick, who harass physicians until they give up and just give you what you want. Can you honestly say that after you got all these diagnoses and subsequent treatments, that your health improved, or do you just feel better because you get to say “see, I told you I was sick”? The reality is, YOU make it harder for physicians to take people seriously when they have real medical problems.
or it is rising because we actually can't afford to live anymore and it's getting hopeless
I can relate Lucy's three step process to all information that is relayed over social media. A lot of "influencers" doing long form podcasts and/or videos describing very complex ideas. They capture an audience in the moment and then continue to produce another video a couple of days later on another complex topic. The viewer is constantly in a loop of the three steps trying to keep up with all of the information/videos that the "influencer" produces, which in turn can exacerbate the aniexty that Lucy is discussing in this video.
My everyday struggle with two teenagers kids. They don't listen to me, but repeat every single s*** they watch or hear online! Gosh, this generation is totally LOST!
"I don't want to dismiss, but you are a hashtag"
This was so well done and balanced! Great job NYT!
I love this video. This is spot-on with many things I've been noticing around me. Especially the self-fulfilling prophecy is sometimes so obvious... I have actually heard people say "I won't even try to remove distractions and focus, because I have ADD, and I won't be able to keep my attention anyway"
I am also frustrated with the desire of many clinicians to diagnose mental ilnesses, without attaching a meaningful treatment to it. What is the point of diagnosing without treating the disorder?
This is happening with ADHD and autism as well. It's also happening with the way people view others, a big one being that people are labeling anyone they don't like as a narcissist or "toxic". Honestly this started a long time ago with OCD, I remember as a kid people would say "I'm OCD" when they wanted their house to be clean or their clothes to match, when those are just normal things and not even necessarily something someone with OCD experiences. I think people, especially teenagers, just want to feel special and having the label of a mental disorder unfortunately scratches that itch. But now with social media actual doctors (and also total quacks) are scratching that itch for these people, making broad statements about the symptoms of disorders so that their videos can get the most views.
Yeah this has been happening for years. I didn’t become suicidal until I realized what suicide was, didn’t self harm until I learned it was a way that depressed people sometimes “coped.” I was depressed at a very young age, before I had any social media, but my illness was made worse by it.
I've been feeling anxiety about my anxiety.
Just recently saw an ad for an app that basically said "Childhood trauma - this is the real reason you procrastinate". Everyone and their mom is trying to cash in on this mental health trend and it's not helpful. I'm worried about people who genuinely have mental health issues but don't have access to proper treatment such as counselling. Being fed misleading, oversimplifying and even false information can further confuse you and push you into that rabbit hole of insecurity and constant over analyzing.
I’m suspecting that much of this is undiagnosed American Life Stress.
Stress is stress, regardless
of the cause.
Especially frustrating with traumatic disorders, including DPDR. It’s trendy, which means accurate info is incredibly rare right now.
Being an adult is a medical diagnosis?
Smoking weed, chugging caffeine, and endlessly scrolling will put anyone into this loop. You're burning out your adrenal system. Eat better, work out, drop the bad habits and scrolling, and watch your life bloom into something you never realized was possible.
People don't want to be told this, but all these so-called neurodivergents and so on, always lead the most unhealthy lifestyles. Especially the younger generations. They consume garbage food filled with sugar and additives, they stare at screens all day, and the list goes on. Then they wonder why they're all so mentally ill. It doesn't help that society tricks them into thinking they're the ones from the problem rather than society being problematic.