[lit-ideas] Re: Who's Crazy? We Are
- From: Harold Hungerford <hh@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 7 Jun 2005 22:13:32 -0700
I think it means that the bar for "mental illness" is a lot lower in
the US than it is in much of the rest of the world.
Harold Hungerford
On Jun 7, 2005, at 9:56 PM, John McCreery wrote:
>
>
> According to a report from the Xinhau News Agency,
>
>
>> The United States leads in mental illness globally with 46 percent
>> of Americans suffering mental disorders ranging from anxiety,
>> depression to substance abuse in their lifetime, The Washington
>> Post reported Tuesday.
>>
>> Within the past year, about 25 percent of all Americans met the
>> criteria for having a mental illness, and fully 25 percent of those
>> had a "serious" disorder that significantly disrupted their ability
>> to function day to day, according to a one-year-and-a-half survey
>> of the country's mental health, conducted by the University of
>> Michigan.
>>
>> Simultaneous occurrence of two or more illnesses was reported in
>> nearly half of the mental disorder sufferers.
>>
>> The survey is by far the largest and most detailed of its kind in
>> the United States, during which nearly 300 trained interviewers
>> visited 9,282 households selected at random in 34 states.
>>
>
>
> Don't get snarsty now because this is China's overseas news agency.
> Note the Washington Post citation and the fact that the survey was
> conducted by the University of Michigan. Google points to 173 related
> stories.
>
> Do ask yourself, however, if this study is valid, what does it say
> about the state of US society at this the start of the 21st century?
> Could it be that there is something about USAnian hyperindividualism
> or religious or market fundamentalism that is, in fact, just plain
> nuts? Or is it just that we're all so accustomed to therapy speak,
> thanks to Oprah, Phil, etc., that we don't suck it up and somatize,
> i.e., express our hurt in physical symptoms, the way folks in Asia do?
>
>
>
> P.S. a tip of the hat to Ron Kephart on anthro-L from whom I borrow
> "USAnian hyperindividualism."
>
> P.P.S. "folks in Asia" is, in the first instance, a reference to the
> Chinese as described in the work of Arthur Kleinman.
>
>
>
> John McCreery
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