[lit-ideas] Re: Who's Crazy? We Are
- From: "Andy Amago" <aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 8 Jun 2005 09:47:28 -0400
> [Original Message]
> From: Harold Hungerford <hh@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: 6/8/2005 1:13:39 AM
> Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Who's Crazy? We Are
>
> 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.
>
A.A. I agree. We see as wrong what a lot of other countries take for
granted. We don't do it perfectly, but at least we're working on it.
Andy Amago
> 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
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------
> > To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
> > digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
> To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
> digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
Other related posts:
