Percentage of People Who Seem Okay But Are Not

[Which Roger]

I'm asking partly out of curiosity and partly related to a possible theme in an upcoming book.

There are people who outwardly seem happy and well-adjusted, but who are in fact dealing with problems such as depression, anxiety, or other mental issues.

What percentage of the population do you think falls into that category?

I interpret this to mean the percentage of the overall population that exhibits both of these characteristics: Outwardly happy AND hurting inside.

I would say that about 60% of the population appears outwardly happy and well-adjusted. Of those 60%, I would guesstimate that about a third are hiding problems. So my answer is 20%.


Of course problems are much more prevalent in the 40% who don't appear outwardly happy.

 

[Rustic23]

I doubt they wonder! DW is convinced! Besides, I already confessed by including me.

 

[jIMOh]

I'm asking partly out of curiosity and partly related to a possible theme in an upcoming book.

There are people who outwardly seem happy and well-adjusted, but who are in fact dealing with problems such as depression, anxiety, or other mental issues.

What percentage of the population do you think falls into that category?

I am well adjusted, until someone controls me.
If its the government which is controlling me, I am not sure how much more I can take.

I cannot speak for others.

 

[MuirWannabe]

DS suffers from extreme social anxiety. He tries painfully to appear ‘chill and relaxed’. I’ve learned over time he is anything but. He self medicates with alcohol and other substances to the point I know he’s an alcoholic. Mental illness was something I’d never had any knowledge or experience with. I’ve now started to learn how prevalent and insidious it is. I’ve been shocked at the number of folks in my Al-Anon meetings who deal with alcoholics who also have some form of mental illness. Usually anxiety, depression, or bi-polar. Has it always been this way? I’ve no idea. Is something causing an increase in these illnesses? I don’t know.

I don’t know much. But it saddens me deeply. I don’t even know how to help my own DS. He seems to want no help. Maybe he believes help is impossible.

 

[Lakewood90712]

Survival of the fittest instinct.

Applies to all animals. Always has , always will.

Concealment of illness / distress.

Revelation is harmful to ones stature in society or work. Many will argue us western humans are more sophisticated, I don't think so.

 

[ncbill]

https://www.nami.org/learn-more/mental-health-by-the-numbers

Prevalence Of Mental Illness

Approximately 1 in 5 adults in the U.S. (46.6 million) experiences mental illness in a given year.1
Approximately 1 in 25 adults in the U.S. (11.2 million) experiences a serious mental illness in a given year that substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities.2
Approximately 1 in 5 youth aged 13–18 (21.4%) experiences a severe mental disorder at some point during their life. For children aged 8–15, the estimate is 13%.3
1.1% of adults in the U.S. live with schizophrenia.4
2.6% of adults in the U.S. live with bipolar disorder.5
6.9% of adults in the U.S.—16 million—had at least one major depressive episode in the past year.6
18.1% of adults in the U.S. experienced an anxiety disorder such as posttraumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and specific phobias.7
Among the 20.2 million adults in the U.S. who experienced a substance use disorder, 50.5%—10.2 million adults—had a co-occurring mental illness.8

Of course I can't find it now, but I read an article recently about mass shooters that stated given current U.S. population there's a good million people capable of such heinous acts...IIRC the author advocating identifying those at the highest risk & forcibly medicating if necessary.

 

[ckelly78z]

I personally know many functional drunks, who appear to have it all in order, but imbibe far too much on a daily basis.

There are lots of broken, divorcees that will never trust again, who put on their game face for work every day.

Way too many one parent families, who have never had a male presence in the house, so the kids grow up wild.

Lots of mixed families taking care of family drug addict's children who TRY to provide a stable foundation, but the damage has already been done.

I would say that far more people have some serious mental baggage than not.

 

[imoldernu]

Strange point in life. On the way in my 80's, w/ stage 4 Alzheimer's, but strangely pretty much okay, with almost no worries about health, money, or the future. Periodic short temper, but understood, and under control.

I used to be normal.

 

[robnplunder]

https://www.nami.org/learn-more/mental-health-by-the-numbers

Prevalence Of Mental Illness

Approximately 1 in 5 adults in the U.S. (46.6 million) experiences mental illness in a given year.1
Approximately 1 in 25 adults in the U.S. (11.2 million) experiences a serious mental illness in a given year that substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities.2
Approximately 1 in 5 youth aged 13–18 (21.4%) experiences a severe mental disorder at some point during their life. For children aged 8–15, the estimate is 13%.3
1.1% of adults in the U.S. live with schizophrenia.4
2.6% of adults in the U.S. live with bipolar disorder.5
6.9% of adults in the U.S.—16 million—had at least one major depressive episode in the past year.6
18.1% of adults in the U.S. experienced an anxiety disorder such as posttraumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and specific phobias.7
Among the 20.2 million adults in the U.S. who experienced a substance use disorder, 50.5%—10.2 million adults—had a co-occurring mental illness.8

Not to mention people with personality disorders. They are all out there. If we by chance run into them in, we wouldn't know. I had to study various disorders b/c of thing which happened in my life. It helps to know what they are, and how to deal with such people.

 

[robnplunder]

I’ve been shocked at the number of folks in my Al-Anon meetings who deal with alcoholics who also have some form of mental illness. Usually anxiety, depression, or bi-polar. Has it always been this way? I’ve no idea. Is something causing an increase in these illnesses? I don’t know.

One major symptom of people with Narcissistic Personality Disorder is periodic depression and they often resort to drugs and alcohol. My guess is that many people's alcohol/drug dependency is due to other mental issues.

 

[LOL!]

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/1-in-6-americans-takes-a-psychiatric-drug/
are folks who self-report that they take prescription drugs. And there are broad subcategories like "women" or "older people" who report more than 20% drug usage.

So if we take the conservative estimate that 3 times as many people who self-report don't get diagnosed, then that means only you and I are the only people without anxiety and/or depression.

 

[Nemo2]

I used to be normal.

'Normal'? Now there's a terrifying thought.

 

[Bir48die]

I will always take comments from those who either have history or currently struggle. Those who have not had anxiety, depression or other like issues can only comment from afar. Many issues especially anxiety are passed down genetically. I currently don’t struggle but have with panic attacks and anxiety. There are dysfunctional marriages, substance abuse and many other struggles that others don’t see from the front door. Those who have had a son or daughter go through addiction can also relate.

Anyway it goes being supportive and not judging are the two key pieces of this.

 

[HI Bill]

There are people who outwardly seem happy and well-adjusted, but who are in fact dealing with problems such as depression, anxiety, or other mental issues.

What percentage of the population do you think falls into that category?

In addition to those you have genetic/other predisposition to mental health issues, I believe that a large percentage of folks suffer from depression or unhappiness due to societal expectations of what one's life should be (body of a model, budget of a rock star, travel of a YouTube star, etc.).

If I had to guess, I'd say 50+ percent of my acquaintances suffer from depression, substance addition, or other mental health issues. Some appear to be 'functional' alcoholics, some are routinely depressed. It seems, in America, at least, that healthy, well-balanced folks are hard to find.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Muir, sorry about your son. I can relate as I have a son lost to drugs. I know others on this forum have suffered the same heartbreak. I actually never thought I would be one of them.

 

[82-T/A]

I'm asking partly out of curiosity and partly related to a possible theme in an upcoming book.

There are people who outwardly seem happy and well-adjusted, but who are in fact dealing with problems such as depression, anxiety, or other mental issues.

What percentage of the population do you think falls into that category?

I don't know if those can all be correllated, or if perhaps it's too broad of a combination of emotions.



I've never been depressed. Even when my brother died, I was very sad, but I wasn't depressed in the way that it's clinically defined. I see depression as a clinical condition, but anxiety is more of a temporary behavioral condition like being sad, hungry, or whatever. I've been plenty anxious in my life... before a test, going to the hospital when my wife is about to give birth, things like that.



If we're just talking about psychiatric problems... I say that's probably hard to define too. Technically, I'd have a mental disorder because I was diagnosed with ADHD (runs in the family). But I'm perfectly well-adjusted, and I mostly grew out of it as a young adult. I don't jump around from chair to chair, have outbursts, or do anything of the sort (I certainly did when I was a kid though, hahaha).



Point is, psychology tends to add more and more conditions and put names to otherwise normal societal behavior as time goes on. There's a clear distinction between someone who suffers from bi-polar, paranoid schizophrenia, or clinical depression (or what have you). So I think you'd want to narrow-your focus if there's a particular direction you're going with the book.


Just my thoughts, for what it's worth.

 

[82-T/A]

A big part .. In a materialistic consumer society, where people value owning "stuff" and not getting what they want, they feel depressed. If you do get the "stuff" you want, you go into tons of debt, and then they get depressed drowning in debt after debt with no emergency fund. In countries that are not so materialistic, there's not a whole lot of people going into depression or panic attacks - they just accept their fate and live their life in more simplistic terms.

Ahh, yes. This was what I was going to bring up too, but got distracted as I was writing my other response (lol).


For the original poster... my opinion is that social media has created a false narrative about how our peers live. I'm obviously not the first to come up with this theory, but in American society there has always been the concept of "Keeping up with the Jones'."


Without going too crazy down a rabbit hole, I think this can be a healthy attitude. One thing my father always taught me is "You are the friends you keep." The point being... your friends get a Masters degree, maybe you need to work for one too. You see your friends succeed, you need to succeed as well. It doesn't have to be that you see your neighbor buy that shiny brand new car, and now you need to get one.



But with social media, this has typically exemplified the bad, and taken away the good. It's less about what you are, and what you've become, and now about who you are, and what people think you are. Right down to it... people generally hide the bad while showing only the good. There are people who are drowning in debt, but post every day on Facebook and Snapchat about their wonderful new car, fancy vacations, and the gourmet dinners they're eating. #SoAwesome, blah blah. Everyone else looks at this, and I suppose they're unable to see through what's otherwise obvious to most of us, and they try to do the same thing. Further putting themselves into debt just to give the impression that they are special.



The world is our oyster... we can either pretend to be something great, or we can actually get off our asses and actually do it.

 

[joeea]

Of course I can't find it now, but I read an article recently about mass shooters that stated given current U.S. population there's a good million people capable of such heinous acts...IIRC the author advocating identifying those at the highest risk & forcibly medicating if necessary.

Search for "Minority Report".

 

[Nemo2]

There are people who are drowning in debt, but post every day on Facebook and Snapchat about their wonderful new car, fancy vacations, and the gourmet dinners they're eating.

"Too many people spend money they haven’t earned..to buy things they don’t want..to impress people that they don’t like."

— Will Rogers

 

[brett]

Depends on whether you are talking about the population as a whole or my wife`s family.

 

[CaliKid]

Mental illness is so common but also a lot of people are just barely surviving life. They barely pay their rent/mortgage, cars get re-possessed, etc... but we don't see that. I have a bro-in-law like that. Works a customer service job at a well known national company. You go in and see him and transact business with him. He smiles at you. He dresses reasonably well. In reality he is one step from living on the streets a few times a year when unexpected expenses come up. There is some mental illness there (untreated) but also just life is hard when you have one income in a house with multiple kids. Oh ya, but they all have Iphones! Lol.

 

[Spock]

If 17% are on formal prescriptions,
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/heal...tidepressants-other-psychiatric-drugs-n695141
+ 9.4% self medicate
https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/nationwide-trends
+ X % who medicate with alcohol
+ Y% who just "live with it"
the number would be well above 50%

Its high enough its starting to accumulate in the environment
https://www.sciencealert.com/marine...chotropic-antidepressant-medication-solutions

 

[Gumby]

Here is a study entitled "Lifetime prevalence and age-of-onset distributions of mental disorders in the World Health Organization's World Mental Health Survey Initiative" that may provide some additional data. The short answer is "a lot of people"

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2174588/

 

[82-T/A]

Here is a study entitled "Lifetime prevalence and age-of-onset distributions of mental disorders in the World Health Organization's World Mental Health Survey Initiative" that may provide some additional data. The short answer is "a lot of people"

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2174588/

Oh man, I forget how mind-numbing some of these peer-reviewed journal articles can be. After the second sentence, my brain just trailed off.



I suppose there's no need for engaging language when the purpose of these articles is merely to state research findings in a matter of fact way; however, man... you have to really love this stuff to want to read that whole thing.

 

[robnplunder]

Depends on whether you are talking about the population as a whole or my wife`s family.

DW can say the same thing about my side of family . My "clan" has definitely a larger portion of mental misfits. A family reunion always ends in drinking binge and resulting fights so we no longer have them, meeting only at funerals and weddings in which many don't bother to show as they also end with drinking session. The younger (where I belong) generation is better as I suspect only 30% have the older generation mental problems. The next generation seems to be quite normal. On the other hand, DW's side is good. Any mental misfit is tolerated and forced to get along with the rest. Not a single fight or issue.