[dijksterhuis]

> The effect of all this push about "mental health" has been to convince more and more people to believe they have mental health problems.

> Suicide rates ... are skyrocketing.

I'm confused. You seem to be suggesting that having more conversations about mental health is to blame for an increase of people committing suicide.

This is the exact opposite of my lived experience.

Conversations about my mental health and my problems are why I'm alive (and have no intention of taking my own life) today.

If you have a different lived experience, then fair enough.

But I'd respectfully suggest to take care painting with such a wide, sweeping brush next time. Life ain't binary. Especially when it comes to mental health.

[hutzlibu]

"You seem to be suggesting that having more conversations about mental health is to blame for an increase of people committing suicide."

I do not see him suggesting that. He was suggesting that "labeling" more and more people as mentally ill might cause more bad, than good.

Allmost everybody has psychological problems. And yes, it is very important to be able to speak about it openly. But it is a different thing to have "mental problems", or to have a "medical mental condition".

[ViViDboarder]

Is there a push to label more people as mentally ill? From what I’ve seen, the push to destigmatize mental health is done to avoid labeling and treat mental health the way we treat general health. For example, treat stress and anxiety as health concerns whereby you can/should take time off if you need to recover from stress as you would a cold. Or, if having difficulty reducing your stress, to see a therapist without any social stigma.

[staticman2]

Labeling people mentally ill is how the mental health industry convinces insurance companies to pay them for their services.

It's also probably not possible to convince the government to let doctors prescribe potentially mind altering drugs to people unless they say the people taking drugs are "ill" and the doctors are treating the "illness".

So yes I'd say there is a push to label people as ill.

[adamsea]

What I think would be awesome is if mental health was de-stigmatized. Like physical health is.

I feel like back in the day - our grandparents, or their grandparents, perhaps you'd see men who didn't want to go to the doctor.

Now it is completely normal and expected to get a yearly physical. IMHO we all should be getting a yearly "mental", as well (with a psychologist, not a psychiatrist), and it should be both normal and expected.

[staticman2]

Back in the day a doctor might make you less healthy, not more, especially in the era before they knew to sterilize surgical tools.

You obviously aren't concerned that the "professional brain jargon talking person" will make things worse. I know from experience they sometimes do.

I don't trust mental health professionals nearly as much as you do.