Aware 2024 Survey - Anxiety and Depression on the Increase

JupiterKid

According to the results of the 2024 survey of mental health among Irish adults carried out by the support group Aware, there has been a very concerning increase in anxiety and depression among Irish adults over the past 15 years.

In particular, 1 in 4 young Irish adults are now struggling with chronic anxiety, driven by factors such as the housing crisis, the impact of social media and negative news, the atomisation of society and the decline of family, the exorbitant cost of living in Ireland and Dublin in particular - and a government, despite being awash with taxpayers' money, that has starved mental health services of funds for decades.

A government that cares only about the economy and is unwilling to invest in society, community and personal well-being.

In short, IMO it is a scandalous indictment of modern life, the decline of family, neoliberal capitalism, an arrogant, indifferent and cynical government and its effects on society and the well-being of people.

Would you agree? Or beg to differ? Do you think modern life and social media is indeed fuelling an increase in mental health distress among our population?

Link to survey below:

https://www.aware.ie/national-survey-2024/

SuperBowserWorld

Agree. Social Media = Gateway to hell for anxiety and depression for a society.

Edit ... Current social media. Maybe it can be improved (ha) but I think it's going to get a lot worse, especially with AI, and continuous kowtowing by governments to social media companies,

ancapailldorcha

Weapons aside, I think social media is one of the worst things we've ever invented but it's not the whole story. Social mobility is dying out because we keep the price of housing extortionate and education is getting more expensive.

Here in the UK, an 18-year old who does a degree can look forward to about £60,000 worth of debt to pay off over the course of the rest of their lives and anyone who doesn't will work a manual or otherwise minimum wage-paying role until they get too old, too ill or the job just disappears via automation.

So, the rewards for trying just aren't there for most people and social media would have you believe that everyone is living their best lives. Personally, I think regulating and taxing social media firms as publishers is the way forward.

When I was in therapy my therapists needed therapy. With the exception of one, all the other forms sucked so bad that I went the alternative route and started working with a somatic practitioner. I think going back to our roots is the only way forward and by that I don't mean returning to the stone age without social media or tech.

We are completely out of touch with our bodies and our minds and because religion has taken such a nose dive over the last couple of decades, society is devoid of the spiritual aspect that should benefit us in times of struggle. We used to dance and light fires and hold ceremonies where communities gathered to heal the individual because in a community the health of the one was important to the whole of the tribe. In a safe space with people who understand healing happens. We have to look after each other.

Pauliedragon

I think the 24hr news cycle which can be tied in with social media is too much for a lot of young people. I'm mid 40s when I was in my teens it was the 6 one news and the evening newspaper. Just look at some of the threads here its page after page of arguments and links to news agencies from all over the world with constant bickering. I think the online world is moving far too quick than our brains can handle but the horse has bolted on that one.

Grayson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122541847#Comment_122541847

It's not the lack of religion. It's the fact that we're both consumers and products. I'd say economics and in particular the housing issue is one of the single biggest factors driving it.

Now that's not to say it's the only cause. With such a large group of people, it's not possible to point the finger and point out a single cause. But economics definitely plays a large part. It's impossible to get housing. If you do, it costs a fortune. And even then there's very little security. For those that own their own homes, there's increased mortgage rates. And there's inflation which mans that the little money left over after housing is covering less.

Another cause is loneliness. A lot of people are struggling with that too. And part of that might be related to the decline of the church. Previously churches acted as a focal point of the community. That's gone now with not much to replace it. And it loops in with economics too. People with a lack of cash quite often are socially isolated because they can't afford to go out and do things.

One eyed Jack

Would you agree? Or beg to differ? Do you think modern life and social media is indeed fuelling an increase in mental health distress among our population?

I’d agree with some things, disagree with others, but the statistics from the survey aren’t surprising. For example:

• Despite 3 in 4 respondents (72 per cent) claiming good awareness of depression, when asked to list the main symptoms, the majority only referenced symptoms directly linked to mood… Awareness of physical symptoms and those linked to overall wellbeing was limited – not one respondent mentioned physical aches and pains
• 1 in 10 respondents under 25 have not been diagnosed but believe they are currently experiencing depression.
• Significantly, almost half (45 per cent) reported being dissatisfied with the information given about healthcare supports including talking therapies, which are an evidence based first line treatment for depression and anxiety.
• Unfortunately, perceived stigma continues to inhibit people from accessing supports. Almost half (45 percent) of those surveyed who delayed accessing mental health support cited ‘shame, embarrassment or fear of judgement’, an increase from 2 in 5 (39 per cent) in 2023.

I think that treatments for mental health difficulties have come a long way, but our approach to them is still somewhat reminiscent of previous generations “trouble with his/her nerves” and other euphemisms about it. We used balk at the ease with which in (American) movies and television the way they were so casual about having to see a therapist or self-medicate with OTC drugs, and I think there’s a stigma around wanting to go down that route. It’s not reality, but it’s what we’ve come to expect, and there’s disappointment and frustration when reality doesn’t match our expectations.

I don’t think social media is to blame for that, if it wasn’t social media it would be something else, as in we would constantly hear what our neighbours are doing. The means to compare ourselves to others would come from different sources, is what I mean. Irish society has changed massively in the last 40 years and for the most part it’s been for the better, though not for everyone - we don’t institutionalise people, well, not to anything like the degree that we used to.

I think we’ve adopted the worst excesses of capitalism, going right back to the 80s, which has led to a situation of people getting in over their heads in crippling personal debt just to keep up with the jones’, who aren’t just our neighbours any more, but influencers on the other side of the planet in a lot of respects. We don’t need to travel anywhere like they used to in the 60s and 70s to see a different world or how anyone else lives, when it’s right at our fingertips.

Our healthcare services just aren’t able to keep up with increasing demand as more people are diagnosed with chronic conditions, combined with the lack of adequate funding and resources provided for by Government and local community organisations such as those provided by organisations like Aware, Grow, etc (there’s a ton of them, just not many I can name off the top of my head), and the disaster that is CAMHS. CAMHS comes in for particular criticism as in 2023 -

• In her final report on the provision of child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) in the State, the Inspector of Mental Health Services, Dr Susan Finnerty, has said that she cannot currently provide an assurance to all parents in Ireland that their children have access to a safe, effective and evidence-based mental health service.

https://www.mhcirl.ie/news/mental-health-commission-publishes-final-report-child-and-adolescent-mental-health-services

I don’t imagine just throwing money at the issues which are arising from the current cultural environment will do anything to address or alleviate the underlying causes, which would require a massive cultural shift again to address them, but that doesn’t appear to be what most people actually want - people don’t want to be satisfied with less when they see people around them with more. We haven’t become an increasingly selfish, individualistic society - we were always that way. It was just that before, we had the ability to institutionalise anyone who didn’t fit in, and shield society from them so we could keep up appearances. We can’t do that any more with the relative ease with which it was achieved in previous generations.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122541847#Comment_122541847

It's nothing to do with religion. My experience of religion was being frogmarched to church every Sunday morning to apologise for being human and then listen to people gossip and spread rumours outside before they even got to their cars. I know an older gay fella who was dragged to Mass every day. He's never elaborated but it sounds like he went through hell.

aero2k

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058365784/aware-2024-survey-anxiety-and-depression-on-the-increase

"In particular, 1 in 4 young Irish adults are now struggling with chronic anxiety, driven by factors such as the housing crisis,….."

"Would you agree? Or beg to differ? Do you think modern life and social media is indeed fuelling an increase in mental health distress among our population?"

I think before we try to answer your questions, we need to define which conditions should be regarded as illnesses that need medical treatment, and which are perfectly understandable responses to life circumstances. For example, the manual used for diagnostic purposes, DSM V, considers grief (over the death of a loved one for instance) to be pathological if it persists for more than two weeks.😱 These are very complex issues, but the focus often seems to be "what is wrong with you" rather than "what happened to you". The influence of the pharma industry has been pernicious here, there are many so-called wonder drugs in need of an illness.

The media has also played a role (I include social media in this) - it's almost as if you are made to feel there is something wrong with you if you don't feel that there's something wrong with you. Despite a huge increase in anti depressant prescriptions in most of western societies, mental health is getting worse by most measures. I don't have many answers but I can't help feeling that the pace of change in modern sciety is a factor, along with a sense of isolation probably aggravated by covid.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122545446#Comment_122545446

Not really the context I was implying though. The reference to religion is merely harking back to how communities used to gather in number, less to do with beliefs and more to do with belonging to a group or having your own tribe.

A sense of belonging is one of the requirements in the Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the church used to provide that for a lot of people. Not sure it provided safety and security or love and psychological requirements for very many (myself included) but the communal aspects of a tribe go back much further than the confines of organised religion and they would have provided many of those needs to a community.

aero2k

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122545244#Comment_122545244

I don’t imagine just throwing money at the issues which are arising from the current cultural environment will do anything to address or alleviate the underlying causes, which would require a massive cultural shift again to address them, but that doesn’t appear to be what most people actually want - people don’t want to be satisfied with less when they see people around them with more. We haven’t become an increasingly selfish, individualistic society - we were always that way. It was just that before, we had the ability to institutionalise anyone who didn’t fit in, and shield society from them so we could keep up appearances. We can’t do that any more with the relative ease with which it was achieved in previous generations.

And nowadays we have a lot more to be selfish about, and though comparisons to others are not new, it's easier (and more addictive) now.

A fix probably will require throwing a fair bit of money, but you're right about the cultural shift needed. I had occasion to be in the same room as Micheál Martin last week, though I didn't get a chance to chat to him. I was later reflecting on what I would have said to him, given the chance. I'd like to think I'd have politely informed him that though I wasn't a supporter, I was grateful for him putting himself forward to be a public representative. I wouldn't do it. Also, while maybe being critical of how the government runs the place, I'd have conceded that we don't want to fix things.

freshpopcorn

For the most part social media for me is all about programs I like, cars, Christmas, maybe a bit of true crime.

Anything negative I just unfollow and get around it.

Social media should be fun and light hearted it was a lot adults who ruined it in my opinion.

I do think the pressure some people puts on themselves to have this sort of Love Island lifestyle is sad tough.

Overheal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122546672#Comment_122546672

For the most part social media for me is all about programs I like, cars, Christmas, maybe a bit of true crime.

Anything negative I just unfollow and get around it.

The algorithms resist that curation. As soon as the tech companies found out that conflict generates more engagement and keeps people on their sites longer the writing was on the wall.

Facebook's backend algorithm even appointed 5 points for an anger react and 1 point for a like.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/10/26/facebook-angry-emoji-algorithm/

Starting in 2017, Facebook's ranking algorithm treated emoji reactions as five times more valuable than “likes,”

 internal documents reveal. The theory was simple: Posts that prompted lots of reaction emoji tended to keep users more engaged, and keeping users engaged was the key to Facebook's business.

Syndicated link:

https://www.predictiveanalyticsworld.com/machinelearningtimes/five-points-for-anger-one-for-a-like-how-facebooks-formula-fostered-rage-and-misinformation/12344/

Sunny Disposition

The figures are absolutely awful. I would hope that they are overstating how bad things are but maybe they're not.

The ubiquity of the internet has obviously been very bad for anxiety. On top of that a lot of people were thrown off track mentally by the pandemic too.

If around 1/5 of adults are suffering from depression and around 1/6 from anxiety, society is in a really bad place.

There is way more talk about mental health now compared to 30 years ago, but it doesn't seem to be making much of a difference. There's huge levels of suffering going by this survey.

My own tuppence worth; I think the decline of community in urban Ireland has had a serious negative impact, but it has been hugely underestimated. People used to go to pubs and mass far more than they did, and while there were certainly massive problems with the level of alcohol consumption and the Catholic church; the fact people don't congregate like they once did is a significant loss for many people.

It's hard to see community recovering in the medium term, it seems to me that people are still becoming more likely to prioritise staying at home rather than going to public events/spaces.

The State had some ads post-pandemic urging people to go back to social gatherings, but maybe it's time for an ongoing campaign.

aero2k

I meant to say explicitly in my previous post that I have no doubt that a lot of people are suffering severe levels of distress. I was just questioning the fashionable reflex action of pathologising normal human emotions.

freshpopcorn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122546693#Comment_122546693

All I know it seems to work for me.

It takes a bit of effort to get into it.

Overheal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122546717#Comment_122546717

Anxious on a rollercoaster or watching a suspenseful movie: normal

Anxious to sit down on the porch and have a tea and watch wind blow through the trees because relaxing feels like a foreign concept to you/the nagging feeling that you must be doing something actively every second of the day or you're falling behind: not normal

aero2k

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122546788#Comment_122546788

I couldn't agree more. We've imported a lot of stuff from the US, for better or worse - the belief that a good and useful life involves constant activity definitely falls into the latter category. I regularly have this conversation with the OH - she's tends to feel guilty if she goes to the kitchen to get a cup of tea and doesn't tidy the hall or straighten the pictures on the wall en route.

Movies and roller coasters, while common examples of anxiety-inducing situations are a bit trivial though, I was more thinking of someone awaiting the results of medical tests for example: will it be cancerous, how long will I wait for treatment…or maybe someone with a family member with addiction issues, a family in rented accomodation being given notice by the landlord, etc. etc. Of course, there's billions of $$$ dependent on keeping us as anxious as possible for as much of the time as possible.

Overheal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122546872#Comment_122546872

"Anxious consumers look to brands for informational and emotional reassurance"

https://www.whitelightmedia.co.uk/anxiety-marketing/

JupiterKid

Good points made by quite a few of you.

The recent Aware survey data is appalling and very sad. We are in an epidemic of real loneliness and social isolation in the West which is getting worse.

Humans are an inherently social species. Without a feeling of belonging - to our family, other social groups or our community, we are lost.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122546128#Comment_122546128

None of this is directly tied to religion. People can gather for all sorts of reasons. Nobody needs a priest or a minister telling them how sinful they are to do so.

Mrs OBumble

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122547174#Comment_122547174

They can - but they don't.

Religion, ANY religion, gives people something in common. Catholicism actually pretty bad at building community, as religions go.

The elephant in the room as far anxiety goes is the return of institutional childcare. The research show that high-quality childcare is "no worse" than in home care for young children. But parents routinely put under-threes into whatever creche they can find, giving not a moment's thought to quality. And then we wonder why anxiety is on the rise.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122547220#Comment_122547220

Of course they do. Gigs, sports clubs and volunteer events are just a few examples.

As for creches, I don't think that's the problem. We don't live in a world where a single income is sufficient so it's either that or no children for some people.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122547174#Comment_122547174

This is true, the difference with religion is that unlike sporting events or pubs and nightclubs which require a level of personal interest and are optional, it was practically compulsory to attend church as awful as that seems now. Being ostracised from the church was as good a death sentence back in the day, which is why they held so much power over so many for so long. Being banished from the tribe was the primary source of punishment, not sure how that plays out in social groups now but the constant fomo or need to maintain a public status on social media drives the same form of penalisation. Likes and dislikes, friends or no friends, it's all about being part of the community.

aero2k

I posted a couple or times on the Gript thread, and while tbf I was OT, I was responding to something I had seen on the thread. In true boards style I was painted as a heartless bastard, and the psychiatrist I referenced was dissed as an anti-vaxxer (she put her name to a letter questioning vaccine mandates). The suggestion was that by saying that much of what is labelled as mental illness is just a normal human reaction to a distressing situation ( grief, sick relatives, bad work situation...), I was saying that people should just suck it up. In fact I believe that in many cases it is the doctors that are saying " just suck it up", the medication, that is.

Anyway, for those that are interested, David Healy has written a lot about how the illness of anxiety was morphed into depression for commercial reasons, and Joanna Moncrieff has done a log of work on the effects of drugs on the brain. The latter has also written a fair bit about how the capitalist system has had an adverse effect on mental health in modern society. I think OEJ was getting at this earlier.

@AndrewJRenko I suspect you might find that point of view interesting. I'm not trying to promote any particular viewpoint, just pointing out that unlike cardiac health (where outcomes for heart attack patients are vastly improved), there isn't a broad consensus on best treatments. Also, despite a huge increase in drug prescribing, outcomes are worsening. Does it seem right that one sixth of adult populations in many developed countries should be on psychiatric medication, many of them permanently?