Have things gone wrong, and if so can they be put right?

The decline if religion? If anything, that would improve mental health.

Just like the monopoly board game the economy concentrates all the resources into the hands of fewer and fewer people and into more concentrated regions as time goes forwards. Eventually the losers just catch the board and flip it up in the air. We are probably approaching that stage fairly soon. Then it will all start again and the process repeated until infinity.

This might be an opposite view but whatever about religion itself, some of the things that go with religion were actually very good for people. I'd be specifically talking about mass going, the church being a central point for meeting for various community gatherings. People felt 'part of something', had something in common and generally knew more people as a result. Generally good things for mental health. There are other sides to religion that genuinely are good for ones mental health when not taken to an extreme. I am not saying religion has it's serious negatives either btw.

Nowadays despite more communications tools than ever a lot of younger people tend to live in a more individual world. Stuck in a phone or device for long periods interacting with god knows what, rarely talking to people nd generally, ironically enough not caring about the work around them, growing apathetic, lazy and I would also say very unrealistic about expectations of the world, probably caused by the content they engage with.

It's also very 'in' to have 'something wrong with you'.

That said, there are lots of very good younger people out there but there are a growing number in the categories above. I come across it every day, people with diagnosed mental health issues who may never work.

The shrinking of "Religion" my f**king arse. There is a new "religion" now at play in this regime. The "religion" of the neo-liberal political agenda. It bases everything down to how much money can be generated for the minority, the job hopping politicians, the corporations, the multi-nationals, the banks, the filth. That's the new f**king religion now. And if you say anything against it you get just as lambasted as the few brave people who spoke out against the last foreign Abrahamic religion that festooned their claws up in here. But the current neo-liberal religion has the perfect cure for that craic which the Vatican could never manage, you fight against their doctrine, they'll set up state sanctioned laws to literally criminalize you for it.

And make no mistake, this current horse$hit is a religion. Watch now what happens after I type this.

Lifes ups and downs are being over-medicalised as mental health illnesses.

Probably. But wait until everybody gets a small bit older and physical health illnesses inevitably take hold of everyone who thinks the current regime is doing a great job. Then they will know all about it, because the current regime, that we are all paying for, literally does not give a tuppenny f**k.

100%

Yeah that all makes a lot of sense

Organised religion gave people a sense of belonging and community and gave people many opportunities to interact with the community around them and now a lot of that has fizzled out.

But with social media now it can give people a very false sense of community and belonging.

I agree that Catholicism in Ireland had one useful function, the gathering of community regularly for mass.

But that one useful function, is massively overwhelmed by the abuses and killings which were covered up and occurred over the years.

The internet is a force for good and bad. A small example of the good is that it has allowed people to access information about mental health and treatments.

I hate one argument that @kippy is making,

It's also to do with availability of information. How many people did we know growing up that were referred to as "touched" but now we know they were probably neuro-diverse, possibly autistic.

I have ADHD, one of the most 'in' conditions to have. But it's 'in' because more people have access to diagnosis, than there ever were before. Less than 10 years ago, there was one, solo psychiatrist who specialised in ADHD in Ireland. So, of course more people are getting diagnosed.

I'm reading a book where they talk about labels being applied to people. Good piece here:

As to whether it can be turned around, I don't know. I don't see how, tbh. The cost of living is too high, there's few outlets for energy (nightclubs) rents are too high, we may be killing our planet, and very few can afford a house to live in long term.

Maybe capitalism will die and we'll get over it as a species, but everyone here will be long in the ground before that's allowed to happen.

You're entitled to believe whatever you want.

The cost of living is too high. I work in theatre, and I used to rely on bargains for props, but a lot of the shops I would use regularly are gone. A cup of coffee is around €3.50 now and a pint is what, €6.50/7.00? That is just way too much.

There's a couple of niteclubs in Dublin, but nothing near what we had 10-25 years ago. I don't believe there's a single niteclub in Galway at the moment? (I could be wrong there)

No one can argue rent prices are insane.

The median price for a house in Ireland is €320k, (source: https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-rppi/residentialpropertypriceindexaugust2023/)

The average annual earnings in Ireland is €40,283. (Source: https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-syi/statisticalyearbookofireland2020/econ/earnings/)

The rules in borrowing for a mortgage mean you shouldn't be able to borrow more than 3.5 times your annual wage. It stands to reason that the average house price, should therefore be €140,000 or the average wage should be €91,428.

I firmly believe some people are suffering from an "I'm alright Jack, so theres nothing to worry about" attitude which doesn't help anykne in need at all.

Can't remember where I heard this yesterday but the news should change its name to "whats wrong"

"And now Anne Doyle with what's wrong"

I was waiting 2 years for an ADHD assessment. And that was going private. The fact is that we don't have enough mental health professionals in this country.

Approximately 10% of the population suffers from depression. It's good that that is being recognised.

Absolutely agree and like you said it was recognised and you went and got the assessment, hopefully it was beneficial.

I know similar who identified they had a problem who went and seeked assistance in recognising the problem that was effecting their working life and looked for supports to allow them continue being productive and return to a working environment.

I have often suggested CBT to people as its a wonderful way of recognising how and why you sometimes feel as you do and building up methods to help you get through these things.

I believe it's far deeper: serious damage is being done to children's mental health before they turn three, by their lack of consistent day-time interaction and relationships with long-term caregivers.

Research in the 60s and 70s showed that high-quality institutional early childhood care (creches etc) was "no worse" than home based care.

But many institutions don't offer high quality care: the poorly-paid adults who work there have to be breathing and able to pass garda vetting, little more. Many have only the barest qualifications (a Level 5 is worth nothing). The management is often dysfunctional.

And that research was carried out before current understandings of early childhood attachment. I have a hunch that if the research were proposed today, it would be declined ethical approval because of that alone.

Can it be fixed? Not likely for the affected people. It could be turned around for future generations, if society wanted to invest in early-childhood. Paint me sceptical (unless AI really does deliver).

Social media companies need to lose their free pass and start to be regulated like the mainstream media. Threats involving rape and murder are allowed to proliferate, this wouldn't be tolerated in the press or on TV

This stuff was always present , the individuals were described as 'shook', ''cracked' , 'bad case of the nerves'and more. It is just getting more recognition now.

There's nothing new about the media prioritising misery. Good news simply doesn't sell apart from the occasional fluffy piece about a hero paramedic delivering a baby by the side of the Red Cow junction or something similar. I can't help wondering if the OP is over egging the pudding a bit. The world has always gone through cycles of war and depression followed by recovery. Compared to 100 years ago you could argue that we're living in the best era ever. Lest we forget, from 1900 to 1945 we had two world wars, which included the worst genocide in human history, and the Spanish Flu pandemic which killed millions. That was followed by the Cold War and the constant threat of the entire planet being destroyed by our own hands. Yet we're still here, many people doing well, many not so much. Same as it ever was.

I hate to repeat myself, but a lot of people DON'T have it so good, yet you keep suggesting it's only a few individuals going through "struggles".

I mean this with respect, you may need to widen your social circle to see it.

I think society is fu€ked.

We're too greedy, to enslaved to stuff that doesn't matter, like celebrity without talent. Too molly-coddled and sensitive, yet quick to demonise. Intelligent but no real smarts.

There's no real plan for society. No aim, no goal, just keep going until the next election. We achieved what we wanted, peace, prosperity, freedom. And we don't know what to do with it, and because of that we have conflict, debt and entrapment.

We need a collective philosophy, a goal to work towards. What it is I don't know, but I can see my kids and I worry are they going to enjoy their life, are they going to live in an aimless society?

Ideally, for me anyway, I'd like to see a society where everyone is guaranteed a roof, food and have daily interaction with their neighbours and friend, where time in work is reduced to no more than 30 hours a week and we pursue a healthier, more active and happier lifestyle, and opulence and apathy are seen as disgusting wastes of energy and resources, and the accumulation of wealth is banned.

Did you leave out the 160 hours of unpaid work experience on purpose?

The claim was that all they had to do was breathe, which is hugely insulting.