Big Frick Dot Com

Well it’s official. The youth of America are nuttier than a jar of Jif. At least according to the “experts” that just published their long awaited report.

According to this most recent study of 5000 young people ages 19 to 25 almost one in five has some sort of treatable mental malady. If you include substance abuse it’s a full 50 percent that have some sort of psychiatric condition. That’s not surprising when you take into account that the report was written by folks that make their living treating patients with mental disorders. It’s also not surprising that the report found that less than 25% of college aged Americans with mental problems get the necessary treatment.

Now don’t get me wrong. I know there are some unfortunate young people out there that truly need some sort of mental health treatment, but 50 percent? That means that half the college students out there are either stoned or cuckoo. Or it means that they all are and half of them are just better liars.

According to this survey, which was conducted in 2001 and 2002, substance abuse was the most common problem followed by personality disorders which include anti-social behavior, obsessive compulsive disorders, phobias, depression, paranoia and bi-polar disorders.

Let’s step back and look at this with a little reality involved. When it comes to substance abuse, what substances are we talking about and what is considered abuse? If you’re looking at alcohol consumption you are talking about young people who have waited their entire teen aged life to be able to go to the bars. They either are carrying fake ID’s so they can drink or have turned 21 and are loaning their ID’s out to their underage friends. Do these “experts” think this is some sort of new phenomenon? Beer was supposedly invented in ancient Egypt. I’m guessing the boy King Tutankhamen had his scribes fake him up a piece of papyrus so he could go to the local Pyramid Pub or at least pick up a sixer for when he got back to the throne room. Having over- imbibed once or twice in my younger days I can tell you that no matter where you start it always ends in the throne room anyway.

Drinking has been part of the college lifestyle since William & Mary were in diapers. It’s not right and it’s certainly not healthy, but it’s not new. It may be garnering more attention than it did years ago because the students are doing dumber things than they did back then. Students used to get drunk and tip a cow, now they get drunk and tip a police car. Most college towns have more bar stools than students. Do you think that is just by coincidence? I’m not condoning it and do not drink any alcohol at all, but waking up on the bathroom floor with a screaming headache and a new tattoo that says “Party Til Ya Puke” is a learning experience as well. It’s when you turn 45 and still drink like a 19 year old that you have problems. Smoking pot just makes you slow and hungry and doing cocaine can make you mayor of Washington DC.

As for anti-social behavior, I thought that was part of the young adult territory. Being in your late teens and early twenties means there is always something to keep you from joining society at large. There is always some evil just waiting for you and your generation to fix. Being an anti-social makes you an individualist just like all the other anti-socials

I am both obsessive and compulsive but I am not obsessively compulsive or compulsively obsessive. At least I don’t think so. I have met some poor unfortunates that do suffer at some level of obsessive compulsive behavior. It is not a pretty thing to see, but it is fairly obvious, even to a casual observer. Either these newly diagnosed OCD folks are obsessive about keeping their obsessions a secret or the people doing the testing have lowered the standards. I am just compulsive enough to believe it’s the latter.

I’m guessing the same holds true for most of the other so called treatable disorders. If you lower the standard for what is and is not a mental disorder you can probably diagnose and treat a lot more people. I don’t think I have ever met anyone that didn’t have some sort of phobia about something. If I had met somebody that had absolutely no fear of anything they would probably scare the crap out of me. Being afraid to go into the bathroom because there is a big honking spider on the wall doesn’t mean you need treatment. It means you need a brave friend with a big slipper.

I am not making light of people that need help. There are plenty of them out there and I would be the first to say let’s take the money away from a NASA mission to explore the moons of Venus and spend it on the homeless folks that can’t escape the voices in their head. But I can’t help but think that the incredibly high number of young people with some sort of mental disorder shown in the findings of this report were pretty much a done deal before the study was conducted.

This study was funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the American Foundation for the Prevention of Suicide and the New York Psychiatric Institute. I highly doubt that a study funded by these organizations would have findings showing they were unnecessary.

The study found the need for increased spending on psychiatric facilities and expanding mental health services on college campuses. They suggested that these mental health services be housed along with the other medical facilities on campus to avoid any stigma of seeking help. I guess folks are more likely to seek mental help if they can tell their friends they are just going to get treatment for a case of the clap.

I can’t say the numbers are flat out erroneous, but I have never seen a study funded by the American Beef Council that didn’t say we would be healthier if we ate more beef.

I wonder if cynicism is a treatable mental disorder.