The NYT reports today:
A new study suggests that 55% of Americans will suffer from a mental disorder during their lifetime.
Well, if the majority of the population suffers from it, can it really be called a “disorder?”
Dr. Paul McHugh of Johns Hopkins University breaks it down like this:
Pretty soon we’ll have a syndrome for short, fat Irish guys with a Boston accent, and I’ll be mentally ill.
Won’t we all rue that day.
The study also reveals that 13.2% of Americans will suffer from alcohol abuse at some point in their lives. Only 13.2 %? Come on. On any given Thursday night this summer in the District the only thing measured by the number 13.2 is the percentage of interns and 20 somethings sober after 8pm.
Then finally, there’s this gem:
Mood disorders like depression typically first struck people in early adulthood, in their 20’s or early 30’s.
No kidding? Unhappiness in your 20’s? Why on earth would anyone be unhappy in their 20’s?
I mean, after busting your ass to get through college, which only after the fact do you realize to be the period of your life with the least amount of responsibilty required to survive (I don’t care what your high school teacher said to you about how tough college was. They were all lying.), you have to take a shit job making far less than your age multiplied by one thousand, and in all likelyhood having absolutely nothing to do with your undergraduate course of study. And that’s if you’re lucky. Otherwise, you wind up waiting tables or temping for even less money and no insurance to boot.
After a few miserable years of that, you realize that you’re going to need another degree to get anywhere, and so then you cram your ass off for the GRE or LSAT, go further into debt, and then work your ass off studying all over again. And for what?
Unless you went to law school, you’re still probably only making your age multiplied by one thousand. And if you did go to law school, you’re still working your ass off. (But at least you’re being fairly compensated for it for the first time in your life!)
Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do. But sometimes that’s the only consolation I’ve got. And some people don’t even have that. I’m only speaking from my experience in DC and things could be quite different elsewhere. But should we really be all that surprised that people in their 20’s and early 30’s struggle with occasional unhappiness or depression?
Well, I don’t think that prevalence makes people’s head problems any less disorderly. The message to take home from this seems to be that everyone is fucked in the head somehow, and the best thing to do is to either overcome your disorder or make it work for you.
Beautiful. As for life after law school, you might bust your ass, but I’d replace the words “fairly compensated” with “obscenely overpaid.”
What are YOU waiting for?
The massive RICO investigation into a corporate client, which breaks when hyper-active New York Attorney General, Schumer is President, sending you to a federal “pound-me-in-the-ass” prison for 80 to 800 years?
No thanks. I’ll stick to my combination of menial temp jobs, teaching, and grad school.
Perpetual Student. Where the computer is your girlfriend.
What are YOU waiting for?