The Prevalence Of Mental Illness

That a thing is invisible to a given observer does not mean it does not exist.  This fact might be rather foundational and obvious to serious thinkers, but it is still overlooked by many people when it comes to mental illness in particular.  Despite progress with mental health awareness in recent times, there are some who would even suggest that mental illness has an exaggerated presence in today's culture, claiming that mental illness was not "prevalent" until the current era because people did not mistake normal things for signs of mental illness.  This fallacious claim, of course, ignores that it is entirely possible for an unobserved or improperly identified thing to be quite real.

It would not follow from an absence of historical public diagnoses that the mental health difficulties that can be observed in modern times were uncommon or non-existent in past generations.  Moreover, various cultures even held ideologies that would actively interfere with the diagnosis and treatment of mental health issues.  Every documented society has had its respective sociological, moral, and epistemological problems, and some expired cultures certainly held to ideas that might strongly discourage people from understanding or acknowledging various mental conditions.  Unfortunately, in some periods and regions, even professing Christians might have been involved in the promotion of such damaging ideas.

For instance, false accusations of demonic possession or general lunacy--as well as the "remedies" that might have been used as a result--could have easily convinced some people to remain quiet about the state of their mental health.  Outwardly, they might never have betrayed any indication of the emotional or psychological problems that they experienced on a potentially regular basis.  Of course, this in no way means that mental illness was not present, but it does mean that social forces could have easily thwarted honesty and whatever relief might have otherwise been found.

Is mental illness truly more prevalent in the present day?  If it is, it is not because there is no chance that it was overlooked or misidentified in the past.  It is certainly possible that environmental and social factors could result in more manifestations of mental illness in a given time and area, but it does not follow that our predecessors simply did not have to struggle with mental health problems to the same extent that people appear to today.  There are always potential reasons why certain people do not wish to disclose their private trials, regardless of the historical or geographical context.

A deficit of evidence for something that is logically possible is by no means confirmation that the thing in question is untrue.  While this applies even in contexts that have nothing to do with mental health, it should serve as a reminder for those prone to make assumptions about a person's interior life based on their outward demeanor and behaviors that even those who appear to be happy might be suffering from deep struggles with mental illness.  Indeed, sometimes the most miserable people conceal greivous mental health issues, putting on a facade for the sake of others.