Mental Health Awareness Is Backfiring:
New Science Shows How ‘Helpful’ Campaigns
Are Manufacturing Illness
American Thinker,
by
Monty Donohew
Original Article
Posted By: Hazymac,
5/1/2026 10:15:48 AM
For decades, the mental health industry and its allies in media, government, and education have operated on a simple assumption: the more mental health awareness we spread, through campaigns, school programs, social media, and public service announcements, the better. Raise awareness, reduce stigma, encourage help-seeking, and mental health will surely improve.
New evidence shows the opposite is happening. Well-intentioned awareness efforts are actively backfiring, manufacturing distress, inflating diagnoses, and turning normal human emotions into chronic “disorders.” The shocking result is that these campaigns are turning mentally fit people into self-diagnosed mentally ill patients, with symptoms effectively “contracted” from the awareness messages themselves.
Post Reply
Reminder: “WE ARE A SALON AND NOT A SALOON”
Your thoughts, comments, and ideas are always welcome here. But we ask you to please be mindful and respectful. Threatening or crude language doesn't persuade anybody and makes the conversation less enjoyable for fellow L.Dotters.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
sunset 5/1/2026 11:14:57 AM (No. 2099410)
Also, all those drug commercials are creating a whole class of hypochondriacs.
49 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
downnout 5/1/2026 11:18:07 AM (No. 2099413)
Quick spontaneous poll:
How many of us have visited a doctor and asked for a specific medicine?
I never have, how about you?
44 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
NorthernDog 5/1/2026 11:21:54 AM (No. 2099417)
FTA: stop rewarding fragility by elevating it to a protected class or special identity, and conferring to those self-identifying special privileges.
This reminds me that ever-higher percentages of college students claim to have some kind of syndrome or disorder. They are rewarded with kid-glove treatment and extra time to complete their tests and assignments.
31 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
billa57 5/1/2026 11:35:57 AM (No. 2099427)
Its like they are doing it on purpose. Attacking established social norms as some psych op. That would be pretty evil.
19 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
DVC 5/1/2026 11:36:59 AM (No. 2099429)
And a lot of Democrats are just crazy, and always have been. Now, it's stylish to admit that your a mental case.
24 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
DVC 5/1/2026 11:40:49 AM (No. 2099431)
Re #2, for a while in the 1980s, I had recurring sinus infections. By the third one, I knew which antibiotic the doc had ordered twice previously for the same problem, so I called the nurse and told her "I've got another sinus infection going, I guess time for a Z Pak". And I usually got it.
But, out of the blue? Never, and we almost never watch live TV, so I fast forward with 30 second jumps through all those damned drug sales pitches. Seems like a lot of them start out (before I can blip ahead) with something about 'Still feeling crazy?' ...of course not in those words.
13 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
kdog 5/1/2026 11:45:02 AM (No. 2099436)
Lost my wife at a young age and a doctor asked me if I "wanted something". I told him I would rather be depressed for a while. Being depressed seemed the more natural reaction...
42 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Strike3 5/1/2026 11:54:48 AM (No. 2099440)
In no place is the problem more obvious as when our distinguished psychology professors opened up the possibility that people could be born in the wrong body.
39 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
MickTurn 5/1/2026 12:05:19 PM (No. 2099444)
Any time money can be made, the Fraudsters climb out from under their ROCKS and here we are!
ALL these Criminals need to be in PRISON, PERIOD!
15 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
BarryNo 5/1/2026 12:46:53 PM (No. 2099464)
You need to ask yourself. Are they really trying? To help you, I mean. If you patronize them, it is far more beneficial to them, if you depend on them. Not only for hundreds of dollars an hour, but for their control of your opinions. Do they want to help, or control.
The mind is a 'fragile' thing they say. All I know, is a mind is a terrible thing to waste.
13 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
wilarrbie 5/1/2026 1:02:34 PM (No. 2099469)
Not too long ago, maybe under Obama, they opened up insurance claims to be 'on par' with other medical claims to keep fixing the problem until finished. The reason mental health had a cap, is because it can be undefinable, as well as unfixable. Gold mine for psych's, both Drs and patients who live for drama.
17 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
privateer 5/1/2026 1:15:32 PM (No. 2099471)
There's Gold in them thar 'heals' !
19 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
earlybird 5/1/2026 2:17:21 PM (No. 2099490)
I have no idea who this guy is or what qualifies him to write on this subject,
A search of his name brings up an estare lawyer.
4 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
JHHolliday 5/1/2026 2:52:47 PM (No. 2099500)
I am also leery of some psychiatrists mental health and the health of their own bank accounts. They seem to be more interested in your regular visits continuing. Then, they just write a prescription that may not be any better for you than some good weed from your corner 'independent pharmaceutical salesman'.
11 people like this.
Run from mental health experts. They are usually the biggest nuts.
18 people like this.
RE: #7 I went to GP for a painful, unknown situation I'd been ignoring for 10 days due to another unrelated issue I had to attend to. She almost immediately said, "you need to go to the hospital immediately." I burst out crying, basically because I was sick, tired and worried about that other family issue. Within seconds she was writing me a RX for Xanax. Nothing I asked for or needed.
10 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
zephyrgirl 5/1/2026 3:42:46 PM (No. 2099508)
Maybe there is something to stoicism after all.
21 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
legalart 5/1/2026 4:10:17 PM (No. 2099517)
Hey! Where's GRETA?
9 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
JimBob 5/1/2026 9:03:32 PM (No. 2099599)
Another angle to this is that schools get extra money to 'teach' (that is, house and babysit) kids with various mental deficiencies. The more kids with mental problems, the more money the schools receive.....so... guess what? A number (who knows how many) are diagnosed with this, or that, or the other, put in 'special education' programs and the schools get MORE MONEY.
I had a friend who used to substitute teach, and occasionally he would babysit a special-ed class. He said he could tell pretty easily that there were some kids that belonged there, but there were other kids who were 'playing dumb'- he said he could see it in their eyes, they were playing stupid, they knew it, and were doing their best to keep from being found out. I think that in several of the instances, the kids families were on welfare, and they got increased welfare payments for having a 'special ed' child.
If the money is there, then there are crooked people who are going to cheat to get it.
We are hearing about this being done on an Industrial scale in Minnesota, I bet several other states are much worse.
17 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
DiegoDude 5/2/2026 6:24:16 AM (No. 2099639)
I thank God that my parents, who lived through t h e Depression, my dad was a 3 war Navy man, taught me how to "suck it up" and deal with life's ups and downs.
19 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
Strike3 5/2/2026 7:06:45 AM (No. 2099651)
Corrupt Somalis convinced the mental health industry that ADHD was exploding around the country. Doctors all bought it. Back in the day, school systems did not have their own resident psychologist, they had a guidance counselor and a principal with a three-foot wooden paddle. It worked fine.
16 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
skacmar 5/2/2026 8:44:59 AM (No. 2099688)
Seems like everyone under 30 cries about their "anxiety" and 'stress" and act as if every moment of life is a life threatening event. They break down over anything that interferes with their Peter Pan life and need either medications or time off. They are certainly not part of the "Suck it up buttercup" generation.
11 people like this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
PrayerWarrior 5/2/2026 12:15:15 PM (No. 2099797)
Wonder how much money are these companies spending on promoting their drugs. One particular obnoxious drug commercial that's on every 5 minutes is Skyrizi where a man after taking the drug is jumping around playing basketball and running. Is that real? I think not.
6 people like this.
Reply 24 - Posted by:
JimBob 5/2/2026 1:19:37 PM (No. 2099808)
#23, I have a strong suspicion that all these drug ads are not to sell drugs. They are payoff / bribe / blackmail (These are not the right terms, but close) money from Big Pharma to the TV networks. The way I suspect it works is this: Big Pharma sells drugs- a lot of drugs, for a huge profit. They can charge the outrageous prices because the cost is paid not by the customer, but by the Government and the insurance companies. People go to the doctor, and a certain class of them request (or demand!) a drug they have seen advertised, or maybe they just 'want something for' whatever (possibly imagined) condition that they have. The doctor prescribes them 'something', because if the doctor doesn't, that patient will file a complaint with the Feds, and the doctor then gets put through the wringer and possibly loses their medical license. Perhaps these drugs are not effective, perhaps they have serious side effects (see the tiny print and fast-mumbled words at the beginning or the end of the ad.) The TV people are somewhat aware that the drug is not all that it's cracked up to be, but they KNOW that if they investigate and reveal what is going on, Big Pharma will simply stop advertising on their show, their network, and they lose a very large revenue stream.
Like I said, I have no proof, just suspicions, especially given how the Lamestreams have lied to us, time and time again, in the past.
"It's all about the Benjamins."
5 people like this.
Below, you will find ...
Most Recent Articles posted by "Hazymac"
and
Most Active Articles (last 48 hours)