Are we (UK) the same as the rest of the world?

[bigmo]

Has anyone any experience if such things as depression and anxiety are as high in other parts of the world, i.e USA, China.

With over a billion people in China I wouldn't be surprised if they had already developed a cure!

Any thoughts?

[annette1]

Hi Bigmo

I don't think anxiety & depression is fussy who they affects!

I belong to a ptsd forum & their are many people from all over the world who are registered, but mostly in uk, usa, canada & australia. I wonder if other countries have better family/friend/medical support & therefore the rate of depression is lessened.

[eight days a week]

I lived in Japan for many years. Over there mental health problems are utterly taboo, so it tends to be that sufferers will keep it absolutely hidden, maintain a facade, but carry out very drastic or even nasty things in private...:(

Having developed a problem myself and learned to understand many things about it, and now looking back at my time there, I can see that many of the people I met over those years were just as (if not more) generally troubled as people in the UK. For those who don't know much about it Japan is the most built-up, crowded, and pressurised place probably in the whole world.

China? I'm not sure. I don't know much about the country, and don't wish to stereotype, but in my experience Tai Chi is miraculous for anxiety and depression. Do many still practise it there?

What DOES seem to be clear is that people who lead simpler, 'hunter-gatherer' lives - more in touch with nature and its cycles, and working directly on the land which fuels their lives - are less prone to depression, anxiety and other mental health problems than those of us in 'advanced' societies. It's not absolute proof of course, but I vividly remember a documentary where the BBC visited hunter-gatherers in Africa and found ZERO incidence of mental health issues. Now we have here in the UK gardening and physical exercise said to be good for mental health - it's not rocket science really, is it?!!

And at least 90% of China is rural, agricultural, and leading this kind of very very simple life, connected directly to the earth through farming.

[MrRedShirt]

I remember reading that cultures that traditionally eat a lot of fish are 33% less likely to suffer from depression - this is the basis of the argument that suggests supplementing Omega 3 in your diet in order to combat depression.

I've simplified that a lot, but I'm too lazy to Google it all now!

[PanchoGoz]

What DOES seem to be clear is that people who lead simpler, 'hunter-gatherer' lives - more in touch with nature and its cycles, and working directly on the land which fuels their lives - are less prone to depression, anxiety and other mental health problems than those of us in 'advanced' societies.

I agree with this, I believe that civilization brings mental illness! We are meant to farm and hunt and run about in the sun, rather than stay inside on laptops.
Africa is a very sunny country, and although people are starving over there, generally they are happy with what they have and wouldn'y have even thought about what a mental illness is.
Perhaps anxiety and depression has built it's own sort of culture, I dunno. But with the nature bit, I always feel a lot better when I do a bit of gardening or cycling.

[eight days a week]

I agree with this, I believe that civilization brings mental illness! We are meant to farm and hunt and run about in the sun, rather than stay inside on laptops.
Africa is a very sunny country, and although people are starving over there, generally they are happy with what they have and wouldn'y have even thought about what a mental illness is.
Perhaps anxiety and depression has built it's own sort of culture, I dunno. But with the nature bit, I always feel a lot better when I do a bit of gardening or cycling.

I think it ties in with a few things, that I've come to regard as increasingly important.

Firstly, the breakdown of communities we have here in the West/advanced societies. For example, when I spent a lot of time in the third world they were just so CONNECTED as groups of individuals, and as communities as a whole. They would take care of each other, know their neighbours intimately, and trust each other with their lives, because it's literally a matter of life or death. In contrast, who can we count on? I have my family but that's it - and the one member of my family I have who is physically capable can't be relied upon to do anything! The others I'm responsible for!!

The other thought I have is about 'fight or flight'. It's there for a reason! Tens of thousands of years of evolution, and now suddenly in the last hundred (if that) there is no need for that physical response anymore for most of the time, but we are stuck with it. And these days doctors try to dampen it down with meds, but I wonder if it's our brains that need changing, or our lifestyles!!

[MrRedShirt]

I agree with this, I believe that civilization brings mental illness! We are meant to farm and hunt and run about in the sun, rather than stay inside on laptops.

Prior to my current episode of anxiety, I had been working as a designer and for months I would tell anyone that would listen about how I was fed up with being suck at a desk in front of a computer screen all day.

I grew up in Cornwall, next to a river with cows and sheep in my back garden - The digital age doesn't fit with me very well and I'm very keen to get back to nature somehow.

[eeyorelover]

I'm in the US and I can't say whether we have a higher rate of anxiety and depression because I haven't researched that but I do know that antidepressants are the most prescribed drugs here so there are loads who suffer from it.

[PanchoGoz]

Prior to my current episode of anxiety, I had been working as a designer and for months I would tell anyone that would listen about how I was fed up with being suck at a desk in front of a computer screen all day.

I grew up in Cornwall, next to a river with cows and sheep in my back garden - The digital age doesn't fit with me very well and I'm very keen to get back to nature somehow.


I live in Cornwall, always have and have never left :)
Come back! It's lovely!

[MrRedShirt]

I live in Cornwall, always have and have never left :)
Come back! It's lovely!

I am back! Where be you?

[PanchoGoz]

and eight days a week thats a very intelligent post, I totally agree with all of that - someone should have written a book on this... *opens Amazon*

---------- Post added at 20:46 ---------- Previous post was at 20:45 ----------

I'm a Penzance 'waller mr redshirt! down in the west!

[MrRedShirt]

I'm a Penzance 'waller mr redshirt! down in the west!

Wild west! I'm surprised the internet reaches that far! I'm in Liskeard, for my sins. :wacko:

[PanchoGoz]

Wild west! I'm surprised the internet reaches that far! I'm in Liskeard, for my sins. :wacko:

Well howdy neighbour! but... :ohmy: LISKEARD???!?!!!?!!??!?? And you're still alive? You're a tough one! :roflmao:

[MrRedShirt]

Well howdy neighbour! but... :ohmy: LISKEARD???!?!!!?!!??!?? And you're still alive? You're a tough one! :roflmao:

Yeah, I know.... I've just recently escaped from Plymuff, and London Town before that, so I'm working my way back west. ;)

[LaceFace]

Here in the US the psychiatry doc offices are always pack with folks so I am assuming we too have a high rate of anxiety/panic sufferers, also like another user stated we supply lots of medication for it. I am not sure about the rest of the world though...:huh: