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Ray_Pingeau t1_j7qo6z7 wrote

So not struggling for things like a roof over your head contributes to better mental health? Why didn’t I think to be born rich?

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XO-3b t1_j7qp6x9 wrote

I accidentally didn't get born rich and I regret it daily

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HobgoblinKhanate1 t1_j7qszy9 wrote

Drop that avocado, pull yourself up by your bootstraps and open up a factory

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abaram t1_j7r4iox wrote

And then hire a bunch of poor people with talent and underpay them for stuff they make and overcharge the customers. So easy

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TheDeathOfAStar t1_j7r5i1h wrote

And remember, our "representatives" aren't there for the people. Our "representatives" are bought by the same corporations that have shackled the lower classes. This is representative democracy's largest folly, and I'd be surprised if we can pull out of this stall.

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dgmilo8085 t1_j7rq8nl wrote

I already commented on this thread, but shockingly, the only people I personally know that have developed schizophrenia or serious mental disorders leading to serious trouble were those of extremely wealthy upbringing.

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HiggsB0 t1_j7u7gxy wrote

Because most people who get get schizophrenia without support networks go homeless, at least in america. You’re seeing them, they’re just on the streets and undiagnosed.

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Ray_Pingeau t1_j7s37pd wrote

I know three that are on welfare.

Edit. I’ve known five suicides. None of them had money.

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tehSlothman t1_j7tkygv wrote

Are you from a wealthy background yourself? Looking at examples of people we know is pretty fraught with bias because most people won't be surrounded by a particularly representative group of people, we usually hang around people from roughly similar socioeconomic backgrounds as our own (with some variability and exceptions, obviously)

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dgmilo8085 t1_j7txpbs wrote

While we were far from wealthy, I grew up wealthy adjacent in an affluent area of Southern California.

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kenyonsky t1_j7sitag wrote

Because they could afford to get diagnosed? I can imagine that's a big factor

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dgmilo8085 t1_j7stmm8 wrote

Well not exactly, they’re either dead or in prison.

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420caveman t1_j7s50aa wrote

I fully agree as this is what I have seen again and again.

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brilliantdoofus85 t1_j7st3rs wrote

Isn't Finland a relatively generous welfare state? I guess I'm just wondering how severe the level of physical deprivation is we're talking about..

I'm wondering if it's that people who are troubled in some way are both less likely to be educationally and economically successful at age 30, and more likely to be diagnosed with a disorder later in life

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grambell789 t1_j7vf2d1 wrote

yeah. I feel like i have endless loops of thought going through my brain trying to figure out how to minimize costs. it takes a toll after a while.

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SerialStateLineXer t1_j7v1k9e wrote

Other way around. Better mental health contributes to higher educational attainment and to not having to struggle to put a roof over your head.

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[deleted] t1_j7qqkp1 wrote

[deleted]

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Sethuel t1_j7r1x3w wrote

I don't want to say your version never happens, but there are extremely clear and consistent links between childhood trauma and mental illness, and poverty/food insecurity/homelessness are pretty major traumas to experience in childhood.

To the extent that any of us have a "healthy brain," it's because of an environment that has nurtured our cognitive development. It's a lot like how a healthy body comes from a nutritious diet and not fast food (which, not coincidentally, is why wealthy people have far fewer health problems and a longer life expectancy than people who experience poverty).

Genetics and environment interact constantly. Our genetics have some variation but our differences mostly reflect different skill sets and areas of high potential, rather than any one unitary dimension of intelligence. But our environments vary wildly. To "succeed" in our system, you need access to resources that will train and maximize whatever genetic skills you have, and point that training towards the skills that are valued by capitalism. And that's where environmental differences create massive disparities.

Having grown up pretty well-off and going to private school from third grade through college, I do want to acknowledge the pervasiveness of the narrative that our system rewards people who are smarter and more deserving. So I understand where you're coming from. But that upbringing means I've been around a lot of rich people, and I feel extremely comfortable saying the narrative is mostly nonsense. Plenty of people become rich not through intelligence but through being around other rich people and getting better access to the market. Plenty of "smart" rich people often grew up with constant attention devoted to training their brains to solve the kinds of problems that are rewarded by capitalism.

All of which is to say that I understand that you come by your view honestly, but I think perhaps you've been socialized into accepting a particular narrative. And in my experience it's very clearly a narrative that exists to justify inequality as a post-hoc rationalization, rather than a statement that has anything to do with the reality of how most people experience our economic system. The narrative is a collective emotional defense response to protect our egos and tell us we're well-off because we're special. But if we can get ego defense out of the way, the truth is pretty clear that we're mostly just lucky.

I apologize if any of this activates your defenses. It's hard to feel like maybe we've been lied to our whole lives, and we all deserve better than that.

Wishing you the space and freedom to find some truth.

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TheNextBattalion t1_j7r4jse wrote

I think a lot of people misunderstand "more likely" to mean "will definitely," and overreact from there.

That said, I read the article where they indicate controlling for family history, so my comment is moot.

Overall, though given the facts that some mental disorders do have a genetic predisposition, most people marry/couple in the same socioeconomic status, and education systems tend to be hurdle-some for people with mental disorders, over time we should see these kinds of effects start to emerge over a number of post-industrial generations.

Equality-minded people might try to find ways of counterbalancing the effects of lower mental health, lest poorer kids be trapped from leaving the cycle. Supremacist-minded people might devilishly try to cement those effects into custom or law, like the nobility of old, lest their kids fall and break the positive cycle. We can't avoid facing truths just because abusive people are going to abuse them. They'll find any ol' excuse and will end up having to be quashed no matter what.

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