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LiamTheHuman t1_j7uscjv wrote

Reply to comment by Kelevra29 in People from the poorest backgrounds are far more likely to develop a mental disorder later in life than those from wealthier beginnings. More than half of people with a low educational attainment at age 30 will have a diagnosis of a mental disorder 22 years later by Wagamaga

>For a wealthy person, they have to have the introspection to say "i don't feel good, this doesn't feel right" in order to want to seek treatment. Poor people have more extrinsic measures of their mental health before they even get to the introspection stage.

This is a good point in that wealth can often hide disordered behaviour. Are you saying that more people with money are suffering the same symptoms but not having the same outcomes so they get missed?

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Kelevra29 t1_j7uwv77 wrote

In some cases, absolutely. There may be lower incidence of isolated depression or anxiety, but a lot of mental illnesses are hereditary rather than strictly environmental.

I'm autistic, and i had no idea until i was 26. When i was a kid, my executive dysfunction wasn't a problem because i had my family to rely on. I never had to worry about money because of scholarships and grants for school, so my dysfunction only came out as procrastination in school. Now that I'm an adult and trying to take care of myself, it's coming out in the inability to keep my apartment in shape or feed myself. All of my energy goes into my job and there's very little left over for basic life tasks. If i had money, i may still not know because i wouldn't have to worry about cooking or cleaning or anything beyond work as it is. I could pay someone to make phone calls and appointments for me. Most of my dysfunction wouldn't be apparent if i had someone else helping me.

So i definitely think certain symptoms or disorders can go unnoticed in wealthy people even though they do still experience the disorder itself.

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