The article I chose was “Did Antidepressants Depress Japan?” by Kathryn Schulz. The article gives information about how Japan mild depression rates had increased with the introduction of Western medicine. The article states that Japan has twice as many suicides at the United States. People in the U.S. spend an average of 10 days institutionalized in mental institutions compares to 390 days in Japan. The article goes on to state that Japan is in need of improvement with dealing with mental illness but the idea of mild depression has increased the rate of people thinking they have a mental illness when they actually do not. I think that when people think of mental illness it should be in the context of abnormal symptoms that interfere with a person’s daily life and keeps them from living a happy life. I think that the author puts this notion into perspective because by introducing psychiatric medication it provided this notion that no other type of treatment will work or is necessary. …show more content…
I think that this is one of the most positive pretreatments for mental illness. By being able to have a conversation with each other, it can break down barriers and take people out of their misery and create new and better life for them. I think that what has lead to more people thinking that have a disorder, specifically mild depress from the article, has a lot to do with the media also. If the only conversation that is being had, about mental illness, concerns only medication treatment then it leaves people think that they have no other choice but the medication. Additionally, if the media is displaying symptoms to people and does not give a time frame, such as the duration of symptoms, could lead to people thinking they have a mental illness when it is actually for example just sadness that will go away with