Is the USA "mentally ill"? What's wrong with the USA?

The average American is retarded. Literally. The average IQ in many USA states is in the low 80 range.

The biggest selling drug in the US is antipsychotics.
The number of prescriptions for children and adolescents doubled to 4.4 million between 2003 and 2006.

« In "healthy" individuals without psychosis, doses of antipsychotics can produce the so-called "negative symptoms" (e.g. emotional and motivational difficulties) associated with schizophrenia.[28]
From a subjective perspective, antipsychotics heavily influence one's perceptions of pleasurable sensations, causing a severe reduction in feelings of desire, motivation, pensive thought, and awe. This does not coincide with the apathy and lack of motivation experienced by the negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Detrimental effects on short term memory, which affect the way one figures and calculates (although this also may be purely subjective), may also be observed on high enough dosages. »

« Withdrawal symptoms from antipsychotics may emerge during dosage reduction and discontinuation. Withdrawal symptoms can include nausea, emesis, anorexia, diarrhea, rhinorrhea, diaphoresis, myalgia, paresthesia, anxiety, agitation, restlessness, and insomnia. The psychological withdrawal symptoms can include psychosis »
« Tardive dyskinesia can emerge as a physical withdrawal symptom, and may either gradually abate during the withdrawal phase, or become persistent.Withdrawal-related psychosis from antipsychotics is called "supersensitivity psychosis", and is attributed to increased number and sensitivity of brain dopamine receptors, due to blockade of dopaminergic receptors by the antipsychotics,[38] which often leads to exacerbated symptoms in the absence of neuroleptic medication. Efficacy of antipsychotics may likewise be reduced over time, due to this development of drug tolerance.»

(wikipedia « Antipsychotic »)

From « The Epidemic of Mental Illness: Why? »
By Marcia Angell (editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine and at the Harvard Medical School)

One well-respected researcher, Nancy Andreasen, and her colleagues published evidence that the use of antipsychotic drugs is associated with shrinkage of the brain, and that the effect is directly related to the dose and duration of treatment. As Andreasen explained to The New York Times, "The prefrontal cortex doesn't get the input it needs and is being shut down by drugs. That reduces the psychotic symptoms. It also causes the prefrontal cortex to slowly atrophy."

« The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is the very front of the brain, located right beneath the forehead. It is in the anterior (front) region of the frontal lobes. Besides being the front of the brain physically, it is responsible for the executive functions, which include mediating conflicting thoughts, making choices between right and wrong or good and bad, predicting future events, and governing social control — such as suppressing emotional or sexual urges. The prefrontal cortex is the brain center most strongly implicated in qualities like sentience, human general intelligence, and personality. »

(www.wisegeek.com...)

These drugs are being over prescribed. Read some of the studies on their efficiency, and the over diagnosed mental illness. The american appetite for a pill to cure each mood has been largely catered to by big pharma, and it is making people crazy.
We have basically a mental-illness-causing psychiatric system.
We are treating everyone as mentally ill, and making it so.

Originally posted by Observor
Oh! It certainly is, to anyone who is not a psychopath. I wasn't attempting to prove anything to psychopaths, as I had stated very clearly.

Afraid not. No proof, only more personal beliefs.
That is all.

Originally posted by Red Cloak
The average American is retarded. Literally. The average IQ in many USA states is in the low 80 range.

Actually the most recent national figure I could find was 98. None of the states fell into the low 80's. I will agree that most Americans do seem pretty stupid a lot of the time though. The average is partially because we have a lot more people than many other countries and failing economic polices that soften up our educational system as a result. It's sad, and I hope it's a problem we can fix before I have children. China, on the other hand... WAY more people, and a WAY higher average IQ. They are damn smart...

Originally posted by Bluesma
These drugs are being over prescribed. Read some of the studies on their efficiency, and the over diagnosed mental illness. The american appetite for a pill to cure each mood has been largely catered to by big pharma, and it is making people crazy.
We have basically a mental-illness-causing psychiatric system.
We are treating everyone as mentally ill, and making it so.

Agreed... also very sad. Something else I hope can be corrected in the country, and soon. Though compared to the entire population of the country, the amount of people on the drugs seems lower than I would have thought. Let's just hope it doesn't continue to rise like it has been. :/

Cheers

From Anatomy of an Epidemic: Psychiatric Drugs and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America
By Robert Whitaker
www.freedom-center.org/pdf/anatomy_of_epidemic_whitaker_psych_drugs.pdf

Over the past 50 years, there has been an astonishing increase in severe mental illness in the United States . The percentage of Americans disabled by mental illness has increased fivefold since 1955, when Thorazine-remembered today as psychiatry's first "wonder" drug-was introduced into the market . The number of Americans disabled by mental ill- ness has nearly doubled since 1987, when Prozac-the first in a second generation of wonder drugs for mental illness-was introduced . There are now nearly 6 million Americans disabled by mental illness, and this number increases by more than 400 people each day. A review of the scientific literature reveals that it is our drug-based paradigm of care that is fueling this epidemic . The drugs increase the likelihood that a person will become chronically ill, and induce new and mote severe psychiatric symptoms in a significant percentage of patients.

Originally posted by Bluesma

Over the past 50 years, there has been an astonishing increase in severe mental illness in the United States.

It must be considered, though, that much of this increase is likely due to the pathologising of various sets of symptoms into a recognised condition or syndrome over that span of time. For better or worse, I might add.