{"id":981,"date":"2026-05-23T03:44:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T03:44:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arabnewsmonitor.com\/2026\/05\/23\/the-lancet-names-the-most-widespread-illness-should-you-be-worried\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T03:44:01","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T03:44:01","slug":"the-lancet-names-the-most-widespread-illness-should-you-be-worried","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/?p=981","title":{"rendered":"The Lancet names the most widespread illness: Should you be worried?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Mental disorders have almost doubled over the last three decades, affecting one in seven people worldwide<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n        <span><strong>Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<figure>\n            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mf.b37mrtl.ru\/files\/2025.07\/thumbnail\/68691a36203027207e00cfef.jpg\" alt=\"RT\"><figcaption><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/news\/621031-ai-psychosis-driving-insane\/\">Is AI driving us all insane?<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The most widespread and threatening illnesses aren\u2019t ebola or the hantavirus, but mental health disorders, according to a new study published in the Lancet medical journal. With more than a billion people affected, should you be worried?<\/p>\n<p>Published on Thursday, the study found that nearly 1.2 billion people worldwide had a mental disorder in 2023, an increase of 95% since 1990. Out of 12 disorders studied, the researchers found the sharpest increases in anxiety disorders and major depressive disorders, which rose by 158% and 131%, respectively. These two conditions are now the world\u2019s most prevalent mental illnesses.<\/p>\n<h2>What mental disorders were studied?<\/h2>\n<p>The study\u2019s authors recorded the prevalence of the 12 most common mental disorders, which they found were:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p>Anxiety disorders<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Major depressive disorder<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Dysthymia (a chronic but mild form of depression)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Bipolar disorder<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Schizophrenia<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Autism spectrum disorders<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Conduct disorder<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Anorexia nervosa<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Bulimia nervosa<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Idiopathic developmental intellectual disability (IDID, or intellectual disabilities of unknown cause)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>A residual category of other mental disorders<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Who is at risk?<\/h2>\n<p>With the exception of ADHD and IDID, which dropped by 1.8% and 16.4%, respectively, all of these disorders have increased in prevalence. The increase was not distributed equally, however. Most of the 12 conditions are more common among women, with depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, anorexia, and bulimia all more likely to affect females. ADHD, autism, and conduct disorder \u2013 which manifests as aggression and disobedience \u2013 are all more prevalent in males.<\/p>\n<figure>\n        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mf.b37mrtl.ru\/files\/2026.05\/original\/6a108afd85f54060c25048fd.png\"><br \/>\n            <\/figure>\n<p>Mental disorders are most common in people aged 15 to 19, the study found, marking the first time that this demographic bears the highest mental health burden.<\/p>\n<p>Research was carried out in 204 countries and territories, and while the study noted increases across the world, Western countries are the most affected. Measuring \u2018life years\u2019 of mental illness, the researchers found a mental illness rate of 3,555 per 100,000 in the Netherlands, and 1,302 in Vietnam, for example.<\/p>\n<p>Middle-developed countries as a whole had average mental illness rates of around 1,853 per 100,000, while highly developed countries had rates of around 2,184 per 100,000.<\/p>\n<h2>Why are more people mentally ill?<\/h2>\n<p><em>\u201cThere are many factors at play here, and it is difficult to tease them all apart,\u201d<\/em> lead researcher Dr. Damian Santomauro told CNN. However, Santomauro\u2019s colleague, Dr. Robert Trestman, highlighted one key factor: <em>\u201cThe stigma of mental illness has been substantially reduced, [and] people are much more comfortable coming forward, as opposed to suffering in silence.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>While Trestman attributes the rise to loosening stigmas, others point to overdiagnosis of mental disorders.<\/p>\n<h2>Overdiagnosis<\/h2>\n<p>Between 2013 and 2025, the number of mental health cases handled by England\u2019s National Health Service more than doubled, from just under four million in 2013 to nine million in 2025. With autism and ADHD rates driving the increase, Health Secretary Wes Streeting claimed that <em>\u201cthere\u2019s an overdiagnosis\u201d<\/em> of these conditions, and ordered a government review into the matter last December.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure>\n        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mf.b37mrtl.ru\/files\/2026.05\/original\/6a108b472030276f541b9577.jpg\"><br \/>\n            <\/figure>\n<p>At the time, the BBC asked 750 British doctors whether they agreed with Streeting\u2019s comments. 442 said they did, with only 81 saying that mental health problems were being under-diagnosed.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cAs a society we seem to have forgotten that life can be tough \u2013 a broken heart or grief is painful and normal, and we have to learn to cope,\u201d<\/em> one doctor told the BBC.<\/p>\n<p>In a 2022 study, Australian researchers identified <em>\u201cconcept creep\u201d<\/em> as a key driver of overdiagnosis. They argued that by broadening the definition of some disorders, doctors and psychiatrists have pathologized once-normal behaviors: for example, a boy refusing to sit still in school is more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD nowadays than in 1990.<\/p>\n<h2>Big pharma profiting<\/h2>\n<figure>\n        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mf.b37mrtl.ru\/files\/2026.05\/original\/6a109dd72030276f541b9580.jpg\" alt=\"Bottles of common antidepressant pills\"><figcaption>\n                                    Bottles of common antidepressant pills<\/p>\n<p>                <span class=\"copyright\"><br \/>\n                       \u00a9\u00a0 Getty Images;                    \u00a0Joe Raedle                                    <\/span><br \/>\n            <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>One of the doctors who spoke to the BBC said that they find themselves <em>\u201cregularly reaching for antidepressants, which I know may only help short term and won\u2019t help prevent recurrence.\u201d<\/em> As of 2022, roughly 14.7% of the population in England has a prescription for antidepressants, and the number of 5-12-year-olds on these drugs has risen by 41% between 2015 and 2021, according to the pharmaceutical journal. Antidepressant use has soared by 147% in the EU between 2000 and 2020, and by 65% in the US during the same time.<\/p>\n<p>All of these numbers translate into massive profits for the pharmaceutical industry. According to Fortune, the global antidepressant market is expected to grow to $18.3 billion in 2027. Big Pharma is working to drive these numbers up through diagnosis, Fortune notes, highlighting how <em>\u201cfor-profit organizations and governments are working to create awareness among the general population about various mental conditions,\u201d<\/em> which <em>\u201cassists market growth potential.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Beginning in the 1980s, pharmaceutical companies lobbied the American Psychiatric Association to reclassify depression from an episodic phenomenon to a long-term <em>\u201cdisorder\u201d<\/em> requiring medication. Drugmakers then funded studies to prove that their products \u2013 in this case SSRI (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor) drugs \u2013 worked, and doctors were incentivized to prescribe them.<\/p>\n<p>Modern research has found that many early SSRI trials were rigged by the industry, and multiple companies \u2013 including GlaxoSmithKline, Forest Laboratories, and Takeda \u2013 have been sued for offering doctors kickbacks in exchange for prescribing more antidepressants. In a 2012 settlement, GlaxoSmithKline paid $3 billion in damages for unlawfully promoting Paxil and Wellbutrin, including by offering meals and hotel stays to doctors who prescribed the two medications.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n        <span><strong>Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<figure>\n            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mf.b37mrtl.ru\/files\/2026.05\/thumbnail\/6a0aea0f85f54034d57147e7.jpg\" alt=\"RT\"><figcaption><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/news\/640122-smartphone-fertility-decline\/\">Global birth rates plunged after smartphones \u2013 FT<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>With the exception of conduct disorder, every condition mentioned in the Lancet study is treated with prescription drugs, meaning the pharmaceutical industry has a baked-in incentive to promote their diagnosis.<\/p>\n<h2>Modernity is bad for our health<\/h2>\n<p>While overdiagnosis and the greed of the pharmaceutical industry go a long way toward explaining the rising prevalence of mental illness, some scientists believe that the modern world itself is making us sick. As psychiatrist Dr. Alex Curmi explained in The Guardian last year, humans evolved to live in close-knit bands of hunter-gatherers, performing hands-on work in <em>\u201ccommunities rich with tradition, ritual and spiritual meaning,\u201d<\/em> rather than living atomized and sedentary lives in cities, subsisting on chemical-laden food, and bombarded by news cycles of misery and violence.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cModern populations are increasingly overfed, malnourished, sedentary, sunlight-deficient, sleep-deprived, and socially-isolated,\u201d<\/em> read a 2012 study titled \u2018Depression as a disease of modernity\u2019. The study also noted <em>\u201cA positive correlation between a country\u2019s GDP per capita\u2026and lifetime risk of a mood disorder.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n        <span><strong>Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<figure>\n            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mf.b37mrtl.ru\/files\/2026.03\/thumbnail\/69c522a985f54010e01489e5.jpg\" alt=\"RT\"><figcaption><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/news\/636265-meta-google-guilty-child-addiction\/\">Meta and Google fined for causing child addiction<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The Lancet study found soaring rates of mental illness after the Covid-19 pandemic, a time of lockdowns, isolation, joblessness and stress for hundreds of millions of people worldwide.<\/p>\n<p>Certain elements of modern life have had a clear and well-documented negative effect on our mental health. After more than 143 peer-reviewed studies, there is a growing consensus that social media use is linked with depression, anxiety, and eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia nervosa, particularly among teenagers.<\/p>\n<p>It is now the official opinion of the US Surgeon General that adolescents \u2013 the group which saw the largest rise in mental disorders in the Lancet study \u2013 who spend more than three hours per day on social media double their risk of developing anxiety and depression. Just under half of US teens feel that social media use has a <em>\u201cmostly negative\u201d<\/em> impact on their mental health, a Pew Research survey found last year.<\/p>\n<h2>Should you worry?<\/h2>\n<p>The short answer here is \u2018it depends\u2019. While the risk of mental disorders seems to increase along with a country\u2019s GDP, it\u2019s worth bearing in mind that the richest and most developed countries are also the largest markets for the pharmaceutical industry, making it more likely that their citizens will be overdiagnosed and overmedicated.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>More broadly, some solutions are obvious: limiting screen time and social media use, eating well and exercising, building strong relationships, meditation and prayer are all recognized by both science and common sense as conducive to good mental health.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mental disorders have almost doubled over the last three decades, affecting one in seven people&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":982,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}