US IB English-The Vegetarian: Mental Illness

The American Psychiatric Association definition:

Mental illnesses are health conditions involving changes in emotion, thinking or behavior (or a combination of these). Mental illnesses are associated with distress and/or problems functioning in social, work or family activities.

Mental illness is common. In a given year:

• nearly one in five (19 percent) U.S. adults experience some form of mental illness
• one in 24 (4.1 percent) has a serious mental illness*
• one in 12 (8.5 percent) has a diagnosable substance use disorder

Mental illness is treatable. The vast majority of individuals with mental illness continue to function in their daily lives.
(https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/what-is-mental-illness)

Study published by the US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health

Background
The present study investigated associations between vegetarian diet and mental disorders.

Methods
Participants were drawn from the representative sample of the German Health Interview and Examination Survey and its Mental Health Supplement (GHS-MHS). Completely vegetarian (N = 54) and predominantly vegetarian (N = 190) participants were compared with non-vegetarian participants (N = 3872) and with a non-vegetarian socio-demographically matched subsample (N = 242).

Results
Vegetarians displayed elevated prevalence rates for depressive disorders, anxiety disorders and somatoform disorders. Due to the matching procedure, the findings cannot be explained by socio-demographic characteristics of vegetarians (e.g. higher rates of females, predominant residency in urban areas, high proportion of singles). The analysis of the respective ages at adoption of a vegetarian diet and onset of a mental disorder showed that the adoption of the vegetarian diet tends to follow the onset of mental disorders.

Conclusions
In Western cultures vegetarian diet is associated with an elevated risk of mental disorders. However, there was no evidence for a causal role of vegetarian diet in the etiology of mental disorders.

To read this study in more detail: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3466124/

World Health Organization has asserted that mental illness is the greatest overriding burden of disease in the majority of developed countries, and that the socioeconomic burden of mental disease will exceed that of cancer and cardiovascular disorders in the future. The life-time prevalence rate for mental disorders in Korea is reported at 27.6 %, which means three out of 10 adults experience mental disorders more than once throughout their lifetime. Korea’s suicide rate has remained the highest among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) nations for 10 consecutive years, with 29.1 people out of every 100,000 having committed suicide. Nevertheless, a comprehensive study on the mental health services and the Research and Development (R&D) status in Korea is hard to find. Against this backdrop, this paper examines the mental health services and the R&D status in Korea, and examines their shortcomings and future direction. The paper discusses the mental health service system, budget and human resources, followed by the mental health R&D system and budget. And, by a comparison with other OECD countries, the areas for improvement are discussed and based on that, a future direction is suggested. This paper proposes three measures to realize mid and long-term mental health promotion services and to realize improvements in mental health R&D at the national level: first, establish a national mental health system; second, forecast demand for mental health; and third, secure and develop mental health professionals.

To read the full article in International Journal of Mental Health Systems, click HERE:

Vegetarian diet and mental health: Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses in culturally diverse samples

Vegetarian diet and mental health: longitudinal prediction Long prevalent in some Asian cultures, the popularity of the plantbased diet is on the rise in the Western world. Vegetarians enjoy multiple physical health benefits from cutting out meat, such as lowered blood pressure and cholesterol in women (Cade et al., 2004), as well as altruistic benefits and peace of mind in the areas of animal ethics (i.e., less harm to animals), and environmental protection (i.e., less acreage is needed to grow plants than to raise animals, and less pollution is caused by plant agriculture than animal). Not often discussed are the mental health correlates, causes, or consequences of being vegetarian.

To read the full study, click HERE: