Mental Illness In America Essay

Every year about 42.5 million American adults suffer from a mental illness. Also 1 in every 10 children suffer from mental illness(¨The Rise¨). Mental illness affects younger generations more frequently than middle aged generations. Half of all chronic mental illness begin by the age of 14(¨Mental Health¨). Additionally, the rates of depression and anxiety among young people in America have been increasing steadily for the past 50 to 70 years. ¨When I first started working in depression 30 years ago, the average age which the first onset of depression occurred was 29. Now the average age of depression is between 14 and 15 years old¨ (Gray). So why are children suffering from mental illness at such early ages? Is it the parent´s fault, or the child’s fault for the cause of the uprise of mental illness? The reason for the rise of mental illness in young children and teenagers is mainly caused by the nutritional epidemic in today's society. The rise of mental illness is because parents are lacking the time and knowledge to prepare healthy and nutrition rich meals, genetically modified foods and the society of high fructose diets. Parents play a huge part in the rise of mental illness because of the food they are choosing for their children. Food choices are critical when it comes to mental health. When parents get off work they typically “don’t” have enough time to cook a four course meal, so …show more content…
Large amounts of sugar suppresses activity of a key growth hormone in your brain called the brain derived neurotrophic factor. In people that suffer with depression and schizophrenia they have very low levels of brain derived neurotrophic factors(¨How Depression¨). Also sugar consumption triggers a sequence of chemical reactions that promote chronic inflammation, long term inflammation disrupts and weakens the havoc of the