Reconceptualizing Mental Illness in the Digital Age

Book excerpt: The Digital Age has changed everything. Mental illness is nothing like what it was even twenty years ago. Since the advent of the Internet, suicide rates have soared. Depression has become the single most debilitating disease in the world. The majority of people who go to their doctor, to an emergency department, and to urgent care have no discernible physical disease. Roughly half of all adults in Western countries struggle with at least one addiction. We now live in a 24/7 miasma of media bombardment, of neuro-saturation, and of mental exhaustion. Technology has obliterated the human mind’s ability to keep up, and in this brave new world it is time for an honest and forthright reassessment of both mental illness and mental wellness. This book elegantly describes how we got to this point, the culmination of different historical perspectives on mental illness, and the evolution of the digital disorders of our time. It offers a reconsideration of normal versus pathological, and the possibility and desirability of achieving mental wellness in a digital environment.