Why is the rate of suicide and mental illness going up?

A few other reasons might be the sensory overload of modern life, decreasing amount of physical jobs -> mentally tired people and the need to become even more intelligent than before. The human population is spread in a bell curve in multiple aspects and when certain things start to favor more and more the high end of those aspects, well people start to feel unwanted, life to be unfair and the want for simpler times. Even with advancements in education, technology and intelligence these days the high theoretical concepts and fields are way more out of reach than before. Of course there have been amazing people who are ahead of others in these but think about the ideas of newton, da vinci, edison, tesla, plato, aristotle, confucius etc etc. A lot of these are in the grasp of human understanding, intuitive thinking and observations of the natural world. But these days either a lot has been already covered by great minds and what is left is so theoretical or out of grasp in our understanding that only a few actually have any clue what is going on.

@Beherit: Ah yes, ADD/ADHD. I can tell you as someone who actually had and still struggles with it that yes, so many people were misdiagnosed with it. They take one look at a child and are like "Yup. This one has it." Simply because they can't sit still for five minutes. In other words, childhood. Actual ADD/ADHD basically means you process information more quickly, and thus tend to short out your brain. Hence why, in the case of ADD, you tend to never be in the moment. (Either thinking 5 seconds ahead, or five seconds behind, hence why we tend to cut ourselves off in the middle of sentences). But people with ADD tend to focus best when they are moving around, as opposed to sitting still. We notice things like movement, and have rather quick reflexes. If you ask me, it makes sense that a lot of people have it. ADD/ADHD may be hunting adaptations from our hunter gatherer days. Think of it. Easily distracted because they're able to notice patterns, movement, and subtle noises easier, able to process information faster when moving, or hyper focus on something in the distance? Here's some interesting reads. Science of ADD/ADHD Brains: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170216105919.htm "The results from our study confirm that people with ADHD have differences in their brain structure and therefore suggest that ADHD is a disorder of the brain," added Dr Hoogman. "We hope that this will help to reduce stigma that ADHD is 'just a label' for difficult children or caused by poor parenting. This is definitely not the case, and we hope that this work will contribute to a better understanding of the disorder." Evolutionary Origins of ADD/ADHD: (Merely theories at the present. Yet to be proven.) http://pathwaystofamilywellness.org/Wellness-Lifestyle/hunters-and-farmers-the-origins-of-adhd.html https://www.healthline.com/health/adhd/evolution#1 Symptoms/Strengths of ADD/ADHD https://www.healthline.com/health/adhd/benefits-of-adhd#1

None of these really adress why it's going up. Just ideas about why it exist. Why is it on the rise in the Western World?

Hmm... that's actually a lot of interesting material you have brought forth, Choc (haven't read it all, but still). Also warmblood, as far as I know, there is no consensus on why suicide and mental health has increased in the west at this time, unfortunately, only speculation.

Alright, let's get abstract for a moment. How about a lack of love? That can be attributed to a lot of the problems people have.

These are ideas yes but they are also possibly reasons too. Also there might be some things related to suicides being studied now, statistics being made, more of them indentified and more people means more cases happening. Also the idea of better life conditions lowers the deaths of other reasons, so suicides start to replace those cases thus increasing the amount. Might be a reason.