Posted by Jane D on January 6, 2002, at 23:27:12
In reply to Re: Previous Life Expectancies » IsoM, posted by bob on January 6, 2002, at 19:18:06
> Nevertheless... I'm not sure that the incidence, normalized by age, for any particular mental illness has changed much over history. Many of these disorders, especially severe ones, have onsets in the 20s. I'm sure this has probably been true forever.
Bob -
I don't see how we can ever know. We can't even match up diagnoses from one decade to the next. Perhaps, if there really is more mental illness today, it is not because everyone is living longer but because WE were the ones that died early. Under more primitive conditions anyone who was not determined to live probably didn't.
-Jane
poster:Jane D
thread:88953
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020103/msgs/89133.html