me_irl

To add to the things that others have said, I have two thoughts: the rise of "adult" as a verb in the modern lexicon and the saying "I don't get political is a weird way of saying my rights aren't up for debate every 4 years."

As Millennials reached adulthood and Gen Z and Alpha have grown up, "adulting" began entering the everyday lexicon as a thing you do rather than a thing you are. Traditional hallmarks of adulthood that had appeared under the Baby Boomers began to disappear and Millennials lost any sense of connection to the traits of adulthood their parents and grandparents told them to expect. Things like a steady job with a clear path towards promotions and a pension, financial stability and a grounded sense of home and community all began to disappear under the short-sightedness that has become the defining trait of late stage capitalism. The future became less certain and more frightening as living conditions declined and climate change became a train barreling down the tracks that the people with the power to do something refused to react to.

In this way, I think the concept of "mentally ill" has slowly changed as a paradigm. People are less healthy, more stressed, and just generally in a worse position than they were 30 or 40 years ago. Studies showed that when the Millennials were in high school, they showed similar stress coping mechanisms as active duty soldiers. The same gallows humor, pessimistic outlook on the future, and nihilism that soldiers showed. So viewed through that lens, people who may have been considered mentally ill 40 years ago may be considered to be mentally healthy today, and similar to minorities who need to be politically active in order to protect themselves, we only consider those who, as you said, have been through the Shit to be mentally unwell enough to fit the definition of conditions like chronic depression. Add in the cost of seeing a mental health professional in the US and the lack of conversation on the topic, and I wouldn't be surprised if there were a lot of undiagnosed people out there who would fit the definition of "mentally ill."