It's all in your head...

You've never had flied lice at a Chinese restaurant?

 

I'm actually taking a psych/neurology class right now dealing with some of this stuff. Just today my professor brought this up:

We often pin depression on chemical imbalances, ie, serotonin deficiency. On average after starting anti-depressant treatment it takes only about 36 hours for serotonin to reach stable, healthy levels-- but it takes 4-6 weeks, sometimes many months for people to report an increase in mood. There is every indication that there is more to depression than chemical imbalance, and we are far too willing to hand anti-depressants out like candy (not that there aren't legitimate uses, it's just abused).

edit: Also, something to consider is the amazing power of placebo. For a medication to be approved by the FDA it has to beat the placebo rate, which is 30%. We have no fucking clue how the mind/body connection works if 30% of the time the power of suggestion and a sugar pill does the same trick as a drug.

 

...Charro?

 

I've always believed it was all a bunch of bullshit growing up and while I still stand by it now, I do understand the need for some medication. My problem with it is kids younger and younger are getting put on these pills and are being raised with the belief that THIS is the only way for them to feel "normal." Normal is overrated.

I have a friend who has a 6 year old son and he just got put on ADHD medication. When I ask her why she would do this her only response is "He won't sit down and pay attention in school. He says he can't stop thinking so much" Maybe it's just the day and age we live in now but when I was 6 years old, and I didnt' want to sit down in class and follow the rules, they told my father. And you better fucking believe the next day I sat my ass down and did what I was told. Sure I've had moments where I'm anxious or nervous or I feel like my hearts going to explode but I chill out, take a deep breath and calm myself down. Just like someone above mentioned about public speaking, with practice you can overcome it. So now my friends son is going to be raised the rest of his life, believing that little pill is his only saving grace to be "normal" like the other kids. And I know where that goes because I dated a girl a few years back who was popping them like they were prescribed candy. Fight with friend? Pop a pill. Dinner was ruined? Pop a pill. TV Show didn't record? Pop a pill. Someone forgot to take shoes off in house? OMG I NEED A PILL NOW!

The only change in my opinion these past few years is my mother has had to be put on some anxiety medicine recently. I believe she does need them to calm down but I attribute that to her age, diet, and lack of exercise. But she's an adult, she can explain to a doctor how she is feeling, what the pills make her feel like, and what she doesn't/does like about those feelings. I don't trust a 6 year old to tell me these things because I don't believe they have the education/life expereince to do it.

 

As Black Jesus said, it's often a matter of perspective. Many people become so focused on their "problem" that they literally drive themselves crazy. I see many people that are medicated for a variety of disorders that actually could be handled nonmedically if they TRIED. And yes, some people REALLY need drugs.

I am medicated(Zoloft, Xanax), at 30 I finally realized that my anxiety was running my life and it has to stop. I have suffered from depression for years. I believed that while my childhood certainly sucked and was a bit tragic, I needed to get the fuck over it. I am getting over it now that I am able to think clearly about it, and medicine is the key for me. I hope to wean myself off at some point, but it has provided me with a certain stability that I must have to be a good mother.

I don't let myself pop a pill every time things don't go my way though. I know many women that call Xanax and booze "mommy's little helpers." That's so selfish to me. Accept that your crotch droppings are needy little creatures and that you chose this life. Deal with it.

 

I have OCD. And when I say that, I don't mean that I am obsessive about some stuff or feel compelled to do some stuff, in that casual way people very often say "I'm OCD about XYZ". I mean that I had real difficulty functioning in a hapyp and stable way because of it. It started when I was 12 and I noticed that I was obsessed with drawing a particular shape in a particular way. Then I needed things to happen in certain orders or in sets of 3 or 4. And more and more and more shit crept in. The school psychologists called it a sign of worry. Well, he was sort of right, OCD is an anxiety disorder, but he totally missed how pervasive it was. Then I saw segments on TV shows about OCD, back when it wasn't a well known illness I think, and it suddenly clicked and I went and saw a psychiatrist/psychologist. Eventually I went on Zoloft and then upped my dosage over time to 250mg a day. About 50mg more than FDA recommended maximum. But that finally curbed it and I could deal with life so so much better.

It's strange though, one day I went to take my morning pills... and didn't. Just stopped all of a sudden. I was 18 or so, I think, and had been on meds for a couple years, but something in me stopped. And through a miracle, I was not fucked up by the horribly stupid decision to stop cold turkey like that.

Nowadays I still have OCD, but it's at a much lower level than it used to be. I can handle it, most people don't notice, and my wife understands when I need to tap her elbow in a precise sequence or whatever. It still sucks though. Several years ago it started affected my reading. Like, I have to reread things multiple times in certain ways, count punctuation in sets of three, etc. etc. I *love* to read, but this makes it so much slower and frustrating at times. So it still intrudes, just not enough to make me want to go back on meds again.

 

Mental Illness is a lock we may never find the right key to. I myself can't elaborate too much on the subject, and I know others on here know a hell of a lot more about it than I do. However, it seems that there's been a certain degree of bullshit that has been spoon-fed to us the last 25 years or so:

The topic of Stress. Stress was not an issue with anybody pretty much back in the 1980's. I don't ever recall hearing about people taking stress leaves from work because all of a sudden it just got "too stressful" for them. Nobody bitched that life was just too hard (to be fair however, back then corporations allowed employees to make enough money to support their families). If you told your boss the job was getting too stressful and you deserve a paid absence, they'd tell you to go fuck yourself, fire you, and replace you with somebody who had a better head on their shoulders.

Depression is a touchy subject. Depression is a serious issue with people, I battled it for a while almost ten years ago. It just sickens me that its come to a head nowadays where people can use this as an excuse to stick it to the man, get away with crimes, and have no responsibilities for their actions. Not only that, we have to keep coming up with "politcally correct" terminology for it like "Bi-polar". That does not tell me what the problem is. "Manic depression" tells me what the problem is. Because of this, anybody who has mood spells can be considered bi-polar, and they use this to their advantage to score meds or feed their Munchausen personalities.

Then, we have symptoms and "diseases" that have simply been made up out of thin air for Pharmacy nazis to profit more on. "Restless Leg Syndrome"?!?! That's horseshit pulled out of somebody's ass. Not to mention what they do to kids nowadays. Kid punched another kid on the playground? Obviously he needs councilling and Ritalin. No little boy in their right mind would ever resort to violence for some reason. Little bastards. Pump 'em full of tranquilizers and lock 'em up. I never knew ONE SINGLE KID when I was in public school that was on Ritalin, prozac or any of these other poisons with a "x" or "z" in the title that have made very rich people a whooooooooole lot richer in the last two decades.

I myself suffer from post traumatic stress. From a car accident I have daily migraines, hip arthritis, iritis, and violent, bloody flashback night terrors (on occasion). Still I refuse to resort to medication because I see what the bad side of it does to people. Maybe that sort of thing would help some people, but it is not my bag.

There's too many points to argue from both sides. I think we eat to unhealthy, are WAAAAAY over-medicated and most of all paranoid as fuck. Now do you see why I want pot legalized so bad?

 

ALT FOCUS: got high results for Schizotypal and Avoidant:

Spoiler

Paranoid: Low
Schizoid: Moderate
Schizotypal: High
Antisocial: Low
Borderline: Low
Histrionic: Moderate
Narcissistic: Moderate
Avoidant: High
Dependent: Low
Obsessive-Compulsive: Low

I don't know how accurate these things are. I've been diagnosed in the past with dysthymia, I tend to lash out at family members, and I have no success with women. But my feeling is that all of that's more due to upbringing and past issues than inherent mental imbalance. I am quantifiably crazier around my family than in any other setting.

I was super-high-strung in high school as well; I remember one day I was leaning against a locker, eyes closed, before gym class, when an acquaintance poked me in the ribs. My reaction: "JESUS WHAT THE FUCK!" Yeah, my classmates didn't like me a lot. Out of school, though, I was much more laid back.

I had that too, except I couldn't roll my r's. Not a big deal, unless your mother tongue has rolled/flipped r's, and you also unconsciously try to roll your r's in English. The kids in elementary school got a kick out of asking me to say the word "quarter". "QUAHTUHH" got old after the fifth time or so.

I eventually taught myself to roll my r's when I was 14 or so, and that somehow taught me to pronounce the English R correctly as well. Happy endings rock.

 

Focus: I lean more towards KIMaster's view on this one, especially given that our current tools for manipulating brain chemistry are akin to bazookas designed for shooting flies. Every "happy pill" comes with a litany of side effects (my favorite part being where anti-depression medications list "depression" as a possible side effect, in addition to the standard diarrhea, nausea, insomnia, etc), so given a choice between addictive happy pills and sucking it up, I tend to prefer sucking it up. In previous times, you just didn't have the option of happy pills.

I guess this is actually pretty consistent historically speaking, i.e. things are as they've always been. Older people are always bitching about how younger people have it so easy, are a bunch of pussies in general, and will become corrupted by all this fancy new technology. Give me a break.

That being said, kids these days are a bunch of pussies who pop pills at the slightest provocation. Ultimately, this commercial pretty much sums up my feelings on the matter: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfmVBmDKLZI" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfmVBmDKLZI</a>

Alt Focus: According to that test, I'm moderately narcissistic and low everything else. Of course, half the questions on that test are incredibly subjective, leading me to believe that it's only use is as a starter for a shitty conversation.

On the plus side, I am super awesome, so there's that.

 

Don't forget weight gain and sexual side effects. Like you didn't have reasons to be depressed already....

 

There definitely are some people who need help with various mental illnesses but I believe most[at least 80-90%] people on these prescription drugs don't have any problem at all or could change whatever problem they have with some simple lifestyle changes and a little will power. I took Paxil at one time[about 9 months of it] due to various anxieties I felt, I was 24 at that time. Eventually I got to the point where I felt this magic little pill would just cure it, I'd be this different person, and went in to a general practice doctor and got a prescription in a matter of minutes.

Looking back, expecting to feel like a different person was unrealistic. Nine months of taking it and all that changed was I put on weight and felt fucking tired constantly and the anxiety problems were still present for the most part. Finally I just stopped taking them and went through about 6-7 weeks of what I think was withdrawal from the pills. I was constantly[like every 5 minutes or less] getting these little split second vertigo and dizziness feelings. I think you getting hooked on them or thinking they actually work is part of the problem. You think a pill is making you feel better when it's just yourself doing it. Basically I felt I just needed to man up a little if I felt uncomfortable and I didn't need a pill to [not] help me. Nowadays I feel fine and any anxiety problems I do have I feel are just normal to everyone.

As far as kids with ADD or ADHD or whatever, my younger by 5 years half brother was a little hellion while growing up. He supposedly had ADD and was on medication for it. For years it didn't work so it was different medications in different doses. Finally, my mom re-married and my now step-father laid down the law with him, he was taken off the meds, and he straightened right up. After he got older and decided he was sick of rules he left my parents house and went right back to his old ways. He's now 21 and has worked at an actual job for a total of about 1 work week. I believe that for the most part ADD is merely a lack of discipline. I saw the same scenario with 2 friends in school while growing up, they both supposedly had ADD and eventually when they got a little older they simply mellowed out on their own, part of just growing up into an adult. Pumping kids full of medicine for a "mental" problem is horrible I think. They aren't old enough to really comprehend what they are thinking or doing and shouldn't have a medication that might influence their thoughts[you can lump religion in with that too].

Parents nowadays just think, "Well, my kid just doesn't listen and doesn't want to sit still and it's not my fault they're like that, they must have something wrong mentally." The kid spends a few years on a medication, and simply grows up a little bit, changes a little bit and then the medication gets credit for saving the kid. By this time it's probably pretty hard to come off the meds, too. It just goes in a circle. No, I don't have kids to see this first hand but I was one once just like everyone else. I've already noticed it with young parents that are my friends now.

My mom is an alcoholic on anti depressants but alcohol is a depressant so it's not doing any good to take pills. If she would just quit drinking she would feel better. While I've had more than enough fun with alcohol over the years I am glad that I've never come to depend on it.

I also think that the ever increasing knowledge we have of our minds helps push us to think that more and more people may need mental help, but where do you draw that line? Are there well used guidelines to determine if you actually have an issue?

 

It depends. For someone who has problems writing exams (and for the sake of clarity, this would consist of an individual who consistently has such anxiety surrounding exams that they have severe difficulty studying for or writing the exam, and the problem presents itself for most exams and it doesn't go away) then something like conditioning therapy might work where they write realistic but fake exams until they become adjusted to the exam writing process. For someone with public speaking, the same thing. Generalized anxiety? Medication may play a part, but Dr. Rob talks about various types of other talk therapy that can be used as well, here: <a class="postlink" href="http://shrinktalk.net/?p=152" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://shrinktalk.net/?p=152</a> But here's something interesting: certain blood pressure medications can be used to help blunt the anxiety and stress associated with things like public speaking. They work by blocking the body's stress steroids which would otherwise cause an increase in blood pressure and pulse. Is this just as evil as xanax for letting people take the easy way out?

I don't understand the attitude towards medication some people maintain that borders on luddism. We readily accept antibiotics for mild and non-serious infections when people would have suffered through an ear infection or sinus infection a few generations ago; we accept blood pressure medications when people would have stroked out in the past; we take advil when we're hung over (the ultimate example of someone avoiding the consequences of their actions); we accept, and pay exorbitant prices for, diabetes medications that would otherwise prevent complications of diabetes for someone who just isn't managing their disease properly. And it's not just medication: instead of advil, someone might use pedialyte for a hangover, or drink a cup of coffee after staying up late, or eat a tub of ice cream after a breakup. To me, they're all tools people use to get better, and they all exist on the same continuum, and as long as something a) helps solve a problem, and b) is safe, then it's all fine by me. But all of a sudden when it's medications for anxiety or depression or attention (and notwithstanding the over-use of these meds in children), what's the attitude? From you, these medications enable people to not take responsibility for themselves. Other people around the board have flatly said that "those" medications will never be used on their children; others have expressed distaste for the attitude that looks to medications as a solution; others think that "sucking it up" is somehow a viable option, as though someone with depression seeking help and treatment simply hadn't considered that.

I was giving a presentation to a group of foster parents about psychotropic meds the other week and a discussion popped up on the ability of teenagers to even be able to consent to take psychotropic medications, as if somehow these medications were special and exalted and these poor little teenagers just didn't have it in them to understand risks and benefits and make a decision for themselves, either because of the medications themselves or the condition which was being treated. If you want stories about the need for psychotropic medications in kids, talk to foster parents. Gives you a whole new perspective. And I've also had the privilege of listening to more than a few veterans discussing either their own mental health problems or their experiences seeing others with said problems. I hope, kimmaster, that you're not going to jump in here and say "millions of people have been to war over human history, are you saying they're ALL suffering from severe mental health issues?" because a lot of them really are. And the kicker is, it's not predictable who's going to get hurt or why. The attitude that people should just suck it up, not admit that anything's a problem and not seek help? Yeah, go try that. Two people going through similar circumstances may walk out with entirely different after-effects; are you going to tell the guy who's hurting afterwards that his buddy went through the same thing and turned out fine? I fucking hope not. Sometimes the problems don't surface for months; other times, problems surface right away and treatment needs to start before a deployment even ends. Problems can vary: depression on returning home is extremely common, but some people wind up suicidal alcoholics. I know that these people have been through extraordinary circumstances, so to compare them to the average suburban teenager who's really nervous all the time isn't perfect. But the bottom line is, some guys come out okay on the other end, and some clearly do not. I think of it like going on a roller coaster. Some people absolutely love roller coasters, and other people find them terrifying, even though all of the forces, speed, acceleration, heights, etc., are exactly the same for everyone on the ride. Part of the explanation for the difference in experience has to do with brain chemistry.

So what about your typical teenager who's got anxiety issues but no particular reason to worry? Well, like I said before, it's like pain. Everyone's going to have it at some point, so it's not as though every sore neck or headache needs medical attention (and for some reason it's perfectly fine to take tylenol for a sprained ankle but not ativan for a panic attack). But what about severe pain, or chronic pain? I'd liken severe chronic pain to a proper anxiety disorder. Pain is the way the body tells you that something is wrong, so the first thing you're going to do is try to find out what the cause is, and fix that. What if you find no apparent cause? Are you simply going to tell them that their pain isn't real, or that they should just deal with it because everyone has pain issues sometimes, or that they need to suck it up? No, you're going to find something that works to, if nothing else, make their life better. What works might be medication, it might be massage therapy or chiropractors or physiotherapy or whatever else. Why should it be different for anxiety? Even if we accept that the problem is just in their heads, the symptoms are most certainly not. They are as real as anything, and by their inherent nature, they are irrational and won't respond to "shut up kid, you've got nothing to worry about". You can look at talk therapy, you can look at Erikson's stages of psychosocial development and try therapy from that perspective, and you can look at medication. Now I'll agree that the best therapy would use a combination of these, and I'll agree that medication use ought to be minimized where possible. But I don't understand the attitude that says someone going without any help at all is better than medication.

Here's a question for you - you use pot in a way that pretty much resembles the way someone would use a regular medication, that is, you use it nearly daily. I'm on board with pot being legal and used for recreational purposes, but you've mentioned on the board in the past that you use it because it helps you with some pain issues (neuropathic pain?), comedic writing, and something about these flashbacks / other issues. But did you not just say that you refuse to resort to medication? Setting aside the pros and cons of conventional drugs, I don't see why one person's anti-depressant is any different from your marijuana.

 

How can you tell that it "won't go away"; that it's not just nerves that will get better with time and practice?

Look, you're talking to someone who, during his teenage years, would occasionally get so nervous during a big exam that he could barely stop from throwing up. Know what I did? I calmed myself down, finished writing the test, and after enough repetition, that crazy panic went away.

Sounds to me like you're too eager to label this a mental problem, when ninety nine percent of the time, it's just a natural thing people get over. You and myself included.

I'm not a doctor, but I have taken a fair number of bio classes. To quote Dr. Drew, who I otherwise hate, "there are no free lunches in nature".

Every medication, every pill has side-effects, alters your body's chemistry in some way, and is not to be taken lightly, especially if better, healthier alternatives exist. That's not Luddism; that's fucking common sense. Medical science is still on the level of witch doctor science in some ways; we know that in general, a certain drug improves a symptom, while occasionally causing side effects, but we can't tailor it to the individual.

"Better living through chemistry" causes far more problems than it solves.

Look, if you have a severe mental problem, then perhaps drugs are an option.

But taking blood pressure medication just to speak more confidently in public? (your example) That's insane.

And this is often very bad too, and has lead to a strain of super-bacteria completely resistant to any antibodies we presently have on the market.

People are over-medicating the shit out of themselves today, especially in the US.

Because high blood pressure is a serious medical condition where the benefit of the drug outweighs the side effects.

Unlike the examples you were giving above.

You don't seem to grasp the basic concept that medication is not some silver bullet; it doesn't magically cure whatever ails you, with no complications or problems whatsoever.

Especially with something as complex as mental problems, where it often just masks the symptoms, nothing more.

Now you're just twisting my words. I never once wrote that. On the contrary, people should get all the help they can, whether it be from a therapist, a trusted adult, using any number of interesting mental techniques, from hypnosis to simple practice/analysis. And yeah, I'm glad you brought up Erikson's; that could also help a lot of people.

But solving "mental health issues" like getting nervous before a big speech by taking blood pressure medication (a very heavy drug, by the way) is fucking insane. And I can't believe you're seriously advocating it, with reasoning like "hey, a lot of people take Advil to clear up a hangover!!! Everyone's doing it!!"

 

According to that test, I'm a narcissist with dependency issues and Histrionic Personality Disorder.

As for the medication issue, I assume that it wasn't all in my head because I took the pills without actually believing in them and they still worked.

 

You and me both brother.

Paranoid: Low
Schizoid: Low
Schizotypal: Low
Antisocial: Moderate
Borderline: Low
Histrionic: Moderate
Narcissistic: Very High
Avoidant: Low
Dependent: Low
Obsessive-Compulsive: Low

I like how it rates you as "Low" what a crock of shit. I suppose my AIDS and EBOLA status is also "Low".

Now let’s all have a group hug and tell each other how special we are.

 

Dude, I just suggested a way to get over this kind of exam anxiety is to write fake exams that forces people to get accustomed to writing exams and get over the anxiety. Is that really controversial? And as for asking "how can you tell that it won't go away", that question answers itself. If you, in the course of an exam, calmed yourself down and finished, perhaps that's an indication that for you it wasn't so bad. Maybe someone who can't calm themselves down is the person I'm thinking of.

First of all, I've taken more than a few bio classes on the subject. Nothing you've said here is something I didn't already know. You won't find a single suggestion from me that endorses taking medications where the risks outweigh the benefits, or that someone should take a medication that doesn't work for them, or that isn't safe for them.

But you used that phrase again - "severe mental problem". What exactly do you mean when you say it? Because every single time I list an example, you shoot it down as not being a "severe mental problem" and therefore unworthy of medication. I mention public spekaing; you say "I know people who had problems but then they got over it and it ceased being a problem". I don't want to twist your words around here, but you come across as saying, effectively, "the fact that someone had a problem and then got over it means that anyone with this symptom isn't really having a problem". So let's take two people who are nervous speaking in front of a crowd. They both go through standard non-drug therapy: they do breathing exercises, they give practices speeches in empty rooms, they get coaching, etc. For person 1, the problem resolves. For person 2, the problem persists. The fact that person 1's problem resolved does not invalidate the persistent problem of person 2. At that point, is it really insane to take a dose of a beta blocker a half hour before a speech?

See, here's the problem. I'm going to say that anxiety and depression are, indeed, serious medical conditions. And you're going to think that everyone with "anxiety" is just some kid who needs a bit of positive thinking and will get over it. Can you at least accept that there are people for whom anxiety and depression are serious conditions, and for whom the benefits of medication outweigh the side effects?

Blood pressure medications are not "very heavy drugs". Some of them are, in fact, among the best drugs on the market: they're cheap, they're effective, and some of them in fact have positive long-term outcomes. And again comes that phrase: "mental health issues". It is ultimately little more than a label, and you're using it like it means something. The way it seems to me, you're saying that having problems speaking in public (as per our Person 2 above) isn't a mental health issue, therefore isn't a serious problem, therefore isn't worthy of medication. This person experiences symptoms independent of your opinion of their symptoms, and independent of the labels you attach to them. The bottom line is, a beta blocker can work for some people. You do realize that there are people who have more stress merely thinking of speaking in public than they do when thinking about death? A beta blocker won't solve the problem of public speaking anymore than a cup of coffee in the morning solves the issue of not getting enough sleep. It's just a tool that can be used to get around an obstacle. Different tools for different problems.

 

I started taking the test and stopped because of how ridiculous it is. It would be a lot better if they gave us the classic 1-5 scale instead of yes and no. For a majority of the questions I wanted to put "sometimes" or some other term in between yes and no. I didn't bother finishing it because I realized, depending on how my day had went, I could go either way on pretty much every question.

As far as the discussion on psychotropic medication goes, I take a highly practical approach. The theory behind these issues is so far beyond our current level of knowledge, I think it's almost guaranteed to be fruitless affair to try to make some sort of a diagnostic flowchart. The progress along such a chart would be more representative of the question asker than the answer giver. I think the only feasible solution as of now is to try a "throw a bunch of shit at the wall and see what sticks" approach. Trying to figure out whether or not someone is "really" sick or "really" has a disease is just plain dumb because while we can attribute physical illnesses to certain bacteria/virus/fungi/etc., with mental "illness" all we are really dealing with is neurological diversity. (This is putting aside, of course, cases where certain infections cause neurological symptoms).

Increasing research suggests those with autism may have increased ability in other neurological skills such as mathematical aptitude or drawing. Recent research has also suggested that those diagnosed with ADD tend to perform better than average on tasks involving creativity. This leads me to believe most neurological disorders are not diseases, but neurological diversity which, if nurtured correctly, can be exploited for gains. Trying to make everyone "normal" will only hinder these possible gains.

All of this makes me think that those over the age of consent should be entirely in charge of medications they are on so long as they do not harm others. As long as they feel better on a medication, who are we to say they should be denied it because we can't figure out whether or not it is a disease? Likewise, Youngsters should be kept off psychotropic medication unless they are a danger to others. Giving restless children medicine to calm them down is ridiculous and will likely stunt their creativity.

 

But how do you know they can't? That's my whole point. This is such a natural and common problem, that trying to point to it as a serious symptom is foolhardy.

You're like someone concerned that their infant likes putting things in his or her mouth. It's a natural and common thing, and only in extremely rare circumstances, when something else is going on, is it a sign of a "problem".

Just like 99% of the time, some fleeting pain in your ankle does not mean you need ACL surgery.

No, I'm saying that getting nervous before a public speech is not any kind of evidence a person has a severe mental trouble and needs medication.

You seem to be arguing that much of the time, it is, and then condoning self-medication in earlier posts. That's lunacy.

Yes, it is insane. If you have a problem with speaking in front of crowds, maybe you need more practice than the average person. Maybe it's something that requires some hypnosis. Maybe it's something you're not naturally good at it.

But it's not something you should chow down on pills for.

So rather than going to the root of the depression and anxiety and treating that, you would rather mask the symptoms with drugs? Yeah, sounds real effective alright.

While I've never had the pleasure of taking any myself, several of my family members did, and they assured me that it was in fact a serious, heavy drug with side effects.

Anyways, the fact that you dismiss blood pressure pills as no big deal shows how far down the rabbit hole you've gone; not only do you not see the risk of excessive medication, disclaimers aside, but you don't realize how unnecessary it is for "problems" like public speaking.

It's a beneficial trade-off for someone who is at serious risk of a heart attack. But not for someone who gets nervous in front of a crowd.

Yes, it is a tool to get rid of a problem.

But just like burning your entire house down to kill a spider in your bathroom, it's often not effective, and doesn't address the root of the problem.

 

The reason Manic Depressive Disorder was renamed to Bipolar Disorder was because a change in the belief of how Manic Depression was conceptualized. The idea behind it is that regular depression (major depressive disorder, dysthymia, etc.) is considered unipolar depression. The idea that bipolar depression and unipolar depression exist on a continuum and are manifestations speaks to the continuing progress of our understanding of mental illness.

Personally, I don't think mental illness is much of an illness. I don't view mental health from the medical model imposed upon psychology via the insurance companies. I feel that these presentations of pathology are merely normal behaviors that have been exaggerated to the extreme and disrupts a person's day to day life, across various domains of their life.

Specifically regarding ADHD, while I agree ADHD has been the diagnosis dujour since the 80's or so, it doesn't make it any less of a real issue for people who suffer from it. I believe medication and therapy should be utilized if necessary. Though medicine isn't always necessary, if it will provide the client a sense of stability and prevents further loss of functionality, then I see no reason why medication should not be used. Interestingly enough, I know a local psychologist in the DC area who is doing great work with kids who have ADHD. He himself has ADHD, and explained ADHD as being similar to having a fully functioning motor (brain) but a shitty ass transmission that doesn't allow you to really push the engine to its limits. Negative self concepts are reinforced at school (you can't sit still and focus on your work, you must be a troublemaker) and the crumb snatcher internalizes these messages, and begins to identify as a troublemaker through a process called projective identification. Internalizing these rigid, negative self concepts leads to depression in children and acting out. This particular psychologists is working with children diagnosed with ADHD through a combination of medicine and by teaching them how to focus by using a computer equipped with a biofeedback sensor that is able to detect when the child is actually focusing and bringing their mental weight to bear. It's set up as a game. When the child focuses, the spaceship on the screen starts to hurl through outer space. He's had good results with the kids he's worked with.

In regards to the test, personality disorders are difficult to diagnose. Simply because you engage in certain behaviors doesn't mean that you have a personality disorder. Personality disorders are referring to the structures of the personality that make up who you are. We all have features. I have anti-social features that are couched in a narcissistic presentation.

While I do agree that as a country, the US is medicated and that general practitioners should not be prescribing psychotropic medicines (as they lack the necessary skill set to tease apart the diagnoses because they are generalists) I think the above statement overlooks a couple things. Living a successful life didn't require the same mental exertion that it does today in the sense that there were a fairly large amount of factory jobs that paid well and didn't require a lot mentally. The same concept is at play in developing nations. They live a much simpler life concerned with much more baser needs such as nutrition, safety, and a place to sleep versus struggling with things such as finding a place to belong, in line with Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

I will also say this: broadly speaking, Occam's razor does not apply to mental health. It's typically a much more nuanced answer that pulls across multiple variables in multiple settings. Sure, you can focus on the factor that accounts for the largest amount of variance, but it's still an incomplete picture.