Don't be misled by the "brain disease" trope.

[samadhiSheol 7,646]

Of course the chemical make up of our brain and body (apparently our "gut" is our second brain, so eat healthy boys and girls) has a lot to do as to how we feel, think and percieve. But calling depression, anxiety etc. "a chemical disorder of the brain" is undermining the fact that in most cases, mental health disorders have circumstancial reasons. The world we live in is more effed up than our brain. A batch of pills sure as hell won't fix that.

 

"..While life is easier in terms of survival and work, societal norms have changed making it more difficult on our health, both psychologically and emotionally. Based on the research, this change is affecting everyone, and especially today’s children, which doesn’t bode well for our future.

The shortage of mental health resources to help those who are suffering with mental illness is another alarming trend that research has identified. On the one hand, we have a rising trend in mental illness and suicide. On the other, there are fewer resources to help address these rising trends.

What is the solution to these rising trends?

Unfortunately, there aren’t easy solutions. What is required is a wholesale rethink about the many contributing factors and then adopting healthy change. But based on how society got here, and where it’s currently headed, it’s unlikely we’ll see a positive change anytime soon. The expectation is that things will get much worse.

So, the best we can do is seek mental health support from the available resources, and then work at making families healthy one person at a time."

 

Italics mine, copy/pasted from an article on anxietycentre.com," Why is Mental illness on the Rise?".

 

Edited January 12 by samadhiSheol

[iWantRope 978]

3 hours ago, samadhiSheol said:

What is the solution to these rising trends?

Unfortunately, there aren’t easy solutions. What is required is a wholesale rethink about the many contributing factors and then adopting healthy change. But based on how society got here, and where it’s currently headed, it’s unlikely we’ll see a positive change anytime soon. The expectation is that things will get much worse.

So, the best we can do is seek mental health support from the available resources, and then work at making families healthy one person at a time."

 

Italics mine, copy/pasted from an article on anxietycentre.com," Why is Mental illness on the Rise?".

 

You mean there aren't ANY solutions. The only possible solution is to be able to choose or control what situation/circumstance has possibility to occur to us

That's why medical science never speaks of a cure for mental illnesses i.e. to the point where relapse can no longer occur. 

[samadhiSheol 7,646]

1 hour ago, iWantRope said:

You mean there aren't ANY solutions. The only possible solution is to be able to choose or control what situation/circumstance has possibility to occur to us

That's why medical science never speaks of a cure for mental illnesses i.e. to the point where relapse can no longer occur. 

Indeed.

" I" don't mean a goddamn thing. It's only something I found. It makes more sense than a lot of the bs we hear of mental health issues, that is if ANYTHING makes any sense in this pointless world. And I don't think "solution" is even the right word.

We live with with the crap of life or we don't.

 

Edited January 12 by samadhiSheol

[sober4life 31,108]

I've said it before there's a cat around here that has one eye and limps everywhere he goes.  I'm the human version.  The world has beaten the hell out of me.  Would I have felt better with a better life and in better situations and in a better world?  Of course!

[samadhiSheol 7,646]

 

6 minutes ago, sober4life said:

I've said it before there's a cat around here that has one eye and limps everywhere he goes.  I'm the human version.  The world has beaten the hell out of me.  Would I have felt better with a better life and in better situations and in a better world?  Of course!

In my case I will admit that the problem is with me to a large extent, and my shortcomings. If I were smarter, if I had more zest in life, if I wern't the arch-procrastinator and passive-aggressive little s hit I am if I didn't hate myself and the rest of our species so much, I would be writing articles about quantum mechanics or ancient fcking Egypt instead of spewing this crap on df.

I really should just put myself out of my misery, if you catch my drift. Too bad I am such a coward.

Edited January 12 by samadhiSheol

[watalife 6,273]

@sober4life idk if that's true either. I've seen people that have it all and they act like they are miserable, not happy, and they use drugs. And they assholes too!

[sober4life 31,108]

I don't know what to say.  Why doesn't psychiatry seem to work?  Maybe because we don't even start out with a clear picture of what people are like with personality disorders.  To say it's odd for someone to be self centered and only care about themselves is absurd.  People are a give me that right now and get out of my way or I'll run you over species.  Start there.

[samadhiSheol 7,646]

46 minutes ago, sober4life said:

I don't know what to say.  Why doesn't psychiatry seem to work?  Maybe because we don't even start out with a clear picture of what people are like with personality disorders.  To say it's odd for someone to be self centered and only care about themselves is absurd.  People are a give me that right now and get out of my way or I'll run you over species.  Start there.

Psychiatry would work  better if it focused more on trying to help us create a reasonable life, warts and all, despite the crap in the world.

It would work even better if the establishment, ANY given establishment, would wake up to realize how fcked up our notions of consumerism, economy, religion and our sheer penchant for entitlement as a species all are and take measures to make the world a truly better place. Fat chance of that, judging by the news.
 

Psychiatry would work better if everyone who needed treatment actually had access to appropriate treatment. So it’s about appropriate resources too.  We have got all caught up in the “brain disese”- paradigm partly because a batch of pills is all the treatment most of us get. 
 

Sometimes it’s less  about “getting back on track” than finding one’s own path, despite the world being a fcked up place, if that’s even possible.

[jkd_sd 1,787]

I agree with what is written here.  My opinion is only slightly different.  (Note: My opinion here is an over-generalization.)

 It seems to me the subject of 'mental health' is taking the same path as the subject of 'physical health'.  Only mental health has not traveled quite as far down the path yet.  In both there is a 'nature vs. nurture' type of debate.

The extreme 'nature' end of the debate says everything is decided by DNA.  What you are born with dictates your life's outcome.  It makes no difference if you are rich/poor, in a large family or orphaned, have good/bad nutrition, etc. .... The extreme 'nurture' end of the debate says we are born a blank slate.  Your situation and circumstances dictate your life's outcome.  Even to the point of, if you get more diseases, it is because you became a 'bad person'.  

Physical health shows the two extremes in the pop-a-pill (or perform surgery) vs. wholistic approaches.  Mental health shows the two extremes in the take-a-pill-and-move-on vs. talk the situation to death approaches.  

My opinion is each person's physical and mental health are due to a combination of both 'nature' and 'nurture' influences unique to that individual.  It is the "unique" aspect of this combination in each person that makes 'health care' (physical and mental) so challenging.  

Unfortunately, I have no substantial suggestions to offer on this matter.  I can only agree with the quote listed below, encourage everyone (including me!) to 'keep trying', and offer my support.

14 hours ago, samadhiSheol said:

Unfortunately, there aren’t easy solutions. What is required is a wholesale rethink about the many contributing factors and then adopting healthy change.