AAARRRRGH!

[zippy890]

The ignorance of supposedly progressive people is unbelievable.

thread in GD:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4007784

I am livid over this kind of crap being posted. And some otherwise intelligent DUers seem to buy into it - Tom Cruise has set us back a few years in his scientology shit.

Depression and bipolar disorder are due to chemical imbalances in the brain, that much is known in medical science. Any of us who have been through a depressive episode know first hand the physical and emotional effects of the imbalances in the brain. It is the kind of pain I would not wish on my worst enemy.

I wish stupid ignorant assholes who don't know what they are talking about would shut the fuck up. They are doing so much harm -

There are so many people who could benefit from treatment who don't go to the doctor because of myths and bad advice and their own inability to sort through the information that is available.

We need more research on the brain and better treatments for mental illness to alleviate the suffering of so many people AND we need people to stop perpetuating harmful and ignorant misconceptions about it.

[DemExpat]

1. Yes, people need options for mental health care too IMO.

And after very careful consideration there are people helped by meds, but I agree with the premise of the article and do not see it as harmful or a misconception - that there is of yet no proof that mental illness is rooted in biology - I believe stress can damage healthy balance in individuals and cause an imbalance biolgically - and that this can also be passed on generation to generation, just as a real biologically rooted illness can.

Some mental illnesses probably ARE biologically rooted, and many helped with medication, but certainly not all IMO (not mine) and in my experience, with my long history of mental health problems.

:hi:

DemEx

edit: I posted in that thread too...

[Kashka-Kat]

2. my 2 cents

Can this be talked about in a way that isnt either-or &that respects personal decisions & realities that each of us is workign with... I hope so. Polarised thinking seems to be the bane of human existance! The fact that Tom C made ignorant, rude, disrespectful comments does not negate the message that the biology of mental illness is poorly understood and that the psych drugs are rather "hit or miss" -- genuinely helping some people while genuinely harming others...

I do agree totally w/ your statement, we need more research on brain and better treatments!

Although I know people who've been helped immensely by psychoactive drugs (myself included 20 yrs ago w/ the old style anti depressants when I was having non stop migraines and anxiety attacks)
I have also seen 1st hand some damage done-- when a dear friend spent 2 years of her life and a couple of suicide attempts &^periods of hospitalization in a s.s.r.i.-induced psychosis to which her drs response was to pile on more drugs-- at one pt. she was taking 7 different things at once! Finally someone got a clue (no history of psychosis before age 45, hmmm...isnt that interesting!) and took her off everything just to see how much was drug effect and how much her own neuro biology. She is OK now except of course for the problems which made her seek help in the 1st place. Is it the drs. & lack of proper oversight, the pharmaceutical industry pushing drugs for profit, or the drug itself? Or how about all of the above. Yup I guess I still am pretty angry about that-- it was 2 yrs. of her life which she will never get back.

Yes it can be similar to the diabetic -- hormonal disruption due to completely biological causes. But extreme stress can also create hormonal disruptions which may or may not be able to be reversed thru non-drug therapies... Unlike the diabetic who does constant blood testing to monitor their need for insulin - there is no test which measures need for psych drugs. The thing about the diabetic's blood tests too is that you can also measure/ verafy that therapeutic doses are being administered. With mental illness there's no objective verification or measure of success.

The groupings of illness according to the diagnostic manual-- its all based on observed behavior. Non western modalities group illness in different ways -- which sees the mental illness in more wholistic context & not separate from whats going on in the body--relating to nutrition, sleep, chemicals in the environment, stresses from poverty and racism, etc etc etc.

Even looking at it scientifically-- they're finding that body/brain split isn't quite what they thought it was - for example emotion is also a function of the heart, and of nerves in the gut area ("gut feelings") and other areas-- which intererstingly correspond to the chakras in the eastern medicine system.

This is not saying that mental illness does not exist and Im not negating the real and horrendous pain that lots us have gone thru, or are going thru ... its saying just that it can be useful to look at/ get at it from other angles... to get at root causes rather than superficial behavioral symptoms.

Like in my case it was getting the type of deep longterm psychotherapy which I like to think of as "re-parenting" which helped me more than anything( & which btw h.m.os are very reluctant to pay for due to the length) The bottom line needs to be simply "what's best for the patient" which may or may not be drugs... non drug approach can be very difficult too in its own way-- my hold on mental health feels a bit tenuous, bc I think the early abuse & deprivation did some real damage to my neurobiology and I think if I had a series of really bad stresses like no income it could send me over the edge again.

Still, whenever I manage to get everything in balance it really is good, it really is, and simply having some social skills to be able to have some good connections w/ people... that decreases stress/ symptoms to a degree I wouldve thought not possible 20 yrs ago when I had labels of depression borderline etc.