[lbo-talk] let's argue about the cause of mental illness

shag carpet bomb shag at cleandraws.com
Thu Aug 27 16:52:56 PDT 2009


At 12:56 PM 8/27/2009, Jeffrey Fisher wrote:


>Also, now looking back at Shag's original post, it looks like what's really
>at stake is not so much that people are mis-diagnosed as that serotonin is
>seen as the problem for everything? So then the question is whether these
>medications work. Right? Isn't that really what it comes down to? And then
>isn't then answer pretty obviously, yes, at least for some things for some
>people -- enough that it's worth it, iyam. I guess I think we just have to
>watch out for over-prescription and political (in the broad sense)
>diagnoses, and particularly so with children, who are much more at the mercy
>of their parents and doctors, whereas you and I can decide for ourselves
>whether or not we're going to take some drug for some condition someone
>tells us we have.
>
>Not to play the "who will think of the children?" card, but there it kind of
>is.

heh. what this convo reminds me of is something i said tangentially in a post a week ago or so. Men, the so called gender that is supposed to be better at abstract thinking isn't at all.

Instead of thinking abstractly about this, everyone dives for the specific. I entitle the post "cause of mental illness" and use an _illustration_ of depression and an illustration about ADHD to help elucidate a couple of points.

next thing you know, an obsessive focus on depression. and suicide, which I never mentioned!

so i'm sitting here thinking wTF?

i have congenital heart disease. it runs in the family. everyone in my grandmother's generation died in their 40s -- the men. the women lasted a little longer. So, given that, I tend to keep up on the literature. I tend, just like my mother and aunt, to pay attention so I know when I'm being fed a line of bullshit and when, so I know how to take care of myself, especially, because until two years ago, I've never had insurance. Etc.

So, I assume people here who, for whatever reason, are more familiar with mental illnesses than I am could feel confidant about speaking to the state of the research.

shag



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