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On Being a Science Writer and Managing a Mental Illness

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Re: On Being a Science Writer and Managing a Mental Illness

#41

Post by jansho »

akvadrako wrote: post #36
dan00 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, I'm really more bothered by the expected scientific rigorous from an essay like this. He's a writer and is experiencing the difficulties of his work and how it effects his emotional well being. It shouldn't then really surprise that he sees a strong connection between his work as a writer and the depressions he has. That doesn't mean he's telling an objective truth about a writer's life, but he's telling a subjec…

The suggestion that there are other kinds of valid thinking besides scientific thinking is way off. No matter how obvious something feels, you can't know it's truth value. Humans can have auditory, visual and conceptual delusions that are completely convincing and completely opposite of what other humans experience. The only conclusion you can draw from this essay is it's actually how the author says he thinks he fee…

> but it says very little about life in general.

But you said it yourself, we can never know the absolute truth value.

I say let go of what life truly means, and enjoy the process of iteratively improving your own perspective. Humans always seek closure though - that's religion for me (!)

Re: On Being a Science Writer and Managing a Mental Illness

#42

Post by taneq »

Stratoscope wrote: post #12
rubyn00bie wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is a scummy reply because it is purely written to exploit vulnerable people and provide them baseless hope. You do not say how, what, or why your religion has done to help you and you make a broad sweeping statement that some thing (a god) will magically solve mental illness. If anything this sort of crap will prolong suffering, and or exacerbate the problems associated with mental illness because it's n…

A programmer once believed in the God of Spaces. But they were never quite sure how many spaces were the One True Number. They grew up with Four. Younger believers told them Two. They even tried Three in their wilderness years, but that made them feel odd. Then a stranger asked, "Why do you worry so with your counting? Do you ever expect to find the right number? Just use a tab, my friend, and the number will always…

And that's why you don't trust random strangers spouting wise-sounding sayings.

Re: On Being a Science Writer and Managing a Mental Illness

#43

Post by privateprofile »

viach wrote: post #4
gcb0 wrote: post #3

reads like a medication pamphlet. therapy is more useful than drugs, even if drugs are needed eventually. but I think this follow the US school of thought, where therapy is just one session required for liability before you're sent to a psych who will prescribe a pill regimen on the very first session. unbelievable.

> therapy is more useful than drugs, even if drugs are needed eventually. Is it your opinion based on... ?

There is a growing body of research [1] that questions the usefulness of drugs for mental health. I personally know a case at a local hospital (in Europe) where a switch off meds and into therapy brought serious improvements in elderly patients.

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2582668/ , https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/are-antidep... , https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4592645/

Re: On Being a Science Writer and Managing a Mental Illness

#44

Post by taway_1212 »

rubyn00bie wrote: post #9
anon_christian wrote: post #5

Here's another story of someone suffering from mental illness who should seek God as many are now doing and being healed. I speak as a converted atheist, hedge fund employee, and contract software developer. Visit a baptist church. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

I think this is a scummy reply because it is purely written to exploit vulnerable people and provide them baseless hope. You do not say how, what, or why your religion has done to help you and you make a broad sweeping statement that some thing (a god) will magically solve mental illness. If anything this sort of crap will prolong suffering, and or exacerbate the problems associated with mental illness because it's n…

> Tangentially (off topic), I'd argue you were never truly an atheist if you could be "converted." There is no turning back, I won't one day believe in Santa Claus again.

Even more tangentially :), someone who does not believe in the existence of a god is an agnostic. An atheist is someone who believes that god does not exist (which is just as unproven as the opposite claim that god does exist).

Re: On Being a Science Writer and Managing a Mental Illness

#45

Post by wu-ikkyu »

mr_overalls wrote: post #38
vertex-four wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or, in other words, (at least some part of) the medical industry is driven by the neoliberal ideal that it's never anything else that's the problem, only yourself, and you're meant to deal with it with minimal impact on anyone around you? Work must never be an issue, or we might have to treat workers well. Society and societal structures must never be an issue, or we might have to care about each other on a more than…

Maybe individual people have this attitude, but it is certainly not a tenet of medical/psychological practice.

>>"we are all independent beings who are completely unaffected by external factors"

>Maybe individual people have this attitude, but it is certainly not a tenet of medical/psychological practice.

This is indeed evidenced by the big pharma "chemical imbalance" sales pitch, as it implies your brain is a self-enclosed system

Re: On Being a Science Writer and Managing a Mental Illness

#46

Post by ThrowawayP »

peteretep wrote: post #30
gcb0 wrote: post #3

reads like a medication pamphlet. therapy is more useful than drugs, even if drugs are needed eventually. but I think this follow the US school of thought, where therapy is just one session required for liability before you're sent to a psych who will prescribe a pill regimen on the very first session. unbelievable.

> reads like a medication pamphlet I did both. The therapy was of limited use. The pills were like a light switch that have simply turned off my mental illness with almost no side-effects.

> The pills were like a light switch that have simply turned off my mental illness with almost no side-effects.

That means that you're in the not particularly large fraction of people that the pills work well for. Good for you.

For the rest of us, well, the pills can be a hell of side-effects, tolerance, and rebound ... and that's if they have any primary positive effect at all.

Re: On Being a Science Writer and Managing a Mental Illness

#47

Post by peteretep »

ThrowawayP wrote: post #46
peteretep wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> reads like a medication pamphlet I did both. The therapy was of limited use. The pills were like a light switch that have simply turned off my mental illness with almost no side-effects.

> The pills were like a light switch that have simply turned off my mental illness with almost no side-effects. That means that you're in the not particularly large fraction of people that the pills work well for. Good for you. For the rest of us, well, the pills can be a hell of side-effects, tolerance, and rebound ... and that's if they have any primary positive effect at all.

    > not particularly large fraction
Citation?

Re: On Being a Science Writer and Managing a Mental Illness

#48

Post by gcb0 »

ThrowawayP wrote: post #46
peteretep wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> reads like a medication pamphlet I did both. The therapy was of limited use. The pills were like a light switch that have simply turned off my mental illness with almost no side-effects.

> The pills were like a light switch that have simply turned off my mental illness with almost no side-effects. That means that you're in the not particularly large fraction of people that the pills work well for. Good for you. For the rest of us, well, the pills can be a hell of side-effects, tolerance, and rebound ... and that's if they have any primary positive effect at all.

the pills does have lots of side effects. if they work on one aspect, they do work on others, because there is not a single pill on the market that can target one receptor only. absolutely no reseach, not even the ones very favourable to the drugs, show zero side effects. none. zero. targeting a single receptor with full confidence is the holy grail of big pharma.

what happens with your case, is that you do not care about side effects. or even welcome them. just like most depressed people in bad marriages welcome the lower sex drive, or stressed people at work welcome the drone like sleepless life. And you will not even know you are living like that until you go to a good therapist, which seem to be very rare in the US.

all that said, I sincerely whish you get well and eventually go without the meds. And I am happy you did seek out help. That's the rigth spirit. Just do not shrug off therapy. Do take the time to work with a few different ones during a year, even if you honestly believe the meds cured you 100%

Re: On Being a Science Writer and Managing a Mental Illness

#49

Post by gcb0 »

Noos wrote: post #25
gcb0 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

says the whole world. almost every european country requires you to do minimum hours of therapy before and to keep with therapy during the drug usage. to begin with, I could refer you to the study the article is about. it correlates a social setting with high occurrence of depression. then it proceeds to promote the solution with medication. when the obvious solution is changing the social setting! that is the defini…

But you can have the best social setting, and mental illness will still happen and still affect you dealing with things. Depression makes it just as hard to get out of bed on nice days as foul ones.

yes, but thats off topic to the article, which focus on a very specific region/profession/time.

Re: On Being a Science Writer and Managing a Mental Illness

#50

Post by peteretep »

gcb0 wrote: post #48
ThrowawayP wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The pills were like a light switch that have simply turned off my mental illness with almost no side-effects. That means that you're in the not particularly large fraction of people that the pills work well for. Good for you. For the rest of us, well, the pills can be a hell of side-effects, tolerance, and rebound ... and that's if they have any primary positive effect at all.

the pills does have lots of side effects. if they work on one aspect, they do work on others, because there is not a single pill on the market that can target one receptor only. absolutely no reseach, not even the ones very favourable to the drugs, show zero side effects. none. zero. targeting a single receptor with full confidence is the holy grail of big pharma. what happens with your case, is that you do not care…

    > what happens with your case
Thanks Dr Nick!
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