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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

#51

Post by jokoon »

vertex-four wrote: post #33
jokoon wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and then gaslights them into believing it's their fault for not coping with it. I don't understand why you say that. Are you saying therapy make people feel guilty of their own self?

No, society does that. Our society is, apparently, perfect, and if you have trouble living in it, it's your fault - says society. However, how we often approach mental healthcare - as something individualistic and separate from society - is one of the things that normalises it.

> is one of the things that normalises it.

Why ?

It depends, coping with the imperfection of society is also something to work on. Accepting its flaws lets you walk around it. Sometimes it's not the individual who is the problem, but it doesn't mean he should not accept how the society is flawed.

Mental healthcare and therapy have an individualistic approach because that's what they do, how else? To change society you would need politics, and that's another matter entirely.

I often say that mental illness doesn't really exist, because as long as we don't understand the brain there is no "normal" behavior. But as the same time you can't deny that society has its norms.

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

#52

Post by grasshopperpurp »

jokoon wrote: post #24
shubhamjain wrote: post #7

> For one thing, choosing writing as a way of making a living can nurture insecurity and doubt—especially for those, like myself, who are early in their careers. For me, at least, publishing a story is like handing in an exam essay, an invitation for strict judgment by both the intended audience and my peers. I think people in tech tend to underappreciate the benefits of being able to just do the job and enjoy a (com…

You can be creative for your own self, and not for others. You don't always need to show your creations. That removes the success anxiety. You should not try to be liked by others, it's very unproductive. Or at least it should not be your primary concern. Even if people say they don't like your creation, it doesn't matter as long as you like it. Nobody cares about your sleeping position, and if somebody criticizes it…

I agree with a lot of this, and I think it's helpful to remember that people perceive things differently. In much the same way that cilantro tastes like soap to some people, certain images, tropes, and turns of phrase will not resonate with some people - no matter their quality. If the work is of high quality, it will resonate with some people/some groups - in your lifetime, if you're fortunate.

Take your work seriously, but don't take your art seriously. Do the best you can, experiment, test your limits, but at the end of the day, have perspective. Even if you reach the highest level of your craft, you're still just you. If you spend time developing yourself, trust your instincts and creativity, and you're a brutal self-editor, you should put out work representative of where you're at as a person/artist. To my understanding, that's all you can do.

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

#53

Post by vertex-four »

jokoon wrote: post #51
vertex-four wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, society does that. Our society is, apparently, perfect, and if you have trouble living in it, it's your fault - says society. However, how we often approach mental healthcare - as something individualistic and separate from society - is one of the things that normalises it.

> is one of the things that normalises it. Why ? It depends, coping with the imperfection of society is also something to work on. Accepting its flaws lets you walk around it. Sometimes it's not the individual who is the problem, but it doesn't mean he should not accept how the society is flawed. Mental healthcare and therapy have an individualistic approach because that's what they do, how else? To change society yo…

> To change society you would need politics, and that's another matter entirely.

That's the point - it's not another matter entirely. If society is damaging people's mental health, it's entirely unethical to look the other way and pretend it's each individual's problem. If mental healthcare professionals want to ensure the wellbeing of their patients, they need to be fighting alongside us for widespread societal change, and they need to fight against the myth of poor mental health being an individual anomaly.

But getting to that point requires an understanding that mental health isn't individualistic in the first place, which is not what we're told, and it's not what our doctors are taught. What we have right now is, a lot of the time, treating symptoms and providing coping mechanisms instead of treating the causes. Imagine a doctor did that with a broken leg - refused to touch it, but instead provided you painkillers and explained how to plan routes around the city with lots of seats you can sit in when the pain gets too much.

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

#55

Post by [deleted] »

throwanem wrote: post #20
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."

Brother, you disappoint me. This doesn't help anyone. Helping does. We can't always find a way to do that for someone. But we can trust that God will. And when we focus on what God has done for us, we all too easily ignore the inspiration God sends us at those times when there is something worthwhile we can do.

[deleted]

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

#56

Post by hithereagain »

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…

>The suggestion that there are other kinds of valid thinking besides scientific thinking is way off.

That's a very religious attitude you have about the scientific method. ;-)

Might we say that, based on our tests so far, the scientific method has produced reasonable results for explaining shared reality? (Defining truth is a different matter entirely.)

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

#57

Post by tnzn »

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…

So you're saying your comment isn't valid thinking?

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

#58

Post by tnzn »

vertex-four wrote: post #19
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…

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…

Much like being in a kind of depressive state from time to time is now considered depression because you need to be at 100% productive all the time.

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

#59

Post by tnzn »

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…

"no true scottsman" fallacy lol. Life experiences can change people deeply... That's a pretty religious way of seeing atheism you have here. Not to mention the analogy between religion and santa claus belief not only suggests contempt but is very cheap. Religion is much more than the belief in a supernatural being. And that's coming from and agnostic person.

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

#60

Post by akvadrako »

tnzn wrote: post #57
akvadrako wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

So you're saying your comment isn't valid thinking?

My comment would fall under the hypothesis generation step of the scientific method, just like the article.

It may or may not be proper thinking - without executing the remaining steps to test a theory, we can't know.

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