I strongly feel there is a link between modern foods and our gut/brain axis that is causing a lot of this.
You may be interested in watching Robert Lustig's lectures.
A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression
81–90 of 469 posts
Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm confused by the downvotes on this. The comment is quoting CDC numbers, this is not some fake news report. The 0.4% mortality for coronavirus is the CDC best estimate. The 0.2% is from the CDC website for the 2017 flu season. Edit: The parent comment has apparently been flag removed. But it was claiming that the reaction to coronavirus (lockdown) is worse than the damage from the virus, and used the above comparis…
Nearly 100,000 people have died of COVID19 and there’s good evidence that this is a substantial undercount. All this in a context where we shut down transmission vectors (being indoors, with lots of people). Most estimates I’ve seen suggest we’ll hit 150k-200k deaths by end of year. 2017-2018 flu season killed about 80,000 with no mitigation efforts. Just on the face of it, this virus is far more than 2x deadlier tha…
People are finding it impossible to discuss this rationally. If you try to disagree with the seriousness of this and even insinuate that the response is incorrect you are demonized even if you back it up with data.
The data from Sweden and regions opening up their economies are starting to show that there are is no exponential explosion of coronavirus cases like predicted, no hospitals are being overwhelmed.
The data is starting to show and will continue to show as time marches... that quarantine was potentially ineffective, the fatality rate was extremely inflated, and flattening the curve was potentially a mistaken theory.
Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression
#83I've dealt with depression and anxiety for many years. I just want to tell anyone who happens to read this: it's ok to ask for help, it's ok to go to therapy, it's ok to use antidepressants. Find the tools that work for you and keep asking for help when you need it. (Believe me, I know how hard it is.)
I want to emphasize especially that it's okay to take medication. It's not "cheating", you're not going to get graded at the end on how you beat the depressive episode. They're far from perfect and you may have to try multiple times to find one that's working for you. I know how uncomfortable it can be to get off of SSRIs (brain zaps aren't fun at all!), but imho even considering them as part of the package, it still…
But keep in mind antidepressants aren't a panacea and can even make things worse. My girlfriend has tried medication like antidepressants and anti conception, but basically anything that changes her brain chemistry sent her spiraling down even more.
Turns out she has ADHD and that class of medication is much better at stabilizing her mood.
Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression
#84Probably correlates very closely with the increase in hysterical media and news reporting.
Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression
#85I've dealt with depression and anxiety for many years. I just want to tell anyone who happens to read this: it's ok to ask for help, it's ok to go to therapy, it's ok to use antidepressants. Find the tools that work for you and keep asking for help when you need it. (Believe me, I know how hard it is.)
Isn't antidepressants in America one of the reasons of the opioid crisis...?
I’ve read extensively on the opioid crisis and antidepressants don’t even make the top 10 in causes.
Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
> What would the numbers look like without mitigations? Look at Sweden, you'll find that their very light measures are not worse than the very late but much stronger measures of harder hit areas.
If you compare Sweden to the other Scandinavian countries (which is the most suitable comparison considering population distribution and habits) the light measures actually seem to have resulted in a much higher prevalence. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-14/sweden-co...
If you compare Sweden to other countries with full and absolute total lockdowns like Belgium the UK and Spain and Italy....they actually have lower incidences of infections fatalities and higher incidences of recoveries.
Sweden is the control group in all of this for how effective lockdowns are and it's showing that they're potentially not as effective as we think they are.
Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you compare Sweden to the other Scandinavian countries (which is the most suitable comparison considering population distribution and habits) the light measures actually seem to have resulted in a much higher prevalence. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-14/sweden-co...
Yes, but not catastrophic prevalence. The question was whether not locking down things like schools would result in much higher deaths than we currently see in for example England or New York. The answer is no, not necessarily.
In Sweden a lot of people were self-isolating and being cautious without the need of a formal lockdown. They still have the most deaths per capita in Europe.
Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression
#88The nation's been psychologically wrong-footed during an election year where the incumbent is the most controversial president in decades (one who's been impeached, even), the challenging party's primary process has been subjected to accusations of corruption and favoritism (at best) by the presumed nominee's opposition, and been riddled with suspicious errors. That alone would be a memorable storm and a half for our…
America has a profound ability to diagnose individual problems, and an active inability to diagnose social problems. The American psychological industry cannot be let off the hook. DSM-5 is a handbook for how to blame society’s failures on individuals. We need scientific doctors capable of considering not only the realities they are allowed to accept but also the realities of the actually existing world in which thei…
>The American psychological industry cannot be let off the hook. DSM-5 is a handbook for how to blame society’s failures on individuals.
Ironically, you are blaming the DSM the same way you seem to think the DSM 'blames' individuals.
Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression
#89I've dealt with depression and anxiety for many years. I just want to tell anyone who happens to read this: it's ok to ask for help, it's ok to go to therapy, it's ok to use antidepressants. Find the tools that work for you and keep asking for help when you need it. (Believe me, I know how hard it is.)
I want to emphasize especially that it's okay to take medication. It's not "cheating", you're not going to get graded at the end on how you beat the depressive episode. They're far from perfect and you may have to try multiple times to find one that's working for you. I know how uncomfortable it can be to get off of SSRIs (brain zaps aren't fun at all!), but imho even considering them as part of the package, it still…
I would be very hesitant to recommend someone experiencing depression or anxiety as a result of our current state of affairs to seek pharmaceutical medications. Certainly, there is no shame in it. Indeed, I'd actively support the pursuit of medication for anyone experiencing persistent suicidal ideations, have become psychologically incapable of performing day-to-day activities still required of them, or have begun abusing more harmful substances in their stead.
That said, some time ago, I was listening to the BBC's today show, and I recall being profoundly disturbed when they aired a piece about the NHS either recommending or considering a recommendation for the prescription of antidepressants to people having trouble coping with the trajectory of their society (I wish I could provide a citation, but it was a live broadcast).
For many, COVID has sapped what little vitality and opportunities they had for joy left in their lives from their lives. Their purpose, perhaps defined by a job they can no longer perform, or their hobbies contingent upon meeting with others. Maybe they're just terrified they won't be able to feed or house their families in a month or even a year's time.
This is a shitty situation, and people quite rightfully should feel shitty about it. Indeed, many of in the lower classes should be outright livid that they have to bear the brunt of not only the disease but the externalities of society's response to it.
We seem to have collectively forgotten that negative feeling have value. Anger, sadness, and loneliness are as equally valid and important signalling mechanisms as joy, content, and love.
If you're living through hard times, it's natural to exhibit symptoms of depression for a week, a month, or two. It's a not just natural, it's desirable, because it tells you that something's in the world's gone profoundly wrong. It's not easy, and as anyone who's lived a hard live, or found ways deal with moderate or intermittent depression (without drugs) will tell you, it takes time to develop resiliency and coping mechanisms to deal with that.
I'll reiterate:
There's no shame in seeking out medical help if you truly can't cope with how things are, or are losing yourself and your desire to live.
But I think it's important to think deeply on it before you take that step.
Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sidebar, but I simply cannot figure out how the CDC estimates flu mortality. I've spent about an hour trying to find the info, and gave up. I was able to figure out how they estimate flu deaths: they take the officially diagnosed deaths, and the multiply it by a factor based on presumed deaths. For example, they assume some % of pneumonia deaths are cause by the flu. But I simply cannot figure out how they estimate t…
Doesn't this page answer all those questions? https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/how-cdc-estimates.htm
No! I dug through that page and the cited papers, and it absolutely does not have any of the answers to those questions.
If you find the answers on that page, I'd love to read them.
For example, they say:
> The numbers of influenza illnesses were estimated from hospitalizations based on how many illnesses there are for every hospitalization, which was measured previously (5).
Ok... "estimated from hospitalizations"? What does that mean? How are you deriving that estimate? If you read the study linked, they say this:
> Multipliers were calculated as the simple inverses of the proportions at each step. We accounted for variability and uncertainty in model parameters by using a probabilistic (Monte Carlo) approach
Ok... so it's a Monte Carlo simulation? What does that even mean in this context?
Compare this to the Coronavirus IFR estimates. They are easy to understand. They test random samples of people in a population for antibodies, and use that to estimate the spread of the virus.