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A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

washingtonpost.com

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Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#461

Post by catsdanxe »

aszantu wrote: post #169

As a person with a history of depression and social anxiety I really do feel calmer since the crisis started, as if my state of mind was made for this kind of life. Less people on the streets, it's quieter, no one breathing down my neck in the supermarket, home office, no expectations on how to pick my clothes, how to behave, no trying to hide the weird stuff I eat (carnivore, high meat, raw, cooked and aged whatever…

I am the opposite. My depression and anxiety has gotten worse since I have been stuck working from home. The social interaction I got at work has been significantly reduced.

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#462

Post by Gibbon1 »

pathseeker wrote: post #460
Gibbon1 wrote: post #453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Again, this doesn't apply to a huge portion of the US population because they have health insurance. Let me guess you've never had to use yours for anything major.

I have. Procedure totaling about $90k. HDHP covered everything after the first $4k. HSA that company contributes to covered the first $4k. My expense = $0. Instead of talking about anecdotes or making lame personal accusations, just look at the data: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2690297/

> Instead of talking about anecdotes or making lame personal accusations

You are then fully aware that you are covered by a gold plated healthcare plan and your experience is utterly atypical.

HN guideline prohibit me from saying what I think about people like you.

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#463

Post by pstuart »

ramblerman wrote: post #456
pstuart wrote: post #396

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand what you're saying and I would if I could (and I try). But my understanding of things is that shit's gonna get a lot worse. If it was just me I'd say fuck it, party and watch the world burn. But I have kids, and I don't want to go down without a fight.

Get worse how? apart from the pandemic, what has fundamentally changed in the US that is so bad. The world will go on, and yes maybe the balance is a bit more on the right, but the pendulum swings on. The partisanship is just a way to keep you tuned in to the news, it's a farce, there is not that much difference between democrat and republican. So the real question is, would you like to pass on this kind of anxiety t…

Get worse? I believe that global warming is going to come at a faster clip than predicted. I'm still naive/hopeful enough that if the world collectively worked to remediate it we could get through ok.

I don't see that happening until shit hits the fan and its effectively way too late.

Couple that with the political landscape that indicates this election is going to be a shit show and if Trump is properly voted out will not leave office. Instead his plan is to light the fuse for Civil War II.

If you think I'm Chicken Little crying that the sky is falling, then that tells as much about you as it does about me.

As for you judging my parenting: I've been very guarded about these worries around my children. That said, my teen age daughter has insisted that she will never have kids. It was only a couple of months ago that she confided that it was because she didn't think she'd live long enough to do that.

Bear in mind that this teenager, being a teenager, pays as little attention to what I say as possible and this realization was entirely her own.

So there you go, Mr. Happy Go Lucky Ramblerman, who just thinks wishing things away will make it all better. It won't.

It's my duty as a citizen and a father to pay attention and do whatever I can to speak up or act whenever I can. I don't do this often enough or well enough, but I will continue to try.

So again, thanks for telling me how to parent. I look forward to you accepting the favor in return.

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#464

Post by pstuart »

whiddershins wrote: post #429
pstuart wrote: post #379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm always welcome to new input, but the two cases I cited have compelling facts behind them. Being that I'm not thrilled to carry these notions, I'd be more than happy to have my mind "changed". Go for it: change my mind. I'm not spoiling for a fight -- I genuinely don't like being "wrong."

I am not in the mind changing business, and I say that from humility. I wish I was, but I’m just not that great at it. My life has gotten a million times better from listening to and reading stuff specifically from Scott Adams, and Jordan Peterson. Adams for reshaping the reality tunnel and Peterson for getting me to focus on what I can control. For what you’re saying, Scott Adams kinda saved my sanity. After the 201…

Thank you for your thoughtful words. I recognize that you are well intended and I'm going to try to politely disagree.

Scott Adams lost my respect the moment he became a Trump supporter. For all of Trump's supporters I could still give a pass for the initial excitement of "stirring shit up", but I remain, quite frankly, stunned that anybody with any intelligence could support the man today.

Jordan Peterson seems to be popular because he promotes "the good old days" mentality. I understand the appeal (from afar), but it's more patriarchal claptrap from where I stand. He had a huge test of character when it came out that he was a drug addict, and all I'm aware of is deflection and finger-pointing, e.g., his daughter's statement that doctors in the West didn't have "the guts" to medically detox her father. If I'm omitting anything key there, please let me know as I'm only interested in being "right" in that I'm not operating on faulty data.

In my view, modern conservatism is dead and has been replaced by a literal cult (Trumpism), and in being anti-libtard.

Even though I am a "liberal" I could spend hours pointing out the failure and flaws of those ostensibly represent it. For example, I think Hillary Clinton wanted to be president solely for the achievement. She is a war-hawk and a corporatist, and that her politics are of the "finger in the wind" and not of true passion for change.

That said, she's also incredibly intelligent, accomplished, and experienced and was without a doubt the most qualified candidate to to hold the office when she ran in 2016. She also had a literal industry of hate mongers that demonized her for years. My elderly step-mother loathed the women but could only explain so by repeating Fox News talking points, e.g., "she gets expensive haircuts!"

So here I am again, dancing on the edge of admonishment from @dang for being political in a forum that discourages it. My defense is that I am not a partisan and these discussions are made in good faith.

The concerns I've raised have been heavily politicized, but I consider them to be germane to the fate of humanity and my goal is a (perhaps futile) attempt to reach some sort of consensus.

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#465

Post by conistonwater »

legacynl wrote: post #457
conistonwater wrote: post #455

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This doesn't address in any way the point being made about false positives leading to overly high estimates of prevalence in the general population, whereas nullc's comment is probably quite close to explaining the issue.

> This doesn't address in any way the point being made about false positives leading to overly high estimates of prevalence in the general population It does if you are aware of the fact that these tests are never used on its own to diagnose depression/anxiety. The GP or psychologist determines if the client exhibits symptoms of depression, and THEN performs the test, often in combination with other tests that test s…

I'm not sure what you're replying to, I made that exact point upthread and was responding to the disagreement that followed.

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#466

Post by [deleted] »

pstuart wrote: post #464
whiddershins wrote: post #429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not in the mind changing business, and I say that from humility. I wish I was, but I’m just not that great at it. My life has gotten a million times better from listening to and reading stuff specifically from Scott Adams, and Jordan Peterson. Adams for reshaping the reality tunnel and Peterson for getting me to focus on what I can control. For what you’re saying, Scott Adams kinda saved my sanity. After the 201…

Thank you for your thoughtful words. I recognize that you are well intended and I'm going to try to politely disagree. Scott Adams lost my respect the moment he became a Trump supporter. For all of Trump's supporters I could still give a pass for the initial excitement of "stirring shit up", but I remain, quite frankly, stunned that anybody with any intelligence could support the man today. Jordan Peterson seems to b…

[deleted]

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#467

Post by oigursh »

renewiltord wrote: post #256
andai wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think I'm normal, and everyone else tells me I'm weird :)

Haha, but is it the case that maybe those people (or perhaps even everyone) tell everyone else at some point that they're weird? i.e. one problem with this is that if someone calls lots of people weird, their calling you weird isn't significant. And I'm certain everyone has been called 'weird' at some point in their lives, so merely having been called weird is insufficient to actually be weird.

The only normal people are the ones you don't know very well!

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#468

Post by whiddershins »

pstuart wrote: post #464
whiddershins wrote: post #429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not in the mind changing business, and I say that from humility. I wish I was, but I’m just not that great at it. My life has gotten a million times better from listening to and reading stuff specifically from Scott Adams, and Jordan Peterson. Adams for reshaping the reality tunnel and Peterson for getting me to focus on what I can control. For what you’re saying, Scott Adams kinda saved my sanity. After the 201…

Thank you for your thoughtful words. I recognize that you are well intended and I'm going to try to politely disagree. Scott Adams lost my respect the moment he became a Trump supporter. For all of Trump's supporters I could still give a pass for the initial excitement of "stirring shit up", but I remain, quite frankly, stunned that anybody with any intelligence could support the man today. Jordan Peterson seems to b…

I feel like what you are writing (in this comment and others in this thread) is an indicator that you firmly believe that it isn’t your beliefs that cause your mental state, but rather, objective facts do.

The thing is, frameworks from stoicism to Buddhism to cognitive behavior therapy to Timothy Leary to Sam Harris to Viktor Frankl etc etc etc invite us to reconsider that position.

Mental states are in a certain important sense entirely self created.

Knowing that doesn’t mean we can will ourselves to be happy, but does open the door to finding out how we can productively ‘hack’ our mental state.

The facts you name aren’t the important point. It is the fact of you naming them that seem to indicate you are very committed to a certain reality tunnel.

Even if that reality tunnel is making you unhappy. Which is your right, maybe it serves you in some other important way.

But it’s not a position from which you could ever be convinced of anything, at least, I have no idea how.

Because I’m not disputing, and wouldn’t want to be in the position of, disputing any of those facts. Yet I still live in a very different reality tunnel.

Not sure how to communicate that better.

I don’t think altering your reality tunnel in regards to this stuff would make the stuff somehow more of a danger to you or everyone on the planet. It would just change your emotional experience and potential effectiveness in addressing the problems. For better or worse, depending on the tunnel shift.

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#469

Post by pathseeker »

Gibbon1 wrote: post #462
pathseeker wrote: post #460

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have. Procedure totaling about $90k. HDHP covered everything after the first $4k. HSA that company contributes to covered the first $4k. My expense = $0. Instead of talking about anecdotes or making lame personal accusations, just look at the data: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2690297/

> Instead of talking about anecdotes or making lame personal accusations You are then fully aware that you are covered by a gold plated healthcare plan and your experience is utterly atypical. HN guideline prohibit me from saying what I think about people like you.

>You are then fully aware that you are covered by a gold plated healthcare

My healthcare plan is not gold plated. It's trivial to find a HDCP on the open healthcare exchange with the same $4k deductible. The only atypical thing was that my employer covered the $4k HSA deposit, but paying that $4k does not lead to financial ruin for the vast majority of the middle class.

>and your experience is utterly atypical.

Did you even read the survey I sent you? I think your view has been heavily tainted by political arguments about healthcare, which focus on the minority it doesn't work for. Again, the reason healthcare is so hard to change in the US is because it works for the majority of the population.

>HN guideline prohibit me from saying what I think about people like you.

Consider why you are so emotionally charged about the topic and take a step back. Is there something that deeply upsets you about healthcare not being a failure for more than half of the population?

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