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Mental Wealth

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Re: Mental Wealth

#61

Post by thaumasiotes »

mfcl wrote: post #54
austincheney wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and then you lash out? As an Army guy with a family embarking on his fifth overseas deployment spontaneous bursts of rage are frowned upon. I don’t do that. I have gotten comfortable to sparse, tiny, lonely living conditions and learned to regulate my mental health according to the expectations at hand. > the progress just isn't quick enough I suspect the majority of people engaging in riots, and possibly the prote…

Of course the riots are just a symptom. And of course a lot of people of in those riots are not there for the cause. Would there be riots right now had Floyd not been killed? Have you even seen a riot started out of nothing? Just for fun? I doesn't change the original point that if a politician's first goal is to stop the riots, it's only to cover a symptom while the real problem is not fixed. And it's a matter of ti…

> Have you even seen a riot started out of nothing? Just for fun?

It's a pretty well-known phenomenon. You hold a sports riot when your team wins, not when it loses.

Re: Mental Wealth

#63

Post by Shacklz »

austincheney wrote: post #48
jordwest wrote: post #3

In this article the author covers a few areas to consider in managing mental health: Sleep, Diet, Exercise, Stress Management, Exogenous Compounds (from coffee to melatonin to Prozac, and anything in between) These are certainly important factors, and I think we need to look much more broadly at underlying factors than just these (or just drugs). I've been reading about mental health issues for years with my own ups…

> Politicians think that riots are the problem and if they stop the riots with force the problem goes away. But riots are just a symptom of a sick system. No the system and other systemic or social problems are just a excuse. Riots, at least those in recent events are an example of contagious social behavior. That is evidenced by the fact that the blamed issues have been known problems for longer than two weeks with…

> If other people are so passionate about these social problems that they are drawn to riot then where was this passion more than two weeks ago?

Might be that they were busy working/worrying about corona? Busy making a living? Being under circumstances that were already straining the limits, but not straining enough to actually riot?

Re: Mental Wealth

#64

Post by draw_down »

austincheney wrote: post #48
jordwest wrote: post #3

In this article the author covers a few areas to consider in managing mental health: Sleep, Diet, Exercise, Stress Management, Exogenous Compounds (from coffee to melatonin to Prozac, and anything in between) These are certainly important factors, and I think we need to look much more broadly at underlying factors than just these (or just drugs). I've been reading about mental health issues for years with my own ups…

> Politicians think that riots are the problem and if they stop the riots with force the problem goes away. But riots are just a symptom of a sick system. No the system and other systemic or social problems are just a excuse. Riots, at least those in recent events are an example of contagious social behavior. That is evidenced by the fact that the blamed issues have been known problems for longer than two weeks with…

Come on

Re: Mental Wealth

#65

Post by bondarchuk »

AlexanderZ wrote: post #49

I've been working on an app that allows me to send messages to my past and future selves, as well as posting today's thoughts (for reading by my future self). I had initially created it over a weekend as a fun side project, but it turned out to be a great tool for self reflection. An ios beta is coming out next week, fill out this form if you'd like to try it out: https://forms.gle/C9KebsV2u64Wqvc56

How do you manage to send messages to your past selves?

Re: Mental Wealth

#66

Post by CaptArmchair »

austincheney wrote: post #38
onion2k wrote: post #33

I find articles like this one where 100% of the onus for coping with mental health problems is put on the individual quite annoying. There's nothing in the article about getting help from other people, or how to cope with problems that you can't fix easily. It's kind of a toxic attitude because it makes others believe people with mental health issues just aren't trying hard enough and completely ignores individual ci…

Actually the article right at the beginning asks the reader not to equivocate mental health with mental illness and heath, or rather wholistic well-being, is actually almost entirely the proactive responsibility of the individual. The basic starting point is fitness which applies to mental health conditioning just as it does to physical exercise. To be fair to your point though the article does say we should shift ou…

I'm always wary of anyone leveraging concepts such as "investing in mental wealth" or "focussing on self improvement" in order to pander 5 bullet methodologies. Even more so when the author interjects a plug, both shameless as well as irrelevant, for their own book - Beyond Coffee - in their argument.

The fallacy hidden in the article is that each of us is completely in control over our physical and mental well-being. That your well being isn't an inevitability but a choice. If it's a choice, then this implies that making the right choices is 100% your own responsibility.

Sure, the author does raise a number of fair points about mental healthcare and how some good daily habits affect your own well being.

But then the author completely misses the mark in the conclusion.

No two human lives are the same. Everyone's experience is uniquely different and shaped by an infinite number of events and circumstances past, present and future. Most of which humans don't even get to control directly. The idea of controlling your life and the optimistic view that one is able to mould it towards an ideal stems in Modernistic tradition.

Human minds are doing poorly at self diagnosing, while it's very hard for others to spot the signs of mental health issues. Mental health is also deeply woven into the identity and the personality of individuals. Personal struggles are very much part of being an individual.

Rather then pandering "we should invest in our mental wealth" or even "we should go for a yearly mental health check up", start by sitting down and listening compassionately to those around you first, without offering any practical solutions. If someone lost a loved one, they don't want to hear "maybe you should see a therapist" right off the bat, they are addressing you directly, and they hope you're just willing to listen and acknowledging their pain and not much more.

If someone states they suffer depression, anxiety or PTSD, rather then arguing semantics, the more important questions to ask would be: Am I listening to this person, what are they trying to say and do I understand what they are saying?

Finally, statements that start with "we should..." without backing up their claim, tend to rustle my Jimmies. Who's this "we" anyway? And why am I being dragged into the argument from the outset?

Re: Mental Wealth

#67

Post by shadytrees »

Extrapolating personal health observations to a general population is one of the most annoying types of misinformation the internet tends to amplify. Use site:.gov on Google as a better source of medical advice, folks

Re: Mental Wealth

#68

Post by germinalphrase »

austincheney wrote: post #53
esotericn wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you ever, individually, faced a crisis? Reached a point at which - something you've been slowly working on for years - the progress just isn't quick enough, it feels hopeless, and then you lash out? Via anger, sadness, depression - whatever?

> and then you lash out? As an Army guy with a family embarking on his fifth overseas deployment spontaneous bursts of rage are frowned upon. I don’t do that. I have gotten comfortable to sparse, tiny, lonely living conditions and learned to regulate my mental health according to the expectations at hand. > the progress just isn't quick enough I suspect the majority of people engaging in riots, and possibly the prote…

Your mental framing is different than the average person.

Re: Mental Wealth

#69

Post by austincheney »

CaptArmchair wrote: post #66
austincheney wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually the article right at the beginning asks the reader not to equivocate mental health with mental illness and heath, or rather wholistic well-being, is actually almost entirely the proactive responsibility of the individual. The basic starting point is fitness which applies to mental health conditioning just as it does to physical exercise. To be fair to your point though the article does say we should shift ou…

I'm always wary of anyone leveraging concepts such as "investing in mental wealth" or "focussing on self improvement" in order to pander 5 bullet methodologies. Even more so when the author interjects a plug, both shameless as well as irrelevant, for their own book - Beyond Coffee - in their argument. The fallacy hidden in the article is that each of us is completely in control over our physical and mental well-being…

Nobody is contesting that uniquenesses apply to everyone. People should never self diagnose mental or physical ailments, but that also is not an excuse to ignore deliberate decisions to advance personal health.

> If someone lost a loved one, they don't want to hear "maybe you should see a therapist" right off the bat, they are addressing you directly, and they hope you're just willing to listen and acknowledging their pain and not much more.

While you directly address listening I think, more broadly, you mean to suggest active empathy. I fully agree and it’s a skill many people inadequately develop or practice.

Re: Mental Wealth

#70

Post by lordCarbonFiber »

qplex wrote: post #34
frequentnapper wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, that's what I meant. The article was blaming western medicine and the comparisons are often made between eastern and western medicine - western referring to the current mainstream approach.

The current mainstream approach of western medicine does not follow this - eg. there is little evidence that anti-depression drugs actually cure depression, and the side-effects are horrible. Yet the pharma industry profits greatly by selling snake oil that just makes people more sick.

[citation needed]
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