Let’s avoid talk of ‘chemical imbalance’: it’s people in distress
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Re: Let’s avoid talk of ‘chemical imbalance’: it’s people in distress
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Re: Let’s avoid talk of ‘chemical imbalance’: it’s people in distress
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Re: Let’s avoid talk of ‘chemical imbalance’: it’s people in distress
#4Rampant inequality ruins everyone's mental health, but not equally and now it's a weird status symbol.
- homeless crazy, bad
- Some anxiety type A hustler, good
- And now: a little depression + access to healthcare "it's just bug", neutral
Re: Let’s avoid talk of ‘chemical imbalance’: it’s people in distress
#5>She told me she welcomed the diagnosis of a neurobiological disorder, which confirmed her problem was ‘real’ – brought on by a physiological force external to her volition – and that it showed she’s not ‘just a slacker’.
That is such an arbitrary distinction. As if being "just a slacker" doesn't have a number of deeper reasons behind it as well. Brains are just machines at the end of the day, every behavior is a result of something material...
Re: Let’s avoid talk of ‘chemical imbalance’: it’s people in distress
#6> to defeat this othering and reduce stigma, clinical practice needs to move away from biogenetic causal language
This is a pretty big assertion that the piece casually drops without backing. The reasoning as to why "chemical imbalance" is a bad descriptor is apparent* from the study [0] the author cites, but there is nothing that backs up this statement, which seems to be the crux of the whole piece.
*Even the study cited about placebo affects on depression doesn't _really_ prove the author's point that "chemical imbalance" is a bad term, it just proves that we do not yet understand the processes by which drugs treat depression. If we do not understand the processes, how can the author make the assertion that the characterization they are against is wrong? At most, they could claim "we don't know yet" but certainly not that "chemical imbalance" is categorically false.
[0]: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.0040...
Re: Let’s avoid talk of ‘chemical imbalance’: it’s people in distress
#7Magnesium is used by the body to cope with stress.
I've noticed in the past, that when I've been under a ton of stress, I drink coffee, soda, ruminate a ton, and things get worse, much worse.
I've started taking magnesium l-threonate the past few months and it's literally made me a better person. Thoughts come and go. The rumination, the "voices" are much less.
One scoop, three times a day during stressful periods (166mg of elemental magnesium).
The only other solution that's had this profound of an affect on me was Lexapro, but it had too many side effects.
I've done years of therapy but nothing ever seemed to stick. But the l-threonate, the diminished anxiety, those affects seem to stick. Better than any therapy session I've had.
I'll give this much more time to see how it plays out. But I have had the thought wondering if my mental anxiousness and depression all of these years was just a mineral deficiency.
Not that I wouldn't have gotten really sad or ruminated, but that it didn't have to be so bad. I was stressed. I needed lots of magnesium. I definitely was not getting it.
Re: Let’s avoid talk of ‘chemical imbalance’: it’s people in distress
#8This is a beautifully written article with devastating implications. I have no idea if it’s correct.
My summary: psychiatrists have been orchestrating a campaign of disinformation aimed to remove the stigma of mental illness from our culture, but it appears they may have made the stigma worse.
Re: Let’s avoid talk of ‘chemical imbalance’: it’s people in distress
#9Anyone who speaks of psychological issues with absolute conviction is wrong. Psychological processes and coping mechanisms are affected by hormones, neurochemicals, and lifestyle. Hormones, neurochemicals, and lifestyle are affected by psychological processes and coping mechanisms.
While drugs aren't a panacea, they can help many with fixing psychological processes that are messed up.
Re: Let’s avoid talk of ‘chemical imbalance’: it’s people in distress
#10I miss the term neurosis. It seems like we're taking another step on Pinker's Euphemism Treadmill.