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It is time for more holistic practices in mental health

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Re: It is time for more holistic practices in mental health

#11

Post by s1artibartfast »

epicureanideal wrote: post #5
MattGaiser wrote: post #2

This push almost seems for want of knowledge. They were preaching the same about obesity for years, which achieved absolutely nothing, and then GLP-1s came along. Turns out that yes, there is indeed a hormone which can reliably be increased to cause weight loss.

Sure would be great if they’d find one for muscle mass that wasn’t dangerous or otherwise harmful. And of course, one for mental health. The three put together would make a very interesting society. Add nootropics to the mix and it gets even more interesting.

they all already exist. Especially the drugs for muscle mass, which are safe and very well characterized.

Re: It is time for more holistic practices in mental health

#12

Post by xlii »

I agree, but on the other hand I don’t think anyone can do anything.

I have a stake in treating ADHD but it’s difficult to even describe what ADHD is to a layperson. Describing the needs is almost impossible as different people have different needs and they often don’t align.

What I’m sure of, though, is that “today” is very hostile to mental health. Some people have been focusing on microplastics, impact of drugs, unhealthy food etc, but it seems that everyone are oblivious to impact of health on the mental health.

We're overworked, stressed, always improving, forced into activities we don’t enjoy (I’ve heard a term “fit-terrorism” to which I don’t agree but seemingly it exists in some circles; there’s ultra parenthood notion etc.), fed with bullshit coming from social networks, and convinced by talking heads that we are in wrongs and should be doing their rights.

It’s tough and it’s damaging all of us.

Re: It is time for more holistic practices in mental health

#13

Post by bruce511 »

yareal wrote: post #7

I appreciate this. Suggesting that mental health is "just" a chemical imbalance is maybe addressing a very complicated system with a narrow fix. That said, I'm likely biased to be predisposed to believe that mental health is a complex system based on other beliefs I hold or experiences I have (e.g. having suffered depression myself, having experienced homelessness, believing in the theory of alienation.) But also, I…

I concur.

Perhaps "mental health" is such a broad diagnosis that talking about remedies for "mental health" may be unhelpful. The remedies for a paranoid schizophrenic may be very different to depression which may be very different to say ADHD.

Treating as a disease with a chemical cure does in part remove some of the stigma. But it's really only helpful if it addresses the root cause of the problem.

Much of the root of "modern" mental health is "feeling good" as in "I had to step back to protect my mental health" and that's more a social, and view-of-self issue that's best addressed with therapy.

So perhaps the categorization of "mental health" is as varied as "physical health" and we can accept that no one solution is going to fix everything.

Re: It is time for more holistic practices in mental health

#14

Post by jl6 »

It does seem sort of obvious that many mental health conditions are tied up in a person’s wider life and lifestyle, not just in brain chemistry. But is this really a revolution in our understanding? Hasn’t psychiatry always taken a broad view of potential causes? People sitting on a couch talking about what’s going on in their lives and somehow being helped by conversing with the psychiatrist?

Or is this about non-psychiatrist doctors rushing people onto drugs instead of referring them to psychiatric treatment?

Re: It is time for more holistic practices in mental health

#15

Post by ungamedplayer »

xlii wrote: post #12

I agree, but on the other hand I don’t think anyone can do anything. I have a stake in treating ADHD but it’s difficult to even describe what ADHD is to a layperson. Describing the needs is almost impossible as different people have different needs and they often don’t align. What I’m sure of, though, is that “today” is very hostile to mental health. Some people have been focusing on microplastics, impact of drugs, u…

I sometimes am tempted to do the math to determine what kind of life we would have if we did everything we were supposed to do.

Re: It is time for more holistic practices in mental health

#16

Post by vasco »

ungamedplayer wrote: post #15
xlii wrote: post #12

I agree, but on the other hand I don’t think anyone can do anything. I have a stake in treating ADHD but it’s difficult to even describe what ADHD is to a layperson. Describing the needs is almost impossible as different people have different needs and they often don’t align. What I’m sure of, though, is that “today” is very hostile to mental health. Some people have been focusing on microplastics, impact of drugs, u…

I sometimes am tempted to do the math to determine what kind of life we would have if we did everything we were supposed to do.

If you believe in determinism you already are doing everything you were supposed to.

Re: It is time for more holistic practices in mental health

#17

Post by aljgz »

It is incredible how bad we are, at the end of the first quarter of 21st century, at having a well planned and executed strategy to improve mental health of people.

Compare it to physical health. For instance, everyone is advised to take regular tests (like blood tests). While things can still be improved a lot, this simple proactive measure helps detect many health problems before they cause serious damage.

For mental health, we don't do anything until the person is fed up with their struggles and maybe asks for professional help. Even then, in most cases we do not start with a "Triage" process. It took me a long time to even realize that there should be a mental health questionnaire, and ask my psychologist for it. We leave individuals to learn about mental health and take care of it, while there is not even a clear starting point for anyone who wants to learn.

Mental health problems, like viral infections, can be contagious. Unlike viral infections, one person with one mental health issue infects others with different types of mental health issues than the one they have. It is incredible how much happiness/productivity/economic value is lost to mental health issues that are manageable with our current knowledge.

If our collective goal for the society is to maximize a measure of overall happiness (which I think is a really decent goal), we need to have a better plan. Maybe advances in AI can bring proactive mental health monitoring to more people.

Re: It is time for more holistic practices in mental health

#18

Post by biorach »

jl6 wrote: post #14

It does seem sort of obvious that many mental health conditions are tied up in a person’s wider life and lifestyle, not just in brain chemistry. But is this really a revolution in our understanding? Hasn’t psychiatry always taken a broad view of potential causes? People sitting on a couch talking about what’s going on in their lives and somehow being helped by conversing with the psychiatrist? Or is this about non-ps…

You're confusing psychiatry, which is a branch of medicine, with psychoanalysis. This article is about the former.

Psychiatry has become heavily focused on prescribing drugs for diagnoses based on the DSM, where only the presenting symptoms are taken into account and interaction with the patient after the initial diagnosis is minimal.

Re: It is time for more holistic practices in mental health

#19

Post by vasco »

bruce511 wrote: post #13
yareal wrote: post #7

I appreciate this. Suggesting that mental health is "just" a chemical imbalance is maybe addressing a very complicated system with a narrow fix. That said, I'm likely biased to be predisposed to believe that mental health is a complex system based on other beliefs I hold or experiences I have (e.g. having suffered depression myself, having experienced homelessness, believing in the theory of alienation.) But also, I…

I concur. Perhaps "mental health" is such a broad diagnosis that talking about remedies for "mental health" may be unhelpful. The remedies for a paranoid schizophrenic may be very different to depression which may be very different to say ADHD. Treating as a disease with a chemical cure does in part remove some of the stigma. But it's really only helpful if it addresses the root cause of the problem. Much of the root…

ADHD isn't even a good diagnosis. We throw these words as if we know what the disease even is and all we need is to figure out the cure, when these diseases have dozens of variations "my ADHD is more like this", the definitions of the disease and classification change all the time. ADHD when I was a kid is very different from ADHD today.

So to me the article shouldn't even be "we need to take a wider approach to the cures", it should be "we don't know jack shit about mental health and need way more research".

Re: It is time for more holistic practices in mental health

#20

Post by jahewson »

aljgz wrote: post #17

It is incredible how bad we are, at the end of the first quarter of 21st century, at having a well planned and executed strategy to improve mental health of people. Compare it to physical health. For instance, everyone is advised to take regular tests (like blood tests). While things can still be improved a lot, this simple proactive measure helps detect many health problems before they cause serious damage. For ment…

A worthy goal We’re not even close to that, though. The various depression questionnaires used in research haven’t been updated in decades and the questions on them have little overlap.

A long way to go.

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