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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

#31

Post by llm_trw »

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…

>What I’m sure of, though, is that “today” is very hostile to mental health.

And yet the more effort we put into mental health the worse it gets.

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

#32

Post by mjbeswick »

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.

You don't need drugs to grown muscle, just an active lifestyle; which is also highly beneficial to mental health. Many of peoples physical and mental problems are a result of their sedentary lifestyle.

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

#33

Post by PartiallyTyped »

vasco wrote: post #16
ungamedplayer wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> supposed to

That assumes there’s intention and that we are “guided”.

I think we just are.

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

#34

Post by red1reaper »

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…

If I had to describe ADHD to a layperson so they can understand what means to have ADHD... I would describe as to having something in your brain that you don't control that is always conspiring to get you to do nothing, if it fails to have you doing anything but what you want/should be doing; Wherever this is accomplished by making you forget, distracting you, robbing your willpower, making it hard to concentrate, making other things seem more appealing, hyperfocusing you in any random stuff, etc. Doesn't matter to the conspirator as long as they get you to waste time against your will, even when you want to waste time doing something you like, the conspirator will get you to waste time another way, for they are just a prick.

Of course there is no conspirator and I am just personifiying symptoms but that is about it what means to have ADHD on a practical levelm explained in words everyone can understand. There can be other symptoms that are not related to this like forgetting about contacting people you care about or the need to have something in your hands to fidget or not being able to remain sitted but those are secondary and very dependant on the person, the most debilitating aspect that almost every ADHD person has, just manifested slightly different, is that of stopping you from doing what you want/must do, worst is that some of that stuff you can willpower over it, but some you can't, willpower does naught when your brain makes you to temporarily forget that you were doing or you have to do a thing.

Worse stuff is that a lot of individual symptoms of ADHD are things that "happen" to everybody so they judge from their own experiences which is not fair as it is not the same when a non-ADHD person gets distracted or forgets things as when it happens to an ADHD person. Those comparations is like comparing a scratch to a wound that is spilling your guts, one you can shrug off, the other you can't.

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

#35

Post by TeMPOraL »

jimkleiber wrote: post #23
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…

I think most cultures have beliefs/norms for the suppression of emotion that influence our health more than we may realize. If we want to optimize for happiness, how do we do so without feeling sadness? Or fear? Anger? If I feel very happy with something, I will probably feel very sad if it is gone, afraid it will leave, angry if it gets taken away. So I think more than physical health, there are hidden cultural forc…

Maybe it's the opposite though? The past century in the west was an age of relinquishing many of the "hidden cultural forces", including in particular "beliefs/norms for the suppression of emotion". Are we better off for it? Could it be the case that those older cultures had some of this stuff figured out right, or at least better than we have today.

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

#36

Post by gravescale »

logifail wrote: post #21
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…

> 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. Q: How many people actually take regular blood tests?

In the UK, only people on certain treatments or under non-interventional observation that require it or private patients.

Regular blood tests for normal children and adults (other than the elderly perhaps?) on a purely speculative basis are not a thing.

Edit: actually you do get a 5-yearly test after the age of 40 until 65, my mistake. This incudes a finger-prick cholesterol and blood sugar test and may incude a "real" blood test if thought necessary.

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

#37

Post by Aeolun »

logifail wrote: post #21
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…

> 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. Q: How many people actually take regular blood tests?

Nearly every working person in Japan. It’s mandated by law to get a yearly checkup from your employer, and family is covered too if they don’t have their own.

Part of the (quite extensive) checkup is a blood test.

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

#38

Post by vasco »

PartiallyTyped wrote: post #33
vasco wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

> supposed to That assumes there’s intention and that we are “guided”. I think we just are.

You're adding that in. If I drop a ball it's supposed to fall, it doesn't mean gravity guided it.

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

#39

Post by nonrandomstring »

can16358p wrote: post #25

I strongly believe we don't have "mental health problems", yet we have a global style of living in "modern society" that is inherently incompatible with the way we evolved: e.g. office-based daily tasks instead of walking and hunting, foods fabricated to stimulate us instead of what we could find in nature, high buildings and cities with sound/light/air pollution instead of a calm, clean nature, always trying to "opt…

> a holistic approach will take us back to who we really are

Epistemology - stuff we know about knowledge - never really moved into the psychological and political.

Study some and you'll hear all about "justified true beliefs" and so on. A lot of what we call science is built on this foundation. But there are things we know, and can prove, but cannot say. John Bowlby wrote on "knowing what you are not supposed to know and feeling what you are not supposed to feel" [0]

Therefore science built on partial epistemology must also remain partial. All science is inherently political; medicine and digital technologies are shining examples.

This blockage, where we spend our energy in modernity pretending, avoiding, finding reasons to believe in things we know are abhorrent, defending our ego against insecurity... means we get overworked with moral labour. It's exhausting just to doom-scroll with one finger and get out of bed to work for some shitty company that's ruining the planet.

Many people start to feel better when they have some sort of epiphany, breakdown, break-through and just start being more honest. More honest with themselves. More honest with others. You lose friends, but you gain new ones [1]. You lose a job, but you get a better one, for you. Rather than meeting resistance and disagreement, you find that "everybody knows" [2]. I think that honesty is the key to mental health.

[0] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/487334/

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Both_Sides,_Now

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everybody_Knows_(Leonard_Cohen...

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

#40

Post by Physkal »

byvirtueoff wrote: post #26

It’s also incredibly difficult for people with mental health issues to simply get advice to try to “pull themselves up by the bootstraps” by improving their lifestyle when so much of their mind is working against them. Combine that with the fact that hyper individualism is a big factor for loneliness, (and social media is a poor man’s substitute for socializing) and with loneliness being one of the biggest factors in…

How does one get out of this spiral..
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