Mr dr tells me every visit I need more exercise.
Exercise works for depression. So why isn't it treated like real medicine?
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Re: Exercise works for depression. So why isn't it treated like real medicine?
#12Because exercise is free and 'real medicine' for depression is a $25b industry
It's also because exercise requires exertion, which is effortful, and most people who need the exercise would rather spend money to not have to exert.
Does it pain me to say it? Nah, I'm numb :-/
Re: Exercise works for depression. So why isn't it treated like real medicine?
#13Around the internet you can find tons of people griping about GLP-1s, saying "diet and exercise make you lose weight, they have to, the First Law of Thermodynamics, etc. etc. How come doctors don't prescribe those?". And the answer is "diet and exercise are not a cure, they are a proposed treatment plan with a dismal success rate". To treat something as medicine, we want it to work in the real world of fallible humans, not in the imaginary world of perfect regime adherence that internet commenters dream up when they want to get snarky.
It's exactly the same thing here: exercise is not a "cure" for depression, it is a treatment plan that has good odds of success if stuck to, and it is frequently not stuck to. Turns out that depressed people are even less likely than the median person to stick to an exercise plan, and the median person is already pretty fucking bad. So the field gravitates to treatments which are achievable even if imperfect.
The article goes into this not at all, it just closes with some blather about supervised programs and gym access, which is like yelling louder at a fat person to "eat less, dammit!". Good luck with that treatment, I'll take the drugs which work.
Re: Exercise works for depression. So why isn't it treated like real medicine?
#14You will find your answer in DJ Shadow's "Why Hip Hop Sucks In '96": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKf40CLF9MU
"It's the money."
Re: Exercise works for depression. So why isn't it treated like real medicine?
#15I remember reading that Dancing blows aware meds and exercise. So why isn't that treated like real medicine?
For some of us, attempting to dance causes greater amounts of depression in those nearby than it cures in us.
Eh, more like cringe. They'll get over it. You'll also get better.
Re: Exercise works for depression. So why isn't it treated like real medicine?
#16I remember reading that Dancing blows aware meds and exercise. So why isn't that treated like real medicine?
For some of us, attempting to dance causes greater amounts of depression in those nearby than it cures in us.
Well, then it is not your problem anymore.
Alternatively, I smell a business opportunity, as I know some people that deserve depression and misery, and "pay me to dance near them" could be a thing.
Re: Exercise works for depression. So why isn't it treated like real medicine?
#17People do not discipline.
Re: Exercise works for depression. So why isn't it treated like real medicine?
#18Because exercise is free and 'real medicine' for depression is a $25b industry
The idea that doctors are not talking about exercise as if it's some big conspiracy to make more money from the top is ridiculous. Any doctor will say that exercise is the best thing you can do for yourself but most people also know that it's super inconvenient and most people don't follow that advice. If anything, the people making it out to be some big conspiracy against mainstream medicine are doing it more for th…
Agreed, in general, doctors are not ill-intent. There is also realistically the fact that some doctors know it's a lost cause to advise some common-sense thing that the patient already know very well (for example Obesity, no exercise, stopping drugs like alcohol...) so they probably refrain from doing so, and patients lie a ton to doctors as well.
Re: Exercise works for depression. So why isn't it treated like real medicine?
#19>Exercise works for depression. So why isn't it treated like real medicine?
Clinical depression is a serious mental illness, it causes great suffering, broken relationships, and far too frequently, death by suicide.
A person suffering to such an extent frequently will seek treatment (if they don't, well we don't generally pursue people with medical conditions) from a trained, licensed professional for evaluation, and the extent to which the patient gets out of the house and interacts with people is part of the assessment. Exercise will be among the suggestions that will be encouraged.
However, you don't need a prescription to exercise, so it's not treated like medicine, but it is recommended. If you are prescribed medication or exercise, if you don't take it or do it, there generally isn't a compliance system that kicks in (unless the courts have become involved)
Re: Exercise works for depression. So why isn't it treated like real medicine?
#20Because exercise is free and 'real medicine' for depression is a $25b industry
Fitness is also a huge industry, as is physical therapy, as is the use of therapy for depression. If the medical industry seriously believed that exercise is a marketable treatment for depression, there are known and quite obvious pathways to monetizing it. It's far more likely that they either don't trust these studies, or that they don't think you can convince a large enough group of depressed patients to exercise.