Medicalising everyday life doesn't help anyone's mental health
1–10 of 70 posts
Re: Medicalising everyday life doesn't help anyone's mental health
#2I wonder about this as well. I see lists of anxiety symptoms shared and I meet every one of them, but I don't consider myself to have anxiety. Isn't it normal to be anxious in stressful situations or to be depressed when things are going poorly. Then I do some reading about it and I wonder maybe its not normal, maybe I'm not supposed to feel this way.
I'm sure there are people with mental health conditions that do need treatment, I won't argue that at all. I do think pinning down what is "normal" and should be just waited out and what is abnormal and should be medically treated, although easy at the extreme edges, is very difficult in the middle of the spectrum.
I agree with the article that we are trying to narrow the normal distribution of human traits by medicalising things that are a common occurrence for at least a subset of the population. I'm not sure where this stems from though. Is it the desire for extreme corporate efficiency and competition for resources. Is it a misguided medical system trying to make patients out of more people? Like anything sufficiently complicated its probably a huge confluence of factors.
Re: Medicalising everyday life doesn't help anyone's mental health
#3Author seemed to have some valid points - issues that are part of the normal healing process are being diagnosed & treated via antidepressants.
The part I'm not so sure I agree with is the "system is too jammed up so don't come," sentiment.
I think if someone is having a hard time & they want to reach out to a medical professional that's probably for the best.
Unfortunately that does shift the burden onto the system to train professionals to determine the difference between prescribing antidepressants or talk and time therapy. It's a lot easier to write someone that prescription than hear them out.
Re: Medicalising everyday life doesn't help anyone's mental health
#4Could it be that people aren't _just_ becoming more sensitive, but that aspects of modern society are _causing_ mental health issues to appear at higher rates? I won't say 'capitalism is making everyone mentally ill', but it does seem that a large blind-spot in most discourse around mental health is environment. In this sense, 'medicalising' everyday does, in fact, provide a useful lens to examine mental illness.
Just food for thought.
Re: Medicalising everyday life doesn't help anyone's mental health
#5I wonder about this as well. I see lists of anxiety symptoms shared and I meet every one of them, but I don't consider myself to have anxiety. Isn't it normal to be anxious in stressful situations or to be depressed when things are going poorly. Then I do some reading about it and I wonder maybe its not normal, maybe I'm not supposed to feel this way. I'm sure there are people with mental health conditions that do ne…
Well, first of all, only certain professionals are licensed to administer those tests, and for good reason, because otherwise people would self-diagnose too much or too little.
> […] I don't consider myself to have anxiety.
Everyone has anxiety. Some people have anxiety disorders.
> Isn't it normal to be anxious in stressful situations […]
People with anxiety disorders are anxious in normal, non-stressful situations. They can panic when asking a bus driver which stop they should get off at, when talking to a new coworker, or in other ordinary circumstances. People with depressive disorders are depressed at times even when things are going well. People with severe depression can have a hard time just getting out of bed in the morning, feeding themselves, and going through the motions of ordinary life.
Re: Medicalising everyday life doesn't help anyone's mental health
#6I wonder about this as well. I see lists of anxiety symptoms shared and I meet every one of them, but I don't consider myself to have anxiety. Isn't it normal to be anxious in stressful situations or to be depressed when things are going poorly. Then I do some reading about it and I wonder maybe its not normal, maybe I'm not supposed to feel this way. I'm sure there are people with mental health conditions that do ne…
I think you're right to question. The rule of thumb I've heard, which seems sensible to me, is is the condition/symptom negatively affecting your ability to go about your day-to-day life. If not, then whatever you're experiencing is probably "normal enough". There's no great mass of people with completely by-the-book mental processes; everyone's a little "weird" in some way.
On the other hand, I suppose you may not be able to evaluate that question fully yourself. It's hard to see your own mind clearly.
Re: Medicalising everyday life doesn't help anyone's mental health
#7I wonder about this as well. I see lists of anxiety symptoms shared and I meet every one of them, but I don't consider myself to have anxiety. Isn't it normal to be anxious in stressful situations or to be depressed when things are going poorly. Then I do some reading about it and I wonder maybe its not normal, maybe I'm not supposed to feel this way. I'm sure there are people with mental health conditions that do ne…
I don’t think anyone really knows if other people experience anything that is similar. I go back and forth on that a lot.
But in terms of medicalizing things, who cares if it’s normal. It’s not about being normal, it’s about being better. I get prescribed a lot more medication than I need. I don’t take it often, but I like the options having anti-depressants, sleeping pills, stimulants, and anti-anxiety medication provide. Wirh it I have the ability to easily control my mental and physical state depending on I want to feel and what is required of me.
Do I need to crush code for 48 hours? No problem. Sleeping on a plane, no problem. Etc etc.
Not saying this would work for everyone, and if I took the time, maybe I could use meditation or whatever to achieve the same results. But I’m busy and have things to do, I suppose.
Re: Medicalising everyday life doesn't help anyone's mental health
#8I have the greatest problem with this in early childhood. The extent of psychiatric involvement in the classroom, including drug interventions, is really alarming. Diagnosis, which is extremely inconsistent and forms disease categories with extremely thin bases, has a formal place and is required for special learning dispensations. Future generations will look back in horror at all this.
Re: Medicalising everyday life doesn't help anyone's mental health
#9I wonder about this as well. I see lists of anxiety symptoms shared and I meet every one of them, but I don't consider myself to have anxiety. Isn't it normal to be anxious in stressful situations or to be depressed when things are going poorly. Then I do some reading about it and I wonder maybe its not normal, maybe I'm not supposed to feel this way. I'm sure there are people with mental health conditions that do ne…
Looking up symptoms of anxiety to determine if you have GAD is a bit like looking up symptoms of hunger to determine if you're malnourished.
Re: Medicalising everyday life doesn't help anyone's mental health
#10Could it be that people aren't _just_ becoming more sensitive, but that aspects of modern society are _causing_ mental health issues to appear at higher rates? I won't say 'capitalism is making everyone mentally ill', but it does seem that a large blind-spot in most discourse around mental health is environment. In this sense, 'medicalising' everyday does, in fact, provide a useful lens to examine mental illness. Jus…
I would bet that the higher rates are about mental health issues becoming more widely known and less stigmatized.