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A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

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Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#401
post #185
post #173

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I agree about the toxicity of social media, it's why I don't have an Instagram and, well, Facebook is dead among my generation anyway so it's not an issue. >Attractive, fit, intelligent men get a completely outsized proportion of the interest on apps like Bumble and Tinder, while even median men are mostly ignored. Is this a real problem though? I've heard about how women rate most men as below average, yada yada, bu…

You're missing a few pieces that contribute to the decay of society: - No they don't build harems, but they are more likely to wait before settling down with a long term partner. Also, perhaps it's the circles I've run in, but monogomy is far less dominant than it was in the past, and serial dating is far more common, especially when you start looking at some folks interpretations of 'empowerment'. I'm using airquote…

Serial dating? Parallel dating is in nowadays!

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#402

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Not OP but I'm consuming a mostly carnivore diet, I struggled with gout for years and since I went keto and then pretty much carnivore I haven't had a flare up. I eat meat, fish, eggs, cheese and cauliflower (my stool seem fine with or without fiber but a little bit makes me feel more "flushed out", lol). The biggest culprit for gout is definitely carbs (sugar) and dehydration in my opinion and the carnivore diet and…

> The biggest culprit for gout is definitely carbs (sugar) Citation? Because isn't gout generally thought by the medical establishment to be caused by high-protein, low vegetable diets that raise uric acid?

No I have no citation for this, you are right, generally that is what you read, and I went down that route as well for several years but the gout just go worse and worse. Switching to high fat, high protein but pretty much zero carbs seems to be the best for me. I believe, again my own conclusion, that it is a insulin issue, I nuked my insulin system for years with carbs (sugar).

I'm not a medical person, I got my first gout attack around 24 (33 now) and since then I had at least one major flare up (lasting weeks) every year + a few minor once per year. 2018 I had the mother of all flare ups in my knee, I thought I had experience pain but oh my lord that was pain on a whole nother level. That made me take extreme measures dietary wise and I've been gout free since (knock on wood).

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#403

Diagnostic criteria for anxiety and depression are very broad because they are necessary as tools for practicing doctors seeing patients (as opposed to applying them to a random selection of people). If you turn the process back, and just ask how many people in the population fit under them, you'll always, even in normal times, get an unexpectedly large number. That doesn't imply that anything is wrong or that anythi…

I'm a PhD in clinical psychology, currently working with clients, whose research has focused on the psychometric evaluation of questionnaire measures. I have no idea what you're talking about. The diagnostic criteria are not "very broad because they are necessary as tools". The diagnostic criteria are meant to be sufficient criteria for diagnosing a disorder. Questionnaire-based measures act as a scientifically valid…

20% false positives is not "just fine". That is a huge error.

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#404
if you want to understand what's going on zoom out and look at the last 200 years of civilization and society. Nietzsche is probably the best resource who predicted this. You can read "Ecco Homo" or "Thus spoke Zarathistra" and see the parallels in our modern life. He predicted the herd mentality which we've created. We despise and fear mental pain which is required for growing and most of us rather Netflix'n'Chill than read a book. Parents who put their kids on Ritalin or give them a tablet to be quiet.

Then as part of the herd-mentality we have the social-justice-warriors and activists and the cancel-culture preachers who try to fill this void with their own faulty logic (as a way to cope with their own pain - knowing something terrible is happening but drawing dangerous and false conclusions they are nothing but fools).

Today we have also the PsychologyIndustrialComplex which is filled with people who have no idea what they're talking about. It's no surprise that the product of all this is collective depression, rising nihilism and anti-natalism, and hate. Technology's (and Science and Academia in general) role in this is to produce ways of "making things easier" (coping mechanisms) but no longer to produce greatness. So science and knowledge as taught today is not the way out but part of the cause.

Here are a few videos, though you should probably read the books if you can:

1) Nietzsche and Psychology: How To Become Who You Are https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfyCzLbcAvk

2) Nietzsche and Morality: The Higher Man and The Herd https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE67Ye91Ii0

3) Nietzsche and Thus Spoke Zarathustra: The Last Man and The Superman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnhMJl11JUo

4) Nietzsche and Thus Spoke Zarathustra: Becoming Gods https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XrVnjpVdWE

there is also "The conspiracy against the human race" by Thomas Ligotti (which was stolen by the producers of "True Detectives" for a monologue without giving credits). https://archive.org/details/TheConspiracyAgainstTheHumanRace

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#405
post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The biggest culprit for gout is definitely carbs (sugar) Citation? Because isn't gout generally thought by the medical establishment to be caused by high-protein, low vegetable diets that raise uric acid?

Yes. The carnivore diet stuff is just straight up garbage fad dieting except it sounds cool or whatever so it appeals to insecure dudes. No real substance to it, and everyone I’ve ever seen promote just spits out the same bullshit claims as every other fad diet testimonial (“no more brain fog”) Unless you’ve been instructed to by an actual doctor, switching to a meme internet diet promoted by morons like Jordan Peter…

Most stories I hear about people that try carnivore doesn't do it to get on the next hip thing, these are people that suffered from something for years and out of sheer desperation tried something "wild" and it worked FOR THEM.

I don't understand how it is a garbage diet either? You get all the nutrients you need while eliminating pretty much everything else. That to me sounds like an excellent starting ground to then build upon and figure out what YOUR gut is cool with.

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#406
post #188

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Do you live in a city? It sounds like you might enjoy living in a small town much more. Many small towns are very similar to what you just described all the time.

As a self-proclaimed weirdo and staunch individualist, small towns can be very difficult to just mind your own business in. Literally everything you do or don’t do tends to get noticed and talked about amongst the residents. There’s something to be said for the anonymity of large urban center.

Another data point. If you have difficulty with people talking about you, definitely don't move to a small town in a foreign country where you are a visible minority. I've yet to experience real negative discrimination amongst my neighbours, but boy are they interested in me! I'm kind of strange in that I like being the center of attention, but don't like spending energy to achieve that position, so it's kind of ideal for me. However, I've know people for whom it is haunting (Yes, they really do notice everything you do). If you need to buy things that are... um... delicate... best to go to another town -- and even then you aren't always safe ;-) When I first moved here, I was one of 2 visible minorities and I also taught at the high school, so everybody knew who I was. It's like being a celebrity without the money.

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#407

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> DSM-5 is a handbook for how to blame society’s failures on individuals I staunchly disagree with this, this has never been my experience with any of the psychologists/psychiatrists I have seen (I've seen somewhere around 6 over the course of my life). Blame has never been a component of any psychiatric treatment I have experienced. The DSM is a book of diagnostic criteria to identify the issues you are experiencing…

> "and you can't change society, so you're stuck like this" I think OP meant that psychologists/psychiatrists don't recognize the social nature of mental illness at all. Just because you can't change society doesn't mean you should tell patients that they can lift themselves out of depression through sheer willpower, healthy eating habits, and exercise. Those things can help but if you don't know how you're going to…

Thank you. This is what I meant.

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#408

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America has a profound ability to diagnose individual problems, and an active inability to diagnose social problems. The American psychological industry cannot be let off the hook. DSM-5 is a handbook for how to blame society’s failures on individuals. We need scientific doctors capable of considering not only the realities they are allowed to accept but also the realities of the actually existing world in which thei…

I think you mean the American psychiatric industry, rather than psychological industry. DSM is produced by both, but the over-medication of America is 100% driven by the psychiatrists (as they can actually prescribe drugs).

No, I mean the American psychological industry.

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a PhD in clinical psychology, currently working with clients, whose research has focused on the psychometric evaluation of questionnaire measures. I have no idea what you're talking about. The diagnostic criteria are not "very broad because they are necessary as tools". The diagnostic criteria are meant to be sufficient criteria for diagnosing a disorder. Questionnaire-based measures act as a scientifically valid…

20% false positives is not "just fine". That is a huge error.

I agree with you, but in psychiatry and clinical psychology, a 20% false positive rate is considered "acceptable".

Consider for example the Cochrane review of autism diagnostic instruments in preschoolers [1]. It found that on average (in research contexts), the main diagnostic test used for ASD, the ADOS[2], had a specificity of 0.80 (in other words, a 20% false positive rate). The Cochrane authors considered that acceptable. Now, professionals may consider that acceptable – but how many parents are told that the test used to diagnose their child has a 20% false positive rate? Added to that, there is evidence that the tests are actually less accurate in non-research contexts (the standards for administering them are certainly lower), which may make the false positive rate in non-research contexts even higher (on that topic see [3]).

[1] https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD...

[2] actually the original ADOS has now been superseded by a newer version, the ADOS-2, but the Cochrane reviewers couldn't find any studies of the ADOS-2 that met their inclusion criteria. In any case, I doubt the accuracy of the new version is substantially different from the original one.

[3] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00787-018-1143-y

Re: A third of Americans now show signs of clinical anxiety or depression

#410

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a while I wondered if I'm the outlier since I feel substantially better now than I did before going into isolation. Then some of my close friends who were on anti-depression or anti-anxiety medication told me the same. They actually stopped taking the medication for months with no signs that the symptoms are coming back. It's anecdotal and I have no idea how widespread this is or why it happens, at least to peopl…

I think it’s even deeper than that. Human society has changed a lot really quickly, it would be unreasonable to expect a seamless transition. Similar to how wild animals in captivity suffer from tremendous stress due to their environment, the pressures from living in our society are massive. Compared to say living in 1000 AD. Family units are smaller, life is more fast paced and it’s way more complicated with all the…

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