A mental illness epidemic? Think again

[Mangrove]

It's those damn Spiders.

And, as I have said, WE are the spiders.

We've made life so fucking complex and stressful that the only way to stay reasonably sane is to stun yourself stupid with chemicals.

Looking around, you may have noticed that everyone seems a little...Off?  Except for me, I am clever and empowered with the libido of a tyrannosaurus. 

The reason everyone is a little off is because they are either stunned as per above, or drowning in information that they don't need at a rate they cannot process.

So of course they're all crazy.  I mean, it's not like the species was wired properly in the first place.

Yes!

[Kai]

Excellent thread to all.

I've been off and on SSRIs for the past 8 years and I am still surprised at how quickly psychiatrists are to move that direction. Never mind that anxiety happens to be a complex physiological reaction to sensed stressors, and is caused as much by environmental entrainment and routine as anything else. I've noticed this quite distinctly. It's so much sister to learned helplessness that I feel like they are coupled. Low levels of seritonin may describe the reaction occurring after an Ecstasy binge (as the interactions are known), but it doesn't well describe the mechanisms behind depression and anxiety, as the mechanisms are poorly or completely unknown.

The level of pretension in medicine, especially psychiatric medicine, is palpable. The purpose of psychiatry is to produce conforming individuals who have behaviors similar to what is considered "normal", normal being whatever the psyches think is considered normal. This does not mean sane, or happy, or fullfilled, just not bizarre or stand out or harming others in unacceptable ways (as there are definitely accepted methods of harm in our culture). This goes back to the beginnings of psychiatric institutions, where undesirables were hauled off so the general population didn't have to look at them.

And while theres a great deal of evidence that talk-therapy and other non-Rx methods work, I feel less and less inclined to go to therapy these days because I don't see the psychs as dedicated to that sort of work, and it's also expensive. "Ordinary" people may at times actually serve as better therapists than those who are professionally trained, because they have less ivory tower pronounced notions about psychological disease and health. It's hard to take a psych seriously when they come at you from a seat of condescending "I know better/more than you" smiles, rather than sincere openness to understanding. It's especially hard when their main occupation is to generalize psychological conditions with no known mechanisms to proscribe drugs.

[Placid Dingo]

Excellent thread to all.

I've been off and on SSRIs for the past 8 years and I am still surprised at how quickly psychiatrists are to move that direction. Never mind that anxiety happens to be a complex physiological reaction to sensed stressors, and is caused as much by environmental entrainment and routine as anything else. I've noticed this quite distinctly. It's so much sister to learned helplessness that I feel like they are coupled. Low levels of seritonin may describe the reaction occurring after an Ecstasy binge (as the interactions are known), but it doesn't well describe the mechanisms behind depression and anxiety, as the mechanisms are poorly or completely unknown.

The level of pretension in medicine, especially psychiatric medicine, is palpable. The purpose of psychiatry is to produce conforming individuals who have behaviors similar to what is considered "normal", normal being whatever the psyches think is considered normal. This does not mean sane, or happy, or fullfilled, just not bizarre or stand out or harming others in unacceptable ways (as there are definitely accepted methods of harm in our culture). This goes back to the beginnings of psychiatric institutions, where undesirables were hauled off so the general population didn't have to look at them.

And while theres a great deal of evidence that talk-therapy and other non-Rx methods work, I feel less and less inclined to go to therapy these days because I don't see the psychs as dedicated to that sort of work, and it's also expensive. "Ordinary" people may at times actually serve as better therapists than those who are professionally trained, because they have less ivory tower pronounced notions about psychological disease and health. It's hard to take a psych seriously when they come at you from a seat of condescending "I know better/more than you" smiles, rather than sincere openness to understanding. It's especially hard when their main occupation is to generalize psychological conditions with no known mechanisms to proscribe drugs.

Theres a great book, opening Skinners box. The author repeats the experement of a guy who tries to get admitted under false pretense. This time though, exactly the same scenario, they give her pills.

[Gordon C]

New here. So sorry if I'm late on the congrats, but thank you.

There is a "corporate culture" if you will, of insanity in this fucked up place we call a world.

The same chemical reactions, when reinforced by that culture induce more insanity, by the lesser mentally reinforced. As you well know, being driven insane is as bad as being that way. The real sick ass fucks recognize this and enjoy every opportunity to make it seem as if you always have been that way as if it is your fault instead of theirs.

[BadBeast]

Like Cancer, so called 'Mental Illness' has become a huge industry these days, and rather than being primarily concerned with it's eradication, the people who crew 'The Good Ship Madness', seem to be solely committed to finding more and more of it. Every day, more 'conditions' and 'syndromes' are discovered, thereby justifying more and more research funding, more and more facilities dedicated to the study of it, which all need filling with more and more test subjects, providing more and more specialist employment to more and more people. Who all need specialist training in recognising more and more of the new 'syndromes'. The power these people have when it comes to methods of treatment is frightening and disproportionate. All it generally takes is a couple of them to agree on a certain diagnosis, and they'll have you strapped down on a table in a secure facility with electrodes stuck in your head, and experimental medications demolishing your personality. I'm not making light of the very real anguish suffered by anyone with a serious mental disorder, but the people we allow to have the power of life and death over them are quite obviously out of control.
And all because we are uncomfortable with having to look at people who have a different mental process? That really isn't good enough. In fact, it's shameful. It's no longer about understanding or compassion, it's about control. It's about money. It's about career driven reputations. The myths are perpetuated by the media, who present sanitised, unhealthy models of 'normal' for our children to aspire to. Ridiculous role models are paraded in front of us wherever we look by the Cult of Celebrity, distorting our worldviews and perverting our values, and anyone who shows too much deviation from the moral and ethical toilet of 'Industry standard' is ostracised and disenfranchised by those who have vested interest in perpetuating this destructive circlejerk of total control. There are no good things coming from it. Worse, we have come to accept the symptoms of this collective madness as healthy and normal. And it fucking isn't. Someone once said, "Once you've got everybody agreeing with what they know in their hearts ain't true, you've got them by the balls" and he was right. They have us all by the balls. We know that. But now they want us all by the minds and fucking souls too. They want a commodity, not a community. So what is our price for letting them do this to us all? Think about that, the next time they ask you to bend over. What's in it for us? 

[Doktor Howl]

Primates' brains are designed to handle certain stresses:

1.  Am I going to get to eat, today?

2.  Am I going to get laid, today?

3.  Is there a safe place to sleep tonight?

4.  What is my place in the tribe's pecking order?

5.  Is that a leopard coming through the grass, or just the wind?

That's it.  Those are the stresses your brain is designed to cope with.  Today, however, you have a blizzard of information to deal with, a million-ton shit hammer of worries, no less stressful for the fact that you may realize most of them are artificial.  This was described in the 60s/70s as "future shock", and due to the rapid rise in information technology, you are subjected to more and more of it, each and every day.

This is why everyone's fucking crazy.

So they deal with it by using booze, drugs of one kind or another, weird religion, etc.  Not coincidentally, the booze/drug/religion pushers are making a killing off of it. 

Eventually, there's so many crazy people that it becomes fashionable to be one, or the parent of one.  Little Billy isn't doing well at school, because you were to lazy to discipline him?  He must be autistic.  He has so much energy that he runs around and plays?  ADHD, so stuff the little bastard full of ritalin.

THEN, these "conditions" are turned into some mystical crap..."Indigo children", etc, and the rest of us have to hear about how "special" Little Billy is.

And flamethrowers are still illegal in many states.  This country is retarded.

[Triple Zero]

And flamethrowers are still illegal in many states.  This country is retarded.

Flame-retardant, even.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I heard recently that they're going to put being a picky eater in the DSM.

[Doktor Howl]

I heard recently that they're going to put being a picky eater in the DSM.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

http://www.livescience.com/10301-adult-picky-eaters-recognized-disorder.html

I want to ship them all to Somalia and see how picky they are then.

[Doktor Howl]

http://www.livescience.com/10301-adult-picky-eaters-recognized-disorder.html

I want to ship them all to Somalia and see how picky they are then.

Fuck that.  We could make a fortune slapping the demons out of 'em.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

http://www.livescience.com/10301-adult-picky-eaters-recognized-disorder.html

I want to ship them all to Somalia and see how picky they are then.

Fuck that.  We could make a fortune slapping the demons out of 'em.

  Plus the bonus is, we'd get to slap them.

One of my least favorite things is girls who are picky eaters, and then make it out to be this unique problem they suffer from... poor me! I'm so delicate and special! And I'm like, no, you're an attention whore who's being difficult.

[Doktor Howl]

http://www.livescience.com/10301-adult-picky-eaters-recognized-disorder.html

I want to ship them all to Somalia and see how picky they are then.

Fuck that.  We could make a fortune slapping the demons out of 'em.

  Plus the bonus is, we'd get to slap them.

One of my least favorite things is girls who are picky eaters, and then make it out to be this unique problem they suffer from... poor me! I'm so delicate and special! And I'm like, no, you're an attention whore who's being difficult.

"I was kind of hoping for someone a bit tougher."
- Dok, on a date in 1989, to a woman who said something to that order.

[BadBeast]

What a crock of absolute shit. "Oh, I can't eat that, I can only eat Tangtastic Haribo" Fuck. Off.
I understand some people have food allergies, or intolerances and really can't eat some things, but this is another thing entirely. I'd like to ship them all halfway to Somalia, then ask them to eat some proper fucking food, like normal fucking people. If they still insist they can't, then throw them in the fucking sea. That wouldn't cure them, but it might cure the next lot of spoiled twats who want to be 'special'.

And as for the numb cunts who put forward stuff like
"Could they be supertasters? That is, people who, because of their genetic makeup, taste certain flavors more acutely than average tasters?"
They should be fed on nothing but their own shit for a while. They sat there happy enough expecting everyone else to swallow it, lets see how they like it! Wankers!

I wouldn't try and excuse my own rudeness or lack of sensitivity by saying,
"Sorry but I have an inflamed intolerance gland. It's genetic, and it means I won't be putting up with any of your bullshit until I chill the fuck out a little".
So stick your "Picky eater syndrome" back up your shitpipe, and just fuck off. Find something more useful to do, or I will hunt you down and feed you to hungry botflies.

[Doktor Howl]

And as for the numb cunts who put forward stuff like
"Could they be supertasters? That is, people who, because of their genetic makeup, taste certain flavors more acutely than average tasters?"

Wait.

What?

You're taking the piss.