Poll: Mental illness: a conspiracy?

[Axeli]

Clinical depression does exist, but only the rarest cases actually have reason for treatment.

Err, so just ignore them and hope they get better on their own? You'd at least want to monitor how their situation develops. There is the kind of depression that comes with life going downhill and stops when things get better, then there's the kind of depression that pulls life downhill and keeps life from getting better.

 

[randomsix]

When you can prove a mental illness by studying brain chemistry and neuron pathways, and can prove beyond a doubt that there is a physical difference between someone diagnosed with a mental disorder and someone who does not have one, then yes, you can prove that they exist. To claim that it's just trying to make an excuse for people with behavioral problems is just stupid, and borderline offensive.

This

Okay...side with the prick. That's fair. Just please, do yourself a favour and go visit a special needs school or a psychiatric hospital. Then come back and say these words: It's all in their heads, it's all their fault. They're just making excuses. Every single one.

Can you please, for the love of God, read a post in its entirety before you attack someone. Jesus Christ, how could you possibly think I'd believe mental illnesses were fake. Can you -read-?

Nope, read it again, feel free to correct this gist:

Unless it can be proven otherwise that there is a physical difference between someone with and without a mental illness. ----> To claim otherwise is to make an excuse on the part of those who are currently understood to be under the effects of these illnesses.

Ergo: Until there are/is readable physical data to prove so - Metal illness is either, greatly exaggerated or non-existent.


Maybe I am overreacting, but do tell anyway.

I think you're misinterpreting the "when." I think you're reading it as "when in the undefined future" where as it is supposed to be read as referring to now (as scientists and doctors can do all the things decribed int he present).

 

[CrystalShadow]

Hmm... I have officially been diagnosed with several mental disorders, and suffer a lot of problems leading a 'normal' life due to some other things which are incredibly difficult to define accurately (and thus diagnose.)

I sometimes feel bad about this, and sometimes feel I should just be able to 'get over it'... But irrational fears related to social situations can really cripple your life. No matter how silly they seem from a purely rational perspective.

I've had depression on and off too. And it's scary feeling like nothing is worth doing... Or worse yet, that being alive isn't worth it... I would consider I've never had anything worse than mild depression in my life, but I've still come close to trying to kill myself a few times...

And then there's something else too, which is technically listed as a mental illness, although I don't feel like discussing that right now...

So... Unless you've had to deal with it yourself, I would not think you can really know what it's like.

The main difference between mental and physical illness is that you can't easily 'see' mental illness.

Telling someone with a genuine mental illness they're just 'faking' it, and that they should toughen up and stop being so pathetic, (especially likely if you tell someone you have any kind of social phobia) is all well and good,
But it's basically like telling someone with a broken arm to go and lift weights, and stop being so pathetic. You can lift it if you really want to, you're just not trying hard enough.
I mean, no-one would do that if you've got a broken arm, and yet it happens with mental illness...

It's hard to get meaningful help for some problems too. I wish I could just 'get over it' and pretend like my problems don't exist, and thus do some things most people take for granted, but I can't. I've tried.

And the guilt of feeling as if you're not contributing to society because of some 'pathetic' problem that you're surely just making up is not fun either.

I mean, if you're intelligent, can hold a reasonable conversation with another person, and seem phyisically healthy, nothing could possibly be wrong with you right?

... If only...

 

[Inverse Skies]

im very sorry that is how you have interpreted my post, but thats not what i was saying. i know full well that people truly do have depression, and other disorders. and for the people who do have it, it's a terrible burden that i wouldnt like to see anyone with. what i was saying is some psychiatrists jump to these conclusions too quickly. just because someone is unhappy doesnt make them depressed, but psychiatrists are too quick to prescribe the meds. of course, when people are contemplating suicide that is a clear indication of actual depression.

Hmmm.. would you happen to have evidence such as a scientific study to back up your claims of over prescription of anti-depressants? Or is it just your interpretation based on things you've seen?

 

[Goldeneye103X2]

I think that some people at my school are scizophrenic.........

 

[razer17]

im very sorry that is how you have interpreted my post, but thats not what i was saying. i know full well that people truly do have depression, and other disorders. and for the people who do have it, it's a terrible burden that i wouldnt like to see anyone with. what i was saying is some psychiatrists jump to these conclusions too quickly. just because someone is unhappy doesnt make them depressed, but psychiatrists are too quick to prescribe the meds. of course, when people are contemplating suicide that is a clear indication of actual depression.

Hmmm.. would you happen to have evidence such as a scientific study to back up your claims of over prescription of anti-depressants? Or is it just your interpretation based on things you've seen?

no i don't have a scientific study. then again this would be hard to study for various reasons, patients dont want to admit they have lied, psychiatrists dont want to admit their wrong. although theoretically you could study it, carrying it out would be next to impossible. however i don't believe that there are that many people who are truly depressed. drug abusers looking for a way to get some meds, then people who are unhappy thinking they have actual clinical depression.
there is no way (in my mind) that 20% of the population will have depression in their lives. especially since quality of life constantly improving i don't see how this is possible.
[link]http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/d/depression/misdiag.htm [/link]

 

[blindey]

Most mental illness is legitimate.

Things like ADD though, are completely ludicrous. Any child with ADD needs nothing more than a slap upside the head and to be told to shut the fuck up.

Bull. Fucking. Shit.

Indeed.

Mental illness does exist and it's because of the ignorance of a surprising amount of people that there are so many people suffering because of it.
However, shit like dyslexia is just a middle class excuse for not being bothered.

Awesome. Where'd you get your degree in Psychology? That's a really astounding discovery mate: Dyslexia is just an excuse. Oh wait..No, it's not. Thank you come again.

I think clinical depression is a myth, I personally know 2 people who openly admit to feining depression for attention.

As a person diagnosed as clinically depressed I am offended by your comment. I have had to change my perscription several times in the past three years, each time because of serious breakdowns (crying for no reason, and once contemplating suicide(this was seven years ago and I'm doing much better)). You can ask my mom or anyone who knows me I AM NOT FAKING IT!

Same here. I was diagnosed with depression in high school and I've been...fine for now, it is insulting to people who have them to say they're just faking it. I'll grant that people use the words "I'm depressed" in a dismissive way (ie not clinically) but that's just a simplification of the term.

And to those who say that "stuff like ADD is crap" or whatever it was, you sirs/madams are the ones who need to shut the fuck up. Yes it's overused. Yes it's overdiagnosed BUT THAT DOES NOT TAKE AWAY FROM THE VALIDITY OF THE DISORDER ITSELF.

a mental disorder is not an excuse, if you can function in the world you have no excuse.

Could you clarify this please? I wanna reserve judgement until I know exactly what you mean.

-snip-

Yeah I know how you feel. It's because of a few different reasons in my opinion. A) the people faking B) the lack of knowledge about any sorts of disorder coupled with its portrayal in Hollywood. In my intro to psych class the example was brought up with jack nicholson in ''as good as it gets'' and he plays someoen who has OCD (and I think one or two other things..I don't remember) and it's a comedy movie, basically it being portrayed as a minor inconvenience at best, when..ya know..It's Not.

i don't believe that there are that many people who are truly depressed. drug abusers looking for a way to get some meds, then people who are unhappy thinking they have actual clinical depression.
there is no way (in my mind) that 20% of the population will have depression in their lives. especially since quality of life constantly improving i don't see how this is possible.
[link]http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/d/depression/misdiag.htm [/link]

Here we have another winner. Quality of life does not equal happy. Just because I'm in a 1st world country doesn't mean I can't have a mental illness. I took a look at your site and quite frankly besides the fact that the color-scheme made my eyes hurt a lot, what I could gather was....a lot of rambling. It just pulled random explanations of of their ass and then slapped in some similar albeit distinct diagnoses.

A note on medicine, because I'm probably going to see a counter-argument for it: The whole "x depression medication -> suicide" is something of a simplification. If someone is depressed the time of suicide is greatest not when they're at the worst, but when they seem to "get better" (often times just starting out on medication and such) because they literally don't have the energy to do so.

 

[Skeleon]

Mental illness does exist and it's because of the ignorance of a surprising amount of people that there are so many people suffering because of it.
However, shit like dyslexia is just a middle class excuse for not being bothered.

Awesome. Where'd you get your degree in Psychology? That's a really astounding discovery mate: Dyslexia is just an excuse. Oh wait..No, it's not. Thank you come again.

Agreed. A buddy of mine studies medicine and has dyslexia. Believe me, he wouldn't have had the grades if he simply "couldn't be bothered" to work properly.

 

[SyphonX]

There is obviously mental diseases of all kinds.

Though the vast and mega-monolithic field that is Psychiatry has become a little ridiculous as of recent. Considering the pharmaceutical industry profits in the 100's of billions every year, that is profit after tax, bills, payroll.. everything. You would think there is a serious conflict of interest when there is a pill for a disease not even diagnosable yet. A lot of psychiatry has no connection with factual evidence backed up by science in a lot of their diseases.

Nearly every normal emotion can be classified as a mental illness by the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) and lo and behold there is a pill for it that costs quite a lot. You need only see a psych for 10 minutes or less and you can walk out with a bottle of pills.

I'm not talking about schizophrenia, autism or any other obvious mental illnesses like these, but more or less the questionable ones, just use your better judgment and think of a few.

This isn't an uneducated nutjob theory, there are many, many psychologists and psychiatrists that feel big pharma has too much of a conflict interest with the field and that the field has become too bloated.

Note: As far as the conspiracies are involved, like government/corporation control over the population, manipulation etc, not very likely. Though it is most certainly not outside the realm of possibility ; (See CIA memos on drug manipulation research in the 60's and 70's) or research what the Nazis did in the 30's and 40's on drug manipulation and how the US and UK governments bargained to acquire this knowledge. Governments are always looking for a way to keep the population in check, you can easily see this with mainstream media. Though, like I said, not likely.. but would you be that surprised if it was true? I wouldn't.

 

[razer17]

Here we have another winner. Quality of life does not equal happy. Just because I'm in a 1st world country doesn't mean I can't have a mental illness. I took a look at your site and quite frankly besides the fact that the color-scheme made my eyes hurt a lot, what I could gather was....a lot of rambling. It just pulled random explanations of of their ass and then slapped in some similar albeit distinct diagnoses.

i know that quality of life doesnt distinctly relate to amount of depression. theres far too many factors that affect depression to simplify it with such a blanket statement. and i probably didnt use the best site to demonstrate my point, but do you actually believe that psychiatrists never misdiagnose someone as having depression when they didnt, or that people never lie to get drugs prescribed to them?

 

[Aardvark Soup]

Completely ridiculous, offending and plain dumb. Consipiracy nuts always manage to surprise me with their stupidity.

 

[02cfranklin]

For some reason I feel religion comes into this..

 

[NewGeekPhilosopher]

Ehhhh, why is it that people call Aspergers and Autism a disease, you can't die from it. Alzheimer's is a disease because it decays the brain. Asperger's and Autism does not.

By the way, I never use my condition to get away with criminal acts, simply because most people who have my condition see things like laws very literally and don't commit such criminal acts. Still, it's pretty damn confusing when it comes to other things, like adult situations. I doubt that I'll be able to manage my first time getting it on by myself. My girlfriend if I ever get one will have to help me.

But you know, maybe when the world stops telling me people like me never find love I might have a chance. Somebody tell me Rain Man found a girl who loved him, please, I haven't seen it. If it's irrelevant to the story I can deal, but if he dies alone in a New York apartment like Max (who has Asperger's) in Mary and Max did, I don't want to see it because I'll get depressed...

 

[Sonny B]

They do exsist.. No doubt but are way to over diagnosed.

 

[Chibz]

Most people who know me have living proof that "mental illnesses" are in every way real. Although I'd think of most of them as a blessing. Better than being boring and "normal".

 

[Inverse Skies]

no i don't have a scientific study. then again this would be hard to study for various reasons, patients dont want to admit they have lied, psychiatrists dont want to admit their wrong. although theoretically you could study it, carrying it out would be next to impossible. however i don't believe that there are that many people who are truly depressed. drug abusers looking for a way to get some meds, then people who are unhappy thinking they have actual clinical depression.
there is no way (in my mind) that 20% of the population will have depression in their lives. especially since quality of life constantly improving i don't see how this is possible.
[link]http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/d/depression/misdiag.htm [/link]

Except for the fact that anti-depressants like serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine and mood stabilisers such as sodium valporate can be dangerous when they aren't prescribed in the right manner hence why doctors are usually reluctant to prescribe these sorts of drugs, and drug users aren't in the market to obtain a fix from serotonin pills.

Also where are your statistics from? I've got my clincal medicine textbook open right next to me and it says 5% (Clark, M & Kumar, P, 2006. Clincal Medicine 6th Edition, Elsevier Saunders Group of Publishers, USA).

 

[razer17]

Except for the fact that anti-depressants like serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine and mood stabilisers such as sodium valporate can be dangerous when they aren't prescribed in the right manner hence why doctors are usually reluctant to prescribe these sorts of drugs, and drug users aren't in the market to obtain a fix from serotonin pills.

Also where are your statistics from? I've got my clincal medicine textbook open right next to me and it says 5% (Clark, M & Kumar, P, 2006. Clincal Medicine 6th Edition, Elsevier Saunders Group of Publishers, USA).

well i cant vie for the accuracy of my 20% statement. i heard it in psychology class the other day. then again your stats are american , mine are british, so there will be some differences, (less than 15% though i assume).
however although there are dangers with anti-depressants, especially MAOI's, drug takers dont care where they get their fix. especially those whom are addicted to anti-depressants which they used to need. and people do get prescription drugs for some of their side effects, such as those that have hunger-suppresant side effect.
and as it stands i think the false positives on depression are fairly low, its more ADD and ADHD that are too often diagnosed when they are not needed. (again i know there are people with ADD, but its an excuse at certain times.)

 

[Inverse Skies]

well i cant vie for the accuracy of my 20% statement. i heard it in psychology class the other day. then again your stats are american , mine are british, so there will be some differences, (less than 15% though i assume).
however although there are dangers with anti-depressants, especially MAOI's, drug takers dont care where they get their fix. especially those whom are addicted to anti-depressants which they used to need. and people do get prescription drugs for some of their side effects, such as those that have hunger-suppresant side effect.
and as it stands i think the false positives on depression are fairly low, its more ADD and ADHD that are too often diagnosed when they are not needed. (again i know there are people with ADD, but its an excuse at certain times.)

Probably because there's a more standard definition of major depression (a succesive period of two weeks of depressive behaviour which can manifest itself in physical symptoms such as speech difficulties, lethargy, sleeping disturbances and loss of motivation) than ADHD/ADD.

 

[Nickflip]

A conspiracy you say?
I'll start the printing press...