The comments here are a great example of why mental health treatment is such a difficult problem for the tech crowd: Most of the comments are from people who believe they have a better handle a mental health diagnosis and treatment than actual psychiatrists, and many of them are quite wrong. Some of them dangerously so.
Depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, ADHD, and other mental health issues are extremely complex issues that can't be universally explained away by blood sugar or lack of spouses or loneliness as some of commenters here confidently claim. Every case is different, every person has their own complex set of issues and maladaptive coping behaviors and external stressors, and everyone responds to medications and lifestyle changes differently. Perhaps more importantly, navigating all of those individual variations is best left to a close patient-doctor relationship, leveraging each patients' feedback against the doctor's years of clinical experience.
The mistake many people make is trying to map others' mental health disorders on to their own prior experiences. That's why you see so many comments from people confidently declaring that curing depression is as simple as exercising because they felt sad a few years ago but felt better when they started running. That's great, and exercise is likely to help everyone, but that doesn't mean that another person's depression is simply a lack of exercise. Don't ever discount or downplay another person's mental health suffering, because that's only going to make things harder for them. Mental health sufferers often feel significant guilt about their symptoms, and having someone dismiss or downplay their suffering only compounds that.
Modern psychiatry isn't perfect and has plenty of room for improvement, but frankly it's a whole lot better than the comments here make it out to be. If you're struggling with mental health issues, make it a priority to see a professional. Get a second or third opinion if you're not happy with your treatment. But whatever you do, don't get sucked in to the misinformed internet commenters trying to discourage people from seeking treatment. Psychiatry can take some time, but the area under the curve of even marginal mental health improvements can add up to a huge difference over the course of your life.
I'm not saying people in the comments are any good at helping people with mental illnesses, but from my experience the professionals are pretty fucking terrible at it too.
I'm autistic and my wife has PTSD and anxiety disorder. She's been through about 6 therapists, all of whom were highly recommended by other people we know or other therapists. We've been to three marriage counsellors. I've been to a therapist that was an "autism specialist" who told me after speaking to me for 3 minutes that I'm not autistic because I have at least 1 friend and I'm married. Perhaps these were all smart people, but between the 10 of them, they have so far been completely unable to help my wife and I with any of our problems. We've been throwing a small fortune at our various issues, and our lives are still a nightmare.
I'm even about to pay 10-15k out of pocket for a fucking therapy dog that's probably going to be a waste of money, because we are desperate and the professionals aren't very useful.
I'm not terribly familiar with them, but in general a therapy dog should have been trained in some way to ameliorate a specific condition - eg, to notice that the owner is approaching a panic attack and alert them with a specific series of barks, or to maintain a touch contact that helps the owner cope with anxiety, etc.
Your statements don't only apply to the tech crowd; I feel as though what you just said could easily be pasted across the web to provide a huge amount of help to anyone suffering from symptoms of mental illness. I am no expert, but this certainly helped my understanding of the issue a great deal, and I'm sure it would for others as well.
I'm a clinical psychologist who was in charge of the largest randomized controlled trial of online cognitive behavioral therapy for depression (n=500).
There is nothing that annoys me more then the every person is a special snowflake argument for why we can't use standardized treatment for mental health problem.
Exercise works really well for curing depression. I talked to a depressed patient yesterday who had no idea what he could do to combat his depression. I finally convinced him that if he couldn't think of anything else to do he should just try going for a walk and he told me later that it really helped.
I've had that exact conversation a hundred times.
Almost all patients I meet have the faulty belief that they are special. That they function in a way that is different from others and that often make them resist treatment.
Your head is connected to your physical body and therefore we can figure out what helps for everyone in the same way a doctor knows what to do about a broken foot.
Did you know that almost half off patients who suffer from anxiety take too shallow breaths and this creates respiratory alkalosis that creates a lot of the anxiety symptoms.
Did you know that by breathing calmly you will cure yourself from panic attacks? Forever.
Did you know that psychologists know how to cure insomnia in a single session?
The biggest hurdle to overcome is the idea that there exists a magic barrier where your disorder goes from being something that you can cure yourself to something you need a professional for. The barrier is an illusion.
You always have the power to change your mood for the better.
I'm not saying that therapy isn't useful. It is extremely useful and helps people tremendously.
I'm saying that every single individual can make a conscious effort to focus on improving their mental health irregardless of the fact that they are seeing a therapist.
Also. Almost every single person is illiterate about how to treat mental health problems.
I've been a fairly happy person all my life and I believe I owe it to the fact that I developed excellent coping mechanisms.
If you haven't got those you need to learn them. Once you have them it gets much easier to have good mental health.
I'm actually working on building free online treatment for depression right now. It is a work in progress but if anyone is interested they can check it out here.
It's not okay to lie about mental health. This is a dangerous post.
If you are someone who read that post and are about to take what was said as fact at least google the statement that is the most obviously fake: "Did you know that psychologists know how to cure insomnia in a single session?" and in doing so remember the word that was chosen: cure.
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Red flag: (you don't need help you can help yourself)
> The biggest hurdle to overcome is the idea that there exists a magic barrier where your disorder goes from being something that you can cure yourself to something you need a professional for. The barrier is an illusion.
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To blatantly dangerous and false statements:
> You always have the power to change your mood for the better.
From another one of this user's posts:
> In the last 50 years clinical psychologists have figured out effective psychological treatments for almost all mental health problems and manualized them so a professional can know or easily look up the best way to treat a disorder.
and:
> I regularly meet patients who are very depressed when we first meet who manage to overcome their depression in a couple of weeks.
Which would be like 2 appointments?
I would place serious doubt on anything this person claims.
No offence intended, doctor, but I would like to see citations for a couple of your statements, specifically "by breathing calmly you will cure yourself from panic attacks..forever," and "psychologists know how to cure insomnia in a single session." These certainly aren't common knowledge, and they sound a bit overstated, while your broken foot analogy would not survive any degree of detailed examination -- as I am sure you know -- so I'm a but unsatisfied with your comment.
I'd like to suggest that your patients' beliefs might originate with a valid, correct observation from their lives; their experience is that they do function in a way that is different from others in their lives, and they have generally, in their lives, seen that those who have insisted that they do not function any differently, do not, in truth, actually understand their experience at all. I would suggest that you cut them some slack.
It's generally true, to my understanding, that one "always [has] the power to change [one's] mood for the better;" but its also true that human volition isn't very well understood, that self-control is understood to be a limited (albiet apparently trainable) resource that correlates strongly to blood glucose, that some people seem to have innately poorer impulse control than others, and that everyone experiences absolute freedom of choice at all times only in a crass and unsatisfactory Sartrean sense.
This leaves me wishing to suggest to you that you might want to avoid relative comparisons of mental health that admit a "strength of will" argument as to why one person might succeed in overcoming depression where another might fail.
I am sure that you do have excellent coping mechanisms, and I am sure that you are happier for it; I am sure that, by definition, most anyone would be happier if they improved their ability to cope with events in their lives; I am sure that every single individual can make a conscious effort to focus on improving their mental health. However, some will fail; others will fail to try. I am sure that you understand that it is nothing other than good luck that you were able to develop excellent coping mechanisms, even if it is a good luck that most people, perhaps even most people with mental health problems, might share. But your remarks make some strong generalizations and propose a virtuous course towards self-empowered mental health without being duly respectful of the actuality.
> Did you know that psychologists know how to cure insomnia in a single session?
I've spent quite a bit of time and money working with psychologists, psychiatrists, done sleep studies and kept up with the latest research, and there's nothing I'm aware of that would support your claim.
So, I have a few questions for you:
1) Peer-reviewed sources?
2) Are you concerned that making these kinds of claims non-anonymously without publishing any data to back it up could cause you to lose to your medical license?
"Estimates say that 20% of all people experience depression at some point in their life. It’s a bit more common among women and half of all women experience depression compared to one in four men."
"Glen Moriarty, Founder and CEO, is a psychologist passionate about the Internet’s power to help people lead better lives. He has been involved in a number of services and organizations that support people in need. 7 Cups of Tea is his most recent endeavor; marrying his background in psychology with his love for technology. "
This is a really odd post. No citation for this trial, some very peculiar sweeping statements (pointed out by others), and a link to a website that looks more than a little hokey.
CBT is proven to be effective when the depression is low-level, ie not acute. Like when people can get it together to get out of the house and see a therapist. Really it amounts to little more than reversing the causality of standard behaviours (eg exercise to make yourself feel good rather than because you feel good).
The website linked to is extremely poorly written, and contains zingers like: 'The way out of depression is all about getting started doing all the things you once loved to do! Getting started is the hardest step but trust us, you will feel better after doing all the things you love!'
This is the kind of wonderful advice you get from people who've never suffered from crippling depression.
I'm curious to know which nation this person is a clinical psychologist in.
It's a shame because exercise is probably the single thing most likely to help depression. That and drugs.
"Did you know that almost half off patients who suffer from anxiety take too shallow breaths and this creates respiratory alkalosis that creates a lot of the anxiety symptoms."
When in stressful situations, [0] 'take big breaths, then breath out', repeat. This should lower your heart rate by 10%. There's a nice overview explanation of "respiratory sinus arrhythmia". [1]
What's your view on use of medication to treat depression, anxiety disorders, ADHD etc? And just to be clear, are you categorically stating that any panic or depressive disorder can be cured with breathing and exercise respectively?
> I'm a clinical psychologist who was in charge of the largest randomized controlled trial of online cognitive behavioral therapy for depression (n=500).
Peer-reviewed study, please?
> every person is a special snowflake argument
Right off the bat, you sound like a condescending asshole. I would never go to more than one session with you if this is how you treat patients.
> Exercise works really well for curing depression.
You really think you _cured_ someone's depression by telling them to take a walk sometimes? Granted, I find strenuous exercise is really helpful, but there are also days where you cannot will yourself out of bed to go to the gym. Having some asshole psychologist tell you that it's your fault just makes things worse.
> Did you know that by breathing calmly you will cure yourself from panic attacks? Forever.
Yeah, tell this to my girlfriend, who gets _more_ anxious when she's trying to take deep breaths.
> I've been a fairly happy person all my life
Because you never experienced significant trauma, you don't have an imbalance of chemicals in your brain, basically you just won the goddamn lottery. Do you take advice from people who win the Powerball about how to get rich?
> I'm actually working on building free online treatment for depression right now
This sounds really admirable. Looking at the website, it's so cluttered and confusing I don't think anyone could benefit from it. And it seems like you're recommending that people contact you over Telegram? Like anyone? Just your formal patients? This is a giant ethical and HIPAA minefield, offering professional medical services via text message.
Not sure if it's the same in the US but a clinical psychologist is not a psychiatrist.
A psychiatrist is a specialist medical doctor. They've been right through the whole med school thing.
A clinical psychologist takes an accredited psychology BSc and then takes further courses. These finalises with a doctorate, giving the Dr title. They are, however, not medical doctors.
It may have changed but a good rule of thumb is that a psychiatrist can prescribe the full range of treatments, including medication. From what I recall, a clinical psychologist focuses on prescription of therapy - they may need a psychiatrist to prescribe if they believe medication would be useful.
I don't think it's particular to the tech crowd, and I think it's a stumbling block even for psychiatry.
The problem is that psychiatry as practiced is an attempt to solve people, and people can't be solved; or if they can, it is unique (as you say) to the individual.
And really you're no different: you're giving out advice to people on how to manage their mental health. Your advice is harmless from a societal perspective in that it's literally what psychiatrists want you to be saying.
That doesn't mean you're not one of the misinformed internet commenters. It's not universally applicable. Most people don't have the time and money to shop around, even if the actual problems of their mental state allow them to seek help.
You can't come up with the words that are going to make people better. Nor should you be expected to!
Recognizing that psychiatrists are the ones we pay to be expected to act to make people better and they are themselves human and subject to human failures: this, I think, is why criticism of psychiatry emerges in topics like these.
I'm not disagreeing with your general advice, just criticizing your smugness and certainty in your opening lines. You're not better at this than we are just because you're giving the generic safe advice.
I think the real issue is that whether they are psychologists or psychiatrists, there seems to be no accountability in the field (outside of extremes like malpractice) in terms of whether or not they actually provide any value to the patient. If someone goes to a psychologist for 20 years and at the end of it they're still just as bad as when they started, there's no, "I'd like my money back from the last 20 years". Sometimes a professional might not know if they can help, but even if it becomes obvious to them that this is someone they can't help, they don't say, "I'm unable to help you. Stop being a customer." They just continue down the path. This isn't to say that most mental health professionals are taking people's money without actually doing anything (I have no idea if that's the case), but rather it's difficult for the patient to know if they are actually getting any help, it is difficult for the patient to hold the person accountable if they don't get the help they expected, and it is difficult for the patient to even know if they're right or wrong about the matter (since they are not the expert). This makes it easy for the patient to doubt and blame the mental health professional or the entire field, there's just so much grey area.
Depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, ADHD, and other mental health issues are extremely complex issues that can't be universally explained away by blood sugar or lack of spouses or loneliness as some of commenters here confidently claim. Every case is different, every person has their own complex set of issues and maladaptive coping behaviors and external stressors, and everyone responds to medications and lifestyle changes differently. Perhaps more importantly, navigating all of those individual variations is best left to a close patient-doctor relationship, leveraging each patients' feedback against the doctor's years of clinical experience.
The mistake many people make is trying to map others' mental health disorders on to their own prior experiences. That's why you see so many comments from people confidently declaring that curing depression is as simple as exercising because they felt sad a few years ago but felt better when they started running. That's great, and exercise is likely to help everyone, but that doesn't mean that another person's depression is simply a lack of exercise. Don't ever discount or downplay another person's mental health suffering, because that's only going to make things harder for them. Mental health sufferers often feel significant guilt about their symptoms, and having someone dismiss or downplay their suffering only compounds that.
Modern psychiatry isn't perfect and has plenty of room for improvement, but frankly it's a whole lot better than the comments here make it out to be. If you're struggling with mental health issues, make it a priority to see a professional. Get a second or third opinion if you're not happy with your treatment. But whatever you do, don't get sucked in to the misinformed internet commenters trying to discourage people from seeking treatment. Psychiatry can take some time, but the area under the curve of even marginal mental health improvements can add up to a huge difference over the course of your life.