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quote:

Originally posted by Taipan I, for example, do not have anxiety. However xanax makes me feel better . As I'm sure it does to most people. My point is its very hard to isolate the specific disorder. My suspiscion is everyone suffers from all diseases but to different degrees. Therefore its not so black and white. It's not like you have or dont have anxiety. It's more like to what degree does the anxiety impair your lifestyle.

This sums up my feelings on most forms of mental illness extremely well. Unlike cancer, or diabetes, I don't think of mental illness as an on/off switch. Rather, most of the garden-variety "conditions" can be thought of as a 1-10 scale. Someone with an anxiety level of 5 or 6 would feel very uncomfortable in crowds, but be able to deal with it. Anything above that, and they may find it hard to function, needing medication or removal/avoidance of that particular situation.

I also tend to think of these things as latent within all of us, with some people's base levels higher, and more easily pushed into the problem zone, while some people's tolerances are better. The triggers? Alcohol, drugs, severe psychological and/or physical trauma. These triggers simply amplify traits that are already present.

I also believe it's this sliding scale effect which has led to rampant over-diagnosis of mental illnesses by doctors. They see symptoms presenting themselves at small, manageable levels and then think, "Oh shit, this person is sick, pull out the drugs!" when things are still very manageable and only slightly worse than that found in the rest of the population.

I say all this from (slight) experience. Depression runs in my family. My older sister has it quite badly, while on and off, I've been mildly depressed since I was 16 or 17. I've never bothered to go to a doctor or get medication, because I can usually beat it back by exercising hard, eating right and getting a lot of sunshine. There have been periods when this hasn't been possible, and they were tough, but my point stands that a lot of people are too quick to run to their doctor.

quote:

Originally posted by Domesticated This sums up my feelings on most forms of mental illness extremely well. Unlike cancer, or diabetes, I don't think of mental illness as an on/off switch. Rather, most of the garden-variety "conditions" can be thought of as a 1-10 scale. Someone with an anxiety level of 5 or 6 would feel very uncomfortable in crowds, but be able to deal with it. Anything above that, and they may find it hard to function, needing medication or removal/avoidance of that particular situation. I also tend to think of these things as latent within all of us, with some people's base levels higher, and more easily pushed into the problem zone, while some people's tolerances are better. The triggers? Alcohol, drugs, severe psychological and/or physical trauma. These triggers simply amplify traits that are already present. I also believe it's this sliding scale effect which has led to rampant over-diagnosis of mental illnesses by doctors. They see symptoms presenting themselves at small, manageable levels and then think, "Oh shit, this person is sick, pull out the drugs!" when things are still very manageable and only slightly worse than that found in the rest of the population. I say all this from (slight) experience. Depression runs in my family. My older sister has it quite badly, while on and off, I've been mildly depressed since I was 16 or 17. I've never bothered to go to a doctor or get medication, because I can usually beat it back by exercising hard, eating right and getting a lot of sunshine. There have been periods when this hasn't been possible, and they were tough, but my point stands that a lot of people are too quick to run to their doctor.

While I do agree with most of this, I don't think there's necessarily a rampant over-diagnosis of mental illnesses by doctors. They may just be recognizing symptoms earlier now than they have in the past. Issues such as anxiety and depression are tricky, because one could theoretically "fake" such a disorder for access to drugs (xanax, valium, etc.) but when these conditions are legitimate, they can pose serious issues to physical health. Anxiety can lead to high blood pressure, and depression can obviously lead to suicide. Doctors' first responsibility is to protect the physical health of their patients, and if a mental disorder threatens to cause physical problems, I don't see a problem in treating the disorders with medication.

Again, mental health issues are tricky because there's no real physical testing that can be done to diagnose many of them. The same kind of issue seems to be even more of a problem with ADD/ADHD. The amount of people prescribed Ritalin or Adderall is astounding, and it's hard for me to believe that so many people actually need those drugs. When I was in college, I knew dozens of people who used (abused) them by either snorting them in place of cocaine, or using them to stay up for all-night study binges before tests. I think all of these things pose significant issues for the Psychological community, as some people are very good at faking mental health issues.

I lived my life thinking anxiety, depression and pretty much anything mental was just fake. I had a really bad break up a few years back and I instantly got a severe anxiety disorder. I was a heavy weed smoker for up untill that break up and now I wouldn't dare smoke. I still live with anxiety today but I learned to control it most of the time. To this day I still can't believe that a break up managed to set my brain off into a whole new direction.

quote:

Originally posted by Lopiking Hmm you may be right.. I didn't make this thread to make fun of people though

You're obviously mental...

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