4 ms·
I have an unfounded suspicion that that this phenomenon is driving part of the increase in anxiety diagnoses. Based on what I've seen in a couple of different c
by enragedcacti 4y ago
I have an unfounded suspicion that that this phenomenon is driving part of the increase in anxiety diagnoses. Based on what I've seen in a couple of different chronic illness forums, lots of people have the impression that when doctors can't easily test for something then they often just drop it into the bucket of "anxiety", even when that experience of anxiety could be driven by physiological issues and not the other way around.
- hotpotamus 4y agoCertainly possible, but the problem is that anxiety is extremely common and can have quite pronounced but generalized symptoms. The saying in medicine is "when you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras". Meaning that you should not jump to exotic diagnoses lightly.
- enragedcacti 4y agoYou're right and I think its a good principle in general. I just wonder in this particular case how often it actually is zebras and if we would see doctors identifying true-positive cases of zebras (or just not dismissing it when the patient comes in and says "I think it's zebras because XYZ") more often if the medical system had different priorities.
- hotpotamus 4y agoIndeed, there are zebras out there, which is a problem. https://www.sciencealert.com/a-case-of-schizophrenia-found-to-be-a-bad-case-of-cat-scratch-disease#:~:text=Bartonella%20henselae%20is%20a%20bacterium,the%20heart%20and%20nervous%20system https://www.sciencealert.com/a-case-of-schizophrenia-found-t.... I read a long form story of that case where the teen's parents spent 2 years and nearly half a million dollars on medical treatment until the father actually was able to put the correct diagnosis together himself. I don't disagree that profit-driven healthcare is incredibly problematic.