3 ms·

Didnt a lot of studies finally come out by 2022 showing that SSRIs are not actually effective for most people, no more than a placebo? And the whole link betwee

by EGreg 2y ago

Didnt a lot of studies finally come out by 2022 showing that SSRIs are not actually effective for most people, no more than a placebo? And the whole link between serotonin and depression was spurious… 2021: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2776611 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/... 2022: https://www.jwatch.org/na55225/2022/08/16/antidepressants-work-only-small-subset-patients https://www.jwatch.org/na55225/2022/08/16/antidepressants-wo... 2023: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-022-01661-0 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-022-01661-0 In any case, I believe that ADHD, Depression and many other “umbrella” psychiatric diagnoses are being overdiagnosed, much like “hysteria” was for hundreds of years (eg 1 in 4 middle-aged women is on antidepressants now, and the opioid epidemic in men was largely exacerbated by the pharma industry, as has the overdiagnosis of ADHD prescribing amphetamines to kids). To be fair, the actual incidence of phychiatric conditions from ADHD to autism to depression has increased, as well as autoimmune disorders, diabetes etc. although not as much as the pharma industry wants us to believe. It could very well be the result of upstream changes in nutrition (eg wild increases in sugars like fructose across the board, antibiotic overuse on factory farms, buildup of microplastics everywhere etc.), and to a large degree society (including loneliness, dating, relationships, work, etc) and medicating them downstream (eg with amphetamines or opioids) is just a bandaid. Late stage capitalism has had a direct role in exacerbating this. For example, the tech industry (which many on HN are involved in) has redefined dating, relationships, job searches, political discourse, and much more. All of these affect how people interact. A seminal book even back in 2001 was “Bowling Alone” by Robert Putnam, who noticed Americans aren’t attending communal activities like they used to. Corporations have co-opted many movements (like women’s lib) to make people work harder, neglect their kids, eat unhealthy food, become obese, develop diabetes, lose sleep, and now be part of the gig economy etc. I like to show this Cadillac commercial from 2014 as a great example of the corporate brainwashing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNzXze5Yza8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNzXze5Yza8

seec 2y ago
Yeah that's just society absolutely wants to label/categorize behavior that appear to fall outside of the normal, most of the time failing to understand that those behavior have roots in the genetic makeup of the person as well as his personal experience. Most of the time there is nothing really wrong with the diagnosed perso but capitalist/productive society push for normalized behavior so that individuals have less difference and more exploitable/interchangeable. Funny thing is that you can make the arguments that many of those behaviors are actually adaptation to the environment and may sometimes be the future of humanity. That do not please the productivistes who want to extract as much value of every individual as possible, like we do with cattle. Now they are some very crazy people out there but it's a very small part of the population and you can often trace the problem back to genetics or physical impairement (environmental or else). Solving that sort of thing with drugs or therapy is basically wishful thinking, but it makes money so I guess that's ok... As far as I can tell the whole field of psychology/psychiatry is basically just one step removed from full on charlatanism. We can learn some stuff about people's behavior, take some moral judgment about what's good or not (changes with time as well as political viewpoint) but the drive to specifically categorize is a bit crazy in itself...
- neom 2y ago
  I read a bunch of your comments. For someone who has no idea what they're talking about you sure hold some dangerously belief. I'd strongly advise people to ignore folks who are clearly not experienced in something they profess to know about.
  - EGreg 2y ago
    What I said is factually-based The person who replied to me I think blew it out of proportion, and went beyond what is supported by facts While you may be right to caution people against the more reckless positions, I wish you’d also engage with what I actually said. Because the various industries thrive on exactly all of us policing each other and cautioning to not question all the convenient assumptions they are relying on us to perpetuate, to prop up the system.

by EGreg 2y ago

seec 2y ago

Yeah that's just society absolutely wants to label/categorize behavior that appear to fall outside of the normal, most of the time failing to understand that those behavior have roots in the genetic makeup of the person as well as his personal experience. Most of the time there is nothing really wrong with the diagnosed perso but capitalist/productive society push for normalized behavior so that individuals have less difference and more exploitable/interchangeable. Funny thing is that you can make the arguments that many of those behaviors are actually adaptation to the environment and may sometimes be the future of humanity. That do not please the productivistes who want to extract as much value of every individual as possible, like we do with cattle. Now they are some very crazy people out there but it's a very small part of the population and you can often trace the problem back to genetics or physical impairement (environmental or else). Solving that sort of thing with drugs or therapy is basically wishful thinking, but it makes money so I guess that's ok... As far as I can tell the whole field of psychology/psychiatry is basically just one step removed from full on charlatanism. We can learn some stuff about people's behavior, take some moral judgment about what's good or not (changes with time as well as political viewpoint) but the drive to specifically categorize is a bit crazy in itself...

neom 2y ago
I read a bunch of your comments. For someone who has no idea what they're talking about you sure hold some dangerously belief. I'd strongly advise people to ignore folks who are clearly not experienced in something they profess to know about.
- EGreg 2y ago
  What I said is factually-based The person who replied to me I think blew it out of proportion, and went beyond what is supported by facts While you may be right to caution people against the more reckless positions, I wish you’d also engage with what I actually said. Because the various industries thrive on exactly all of us policing each other and cautioning to not question all the convenient assumptions they are relying on us to perpetuate, to prop up the system.