The overdiagnosis of mental illness - Allen Frances

[Junior]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuCwVnzSjWA

This is an hour long lecture with a short Q & A section at the end. For those who have the time it is very interesting.

A couple of interesting points I noted:
- 80% of pysch meds are being prescribed by what we Aussies call GPs - doctors who treat every day illnesses - doctors who are not qualified to diagnose let alone treat psychiatric illness.
- for moderate to severe mental illness - psych meds have a LOW placebo effect, work well on 70% and if you add ECT, 80-90% - such people really need psychiatrists (he didn't specify which illnesses but I think he means schizophrenia, bipolar, and severe depression / melancholia)
- for mild to moderate mental illness - psychotherapy should be the first line of treatment; if they don't respond after 4-8 weeks, then look at medication
- psychiatry is looking to prevent mental illness rather than treat what is actually there - Allen Frances totally disagrees with this approach
- the DSM should not be the bible it has become, and getting a label (for which it is often used) should not be what determines access to services

[Luc]

80-90% - such people really need psychiatrists (he didn't specify which illnesses but I think he means schizophrenia, bipolar, and severe depression)

- Omega-3 fish oil http://antidepressantwithdrawal.info...hp/t-831.html?
http://www.psycheducation.org/depres...ds/Omega-3.htm

- psychotherapy - the Finnish fantastic Open dialogue Project http://antidepressantwithdrawal.info...=open+dialogue

The very common cause of psychosis/schizophrenia is a severe mental stress and traumas one has been through, especially in their childhood: http://antidepressantwithdrawal.info...1058#post21058


"All of us could have psychotic problems. It's an answer to a very difficult life situation. It's in a way, a kind of metaphorical way to speak of things that beforehand did not have anywhere they could be spoken of."

Jaakko Seikkula (Professor of Psychotherapy at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, best known for the family-centred approach to psychiatric treatment known as Open Dialogue developed in Western Lapland in the 1980s)

https://www.madinamerica.com/2013/03...chiatric-care/


"This is the land of open dialogue where for more than twenty years, they've been documenting their results which are the best in the western world, to the extent that schizophrenia is now disappearing from their region.

They're down to 2 cases per 100,000. A 90% decline in schizophrenia! And why? Because their first-episode cases are not becoming chronic."

- Robert Whitaker, author of Anatomy of an Epidemic

http://www.psychforums.com/schizophr...opic61263.html

http://antidepressantwithdrawal.info...=open+dialogue


- the elimination of toxins from our food, fluoride from water, saying no to GMO and vaccines scam - post 3 - http://antidepressantwithdrawal.info...ight=wakefield

- physical exercise

A review of studies stretching back to 1981 concluded that regular exercise can improve mood in people with mild to moderate depression. It also may play a supporting role in treating severe depression.

Another study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine in 1999, divided 156 men and women with depression into three groups. One group took part in an aerobic exercise program, another took the SSRI sertraline (Zoloft), and a third did both. At the 16-week mark, depression had eased in all three groups. About 60%–70% of the people in all three groups could no longer be classed as having major depression. In fact, group scores on two rating scales of depression were essentially the same. This suggests that for those who need or wish to avoid drugs, exercise might be an acceptable substitute for antidepressants. Keep in mind, though, that the swiftest response occurred in the group taking antidepressants, and that it can be difficult to stay motivated to exercise when you’re depressed.

A follow-up to that study found that exercise’s effects lasted longer than those of antidepressants. Researchers checked in with 133 of the original patients six months after the first study ended. They found that the people who exercised regularly after completing the study, regardless of which treatment they were on originally, were less likely to relapse into depression.

A study published in 2005 found that walking fast for about 35 minutes a day five times a week or 60 minutes a day three times a week had a significant influence on mild to moderate depression symptoms. Walking fast for only 15 minutes a day five times a week or doing stretching exercises three times a week did not help as much. (These exercise lengths were calculated for someone who weighs about 150 pounds. If you weigh more, longer exercise times apply, while the opposite is true if you weigh less than 150 pounds.)

How does exercise relieve depression? For many years, experts have known that exercise enhances the action of endorphins, chemicals that circulate throughout the body. Endorphins improve natural immunity and reduce the perception of pain. They may also serve to improve mood. Another theory is that exercise stimulates the neurotransmitter norepinephrine, which may directly improve mood.

Besides lifting your mood, regular exercise offers other health benefits, such as lowering blood pressure, protecting against heart disease and cancer, and boosting self-esteem. How often or intensely you need to exercise to alleviate depression is not clear, but for general health, experts advise getting half an hour to an hour of moderate exercise, such as brisk walking, on all or most days of the week.

http://www.health.harvard.edu/newswe...rt-excerpt.htm


- doing away once and for all, with MK Ultra, Monarch, Tavistock type of projects and institutes, and state-sponsored gang stalking, of which main goal is to drive people to psychosis (political dissidents), and then conveniently institutionalise them

- homeopathy

- energy healing

- taking care of the weak, poor and lonely, empathy towards others

- finding the meaning and motivaton in life, helping others to achieve the same

- and many more