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This was very good. It rings true to my own experience with depression. Summary:
1) There is a lot of overlap in the symptoms of mental disorders that we label distinct: depression, ADHD, OCD, anxiety, bipolar, etc. Mental disorders are often comorbid with each other (if you have one you are more likely to have others). And drugs meant for one disorder often work on others. For example, antidepressants are often prescribed for anxiety, bipolar, and schizophrenia, not just depression.
DSM haters know this one: psychiatry applies the medical gaze to taxonomize symptoms into “illnesses,” even though the symptoms are complex phenomena of mind not body, and the underlying physical illness is often not observable or understood. I was reminded here of Thomas Szasz, who famously said mental illness is a “myth” without an explanation of physical disease. Well, what if there *is* a coherent physical explanation? 17 replies
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2) Mental disorders are comorbid with metabolic dysfunction. If you have heart disease or diabetes, you’re likely to get depressed. If you’re depressed you might get heart disease or diabetes. Who cares about the direction of causality here!? Both are bad! “Metabolic syndrome” has become a good explanation for obesity, diabetes, and CVD. We should take its associations with mental symptoms seriously, too.
3) If we frame mental disorders as metabolic dysfunction of the brain, there are pretty good explanations for why existing treatments work via metabolic pathways. And things that improve metabolic health (exercise, diet, sleep, avoiding drugs, reducing stress) all probably improve mental health. Almost banal, but true! 3 replies
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