Some natural anxiety remedies to look into are St.John’s Wort, SAMe, L-Theanine, and Tryptophan. There’s also cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and programs like Panic Away and The Linden Method, to name a few. Hope this helps!”

What is behind the mind walls? There may be a very complex issue that is in constant study. We have people of all kinds, including mentally ill, so-called normal minds, geniuses and so forth. The mind has been notorious to play tricks on us, let us down, skip to another level and so forth. It seems with the war between the brain and self there is never a winning ticket.

The fact is the mind holds the key to all areas of your body, but the central nervous system is the channel to the brain. In the majority instances if the brain is affected is a direct result of the central nervous system and spinal column. If the spinal column is crooked or injured then it will affect the nervous system, which works its way toward the brain. Once the brain is hit, the troubles begin and frequently do not quite until someone finds out the cause of the problem.

No, that is not his stance at all. Szasz stance is one of an activist for patient rights. He argues that psychiatrists should not have the power to involvountarily confine and force medicate people with a diagnosis of a mental disorder.

Instead of reading him as saying ‘there are no mental disorders’ and denying the suffering of individuals one is better to read him as saying ‘mental disorders are the result of sickness in society / social structure rather than defecits or defects or dysfunctions within the suffering individual.

He thinks that the insanity defence should be done away with (people should take responsibility for their actions and we shouldn’t be overly paternalistic about people diagnosed as mentally ill by giving them diminished responsibility).

He thinks that often improved social supports ‘treat people’ better and more safely than medications (hence is against forced medicating).

He is a PATIENT RIGHTS ACTIVIST. Its just the drug companies and psychiatrists / psychologists who push the whole ‘we are fixing your brokenness ‘ line. And when patients (who are suffering) think they need to buy into that to be a ‘good patient’ and get a little help then well… Harm more than help? I reckon so…

> As a long time sufferer of treatment resistant chronic depression, it is infuriating to read (or hear people say) that depression isn’t an illness with physiological causes. This is a denial of the conditions of millions of people who suffer from this terrible and sometimes fatal chronic disease.

I don’t think that anybody who is here said that… That being said, to say that a condition currently in the DSM isn’t an illness or isn’t a mental illness etc DOES NOT imply that the person is undermining the very real distress and suffering of individuals who have been diagnosed with the disorder.

Consider this: Witches suffered a lot in the middle ages.

Now consider this: THERE AREN’T ANY WITCHES

Get it?

Everybody gets headaches. That doesn’t mean that brain tumors aren’t real. Nobody would deny life saving insulin for a diabetic. It’s time to get past this senseless philosophical argument about depression (and a host of other “mental” illnesses). They’re real, they cause huge amounts of suffering and economic damage, and its time we unleashed the medical-research community to find a cure.

Science surely has a long way to go in determining causes and effective treatments for depression. Again, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t physical causes and pharmocological treatments that could be found.

As a long time sufferer of treatment resistant chronic depression, it is infuriating to read (or hear people say) that depression isn’t an illness with physiological causes. This is a denial of the conditions of millions of people who suffer from this terrible and sometimes fatal chronic disease.

Everybody gets headaches. That doesn’t mean that brain tumors aren’t real. Nobody would deny life saving insulin for a diabetic. It’s time to get past this senseless philosophical argument about depression (and a host of other “mental” illnesses). They’re real, they cause huge amounts of suffering and economic damage, and its time we unleashed the medical-research community to find a cure.

Are mental disorders like that, however? If the WHO came back and said ‘prevalence of mental illness is 98%’ then would we think ‘wow better divert more health care funding in that direction’ or would we think that they had missed the point, rather?

Grieving is not an illness. Grieving for loved ones who have passed on is not an illness. The DSM gives us one year to grieve before we have ‘depression’ and medication is appropriate. Ancient Greek society gave people four years to grieve before people were considered to be sick. How much does diagnosing people still grieving after one year (instead of after four) boost prevalence?

If only it was a philosophical issue. Unfortunately the issue is political as well (who gets treatment? who gets publicly funded / health insurance reimbursable treatment?)

I don’t think that people are more depressed now than they used to be. I think that we are expanding our concept. A concept that used to be reserved for people who were fairly catatonic is now being applied to people who want to feel ‘better than well’.

I know people are hurting… But I think it is a sad state of affairs when people are encouraged into dx of depression and medication / therapy instead of being encouraged into doing something meaningful in their community / becoming involved with things that are meaningful to them / reaching out to others etc etc.