I respect physicians and yes, even most surgeons. They do great work and are the primary caregivers for most of the population seeking treatment for common mental health concerns like depression and anxiety. But sometimes they don’t know what they’re talking about. It concerns me because so many people see doctors as authoritative — no matter what their specialty. Many people’s ears perk up when a doctor speaks.
On Thursday, David Volpi, M.D. decided to share with Huffington Post readers the results of a bunch of survey data — released back in March — about the use of technology and mental health symptoms.
But unlike the researchers, Dr. Volpi doesn’t carefully distinguish between cause and effect and appears to jump to the conclusion that heavy technology use is causing these symptoms (rather than the other way around — that people who are more prone to such problems, or that have them already, simply turn to technology to use to feel more emotionally connected with others and relieve some of those symptoms).
That’s one reason that I believe docs like Dr. Volpi should stick to surgery rather than disseminating psychological research results to the public. But wait, there’s more…
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I should like very much to know which technology is to blame in 1967 when I was 9 and had my first major depression and suicidal thoughts? TV was Black and White and my older sister picked all the shows as we are completely different personalities I would read rather than watch what she picked. TV also went off the air at midnight back then. I was hauled off to the mayo clinic for many rounds of test, as they never talked to ME. I was not dx. They told my parents I had migraines(true) & unlcers(true) but neither were the real problem. My next depression w/ sicidal thoughts and this time I tried to act on them took place in 77 as a freashman at UW. A policeman drove me by to the dorm and at my one trip to the campus counslor I was told with a hyper smile all I had to do was change my thoughts and Voila my feelings would change. At that time we had a computer it took up an entire building of its own and my dorm was the only one w/ a monitor(in the basement-a huge thing with no pictures, just a key board and a countous run of paper-it took a minium of 20min to get a reply)
My question; Is there really more mental illness or is it simply better(not always accurate) dx? Are we less willing to just accept that there are illnesses and wanting to point the finger of blame at something–anything rather than accept that there is suffering in the world.