So I am writing my comment while reading with a few questions I have when they come up (I will delete them if I feel they have been answered later in the post as this is more so I do not forget them)
At one point you state "There is evidence demonstrating that ADMs (anti-depressants) are not more effective than Cognitive Therapy in the treatment of depression." but is it not also true some other mental disorders, such as borderline personality disorder, can actually manifest and be misdiagnosed as depression and treating these conditions with the same medication as depression is less effective?
Not certain if I worded that in a way that makes sense. So to elaborate, in my psych class when we went over personality disorders we were told that someone being symptomatic of depression cold really be showing signs of something else and due to the limited information you are only perceiving it as depression. This can be dangerous as some of those conditions can be worsened by the use of certain medications (this was a big reoccurring conversation when going over a lot of personality disorders).
So to restake my question, could the 16 week disparity of depression treatments (with ADMs compared to CT) be influenced by the potential that some of those diagnosed with depression might have another condition manifesting itself that way? Like not necessarily a personality disorder but maybe something like anxiety built up and manifested depression like symptoms (or depression itself) and that by sing antidepressants instead of something more suited to fix the cause of the depression might actually decrease effectiveness?
I might be wrong on this, and if you feel I am please correct me.
My next question is in relation to the part about how mental illness is in part related to society now. For reference I will refer to the first statement in that section made here:
Well, not all but, most mental issues, mainly those rooted in stress are associated with the life style and social values cultivated nowadays, yes.
So my question is specifically about the stress part. Has stress not existed in humans forever or have we been cultivating an environment that is more and more stressful?
No questions relating to this section about psychology only studying sick people but rather just some random things that I have read over time that support your claim that I found interesting. So when I first read that header for the, section I will call it, I immediately thought of the Standford prison experiment as the book written on it was the first thing that had spiked my interest in psychology. In fact, one of my first one-on-one conversations with my psych professor was talking about how that experiment spiked interest and she responded by talking about how she had actually written her dissertation on that, might have been another major paper that she wrote but one of her major papers she wrote was on the subject. We had a lot of interesting conversations, and even had a few disagreements on certain topics but our disagreements were really civil. Still one of my favourite professors I have ever had and everyone else I know that had a class with her rates her as one of their favorites.
Am I trying to tell you that psychology holds the grand solutions for all humanity’s troubles? Absolutely not! Because it doesn’t. And this is why I try to raise your awareness about things such as situations that call for the use of anti-depressants and those that do not.
(statement, not question) This statement is something that could be changed and used for pretty much every situation. Psychology is a tool, one of many that can be used. I really respect how you approached this post! My apologies about any confusion that may arise from this reply by the way.
This is a very clear comment @kryzsec, you put your queries forward in a straight-forward manner while also making interesting, relevant observations (with no confusion). And there is one here that I liked in particular! I will let you know when we get to it! :)
Your question about a possible misdiagnosis of a patient due to him or her be concealing information from the clinician is a reality that mental health professionals diagnosing patients face everyday. Sadly, this is why sometimes the same patient receive many different diagnosis through the course of the treatment. Something that is frequently seen in cases of borderline personality disorder (as you mentioned) and bipolar. When the client fails to report, let's say, their episodes of mania and only discuss the low-mood with the clinician. Well you know about this ...
So answering your question (that contained nothing wrong in it!):
This is indeed a possibility! But not in this particular study because after the 16 week treatment, the research continued for another 2 years, throughout which the participants were regularly evaluated; therefore, making the likelihood of any other comorbid and or different condition other than depression be dismissed rather low. Of course this is a systematically conducted experiment. In real life things do NOT work quite like that :/ This is when the contribution of family and friends becomes essential for the therapist, as it provides "other eyes" to the overall situation.
And here comes the part I like the most :)
What a great question this is because it comes together with an insight "Stress always existed in human existence".
Yes, and stress is one of the very components on our biology that has allowed us to thrive as a species! However, the notion that Biological Psychologists put forward is that although culturally humans have come a long way from their ancestors, the timespan of a few ten thousands years is not sufficient to allow the biological evolution that modern life demands from our species. In other words, our brains and emotional systems are still pretty much the same from back in the day when our species lived in small kin-groups as hunters/ gatherers.
Thank you very much for you incredibly kind words about my writing.
They are very encouraging :)
All the best to you always.
ps: In my view there is nothing more constructive than a respectful discussion among people with diverging opinions! I suppose that is why you liked that teacher you mentioned.
Wow this response is quite amazing! I have to thank you for answering my questions as you did. I wish the best to you as well!