To think that the majority of mental health problems are not ' chemical', but are a result of our life experiences

[mychemicalromance]

I've had a lot of interactions with various people over mental health issues lately, and I keep coming across this idea that the majority of these problems are 'chemical'.

I do accept that some mental health issues are caused by biological factors - my DH has low testosterone which affects his ability to manage anxiety.

But I do feel that people (esp in the UK) are very quick to identify the cause of any MH Issue as 'chemical' rather than to attribute it to a reaction to something in their past or present life...

"but they are easier and faster than proper therapy

And that's bad because? Should people have to suffer for much longer because you think ADs are some kind of easy choice?"

I meant easy choice for the doctor. No problem if ADs are the best treatment anyway, but I think the NHS prescribes them sometimes because it's cheaper than therapy or there is no therapy available.

not sure

" if the core reason is an (as yet) incurable genetic disorder then getting down to the core reason doesn't actually do much to stop the patient throwing themselves out of a window. "

Well, no, but I was talking about OP's argument that most mental health issues are to do with past experiences.

But Gwenhwyfar, the OP never presented any evidence for how the figures of different types of MH issues break down in the UK. We don't actually know that. Often, as a professional suggested above, it is probably a mixture of both.

Besides, as other posters have pointed out, somebody whose MH issue have been caused by trauma may be far too ill to access therapy until they have been stabilised with medication.

They may present a suicide risk which means they haven't got the time to wait for therapy (often a long-term process) to kick in. A dead person isn't usually very open to even the best of therapies.

And even if they do survive and do get the right kind of therapy, there may still be (as a previous poster pointed out from her own experience) permanent changes that the therapy does not reach. Should such a person be denied whatever sticking plaster makes life endurable, just because it is a sticking plaster?

YANBU at all...

I have a few Psychiatrist friends and it's always mad, sad or glad.

You can't medicate life.

Music, art and literature has been explaining mental states, solutions and emotions in plain sight for years.
It's all there.
Most mental health 'issues' are because of poor emotional understanding and support., because most people are useless at that.

Do we actually know about the proportions, scary?

Surely literature centres on dysfunctional human relations out of technical considerations for what works in a plot. If I was going to write a novel, I wouldn't write about somebody who had nice friends and a supportive family and just happened to be ill for reasons that the novel couldn't explain. How would that make an interesting plot?

It's for the same reason that operas rather give the idea that TB is something you only get if you are young and beautiful and have been abandoned by your young man; it's got nothing to do with medical statistics of the Victorian period; it's about what works on stage.

ILikeyourHairyHands Sun 02-Jul-17 04:54:14

"I have a few Psychiatrist friends and it's always mad, sad or glad."

Is this how your friends speak about their patients? How very respectful

"You can't medicate life."

What does this mean? When I went down with pneumonia during a stressful period of my life, no doubt because my immune system was weakened, should I not have been given antibiotics because the underlying cause was all that mattered and "you can't medicate against life"?

If my dd had had an abusive childhood and that had triggered her suicide attempts, does that mean she should have been denied the right to the medication that helped her to stop trying to kill herself?

If someone has bipolar disorder and swings between suicide attempts and getting the family home repossessed from manic episode spending, should the family just put up with that, when there is medication that could help them to be stable?

Have you ever had to deal with a distraught 11yo who has just found his sister after a suicide attempt?

"You can't medicate against life"- how about saving life??? Does that not matter?

I think there's room for both.
Trigger warning ahead - dunno if that's needed here.

I had horrendous PND after the birth of my first DC. I was suicidal and actively trying to figure out ways to kill myself (what stopped me was I couldn't figure out a way to do it that didn't traumatise anyone finding me and that would definitely work) and I was dragged to the GP who started me on Prozac. Say what you will, and I know it makes some people worse, but those pills saved my life. I didn't have time to engage in therapy and root around in my (happy) childhood and (generally happy) life before kids. So, while the birth obviously triggered something, it was necessary to act quickly to get me back on an even keel. I don't think there are quick answers here.

It also explains why twats like Piers Morgan only understand PTSD for events such as war

I wonder if biochemistry can explain twats like Piers Morgan?

I haven't read all of the comment but in my view both life experiences and chemical imbalances are to blame.
Both of my breakdowns were triggered by very stressful life events. It is my understanding that the constant release of adrenaline when you are stressed can affect and deplete the amount of dopamine and serotonin in your system and this can cause a chemical imbalance? Feel free to correct me if I am wrong but this made me feel better when I was going through it

I think psychiatry has moved on.
E.g. Doctors will now treat vit d deficiency, iron deficiency, hypothyroidism etc and people may respond enough to manage.
I had pmt and low iron levels (as a teenager) for a short while. It could have easily been diagnosed as depression but wasn't because I had a bright GP. So for me it was 'chemical'.
However if you have been abused for years I imagine it would be a case of terrible life experiences, and if you have other issues on top it would be horrendous.