New view on mental health

[Finallylostit]

Read this today. This Doctor is refreshingly honest and a thought provoking perspective on the explosion in the mental health industry

www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-14576559/REAL-cause-explosion-autism-depression-psychiatrist-DR-ALISTAIR-SANTHOUSE.html

Great contribution

This 100%

I read this too but not in the Daily Mail. I think it makes a lot of sense in many cases. This is a quote from the article by the psychiatrist, Dr Sandhouse:-

“We are now medicalising people who not so long ago would have been considered normal."
Dr Santhouse added: "The current trend means that if someone says they have a mental disorder, they will almost invariably find a professional to endorse it. "

This 100%! I personally know parents who failed to get nhs diagnosis and paid for private insisting that it significant impacts daily life, when the reality is they’re just not coping very well as parents and want a label to justify their own difficulties being parents . What some families really need is support for parents who struggle to cope for one reason or another, not a label to stick on their perfectly normal kids and make them feel different. Some parents of kids who are a bit behind at school seek private diagnosis so kid gets more support and attention at school. I’m talking from my own personal subjective experience here. Not about my own kids btw. I just feel saddened that normal kids are telling people they have special different brains when really their parents are failing them a bit.

seek private diagnosis so kid gets more support and attention at school.

Support in school is based on needs, not diagnosis. A diagnosis doesn’t automatically equal more support and attention.

Sorry, but there is a connection.

If you have Autism or ADHD, they often cause anxiety or depression.

FWIW, additionally, I disagree with what you say. I think it's naive to believe they are merely differences.

The over diagnosis - if there is some - points to flaws in the medical profession.

Again this is another piece of nonsense being circulated by people who’ve… I don’t even know what to be honest.

Anyone diagnosing privately must also work for the NHS. It’s a professional requirement. The diagnostic criteria is the same. A child is not diagnosed based on parental reports alone. That does not happen.

And. And this is key.

The waiting list right now for NHS assessments is years. Parents aren’t waiting for that, going through it the process and then getting a private assessment. It is just not a thing.

What over diagnosis?

So many on this thread have no idea what an ADHD or ASD diagnosis entails. Nobody is diagnosing or being diagnosed or having their child diagnosed for shits and giggles. Some people just don’t like that other people are different and seek to invalidate their experiences. Little more than playground bullies.

The UK uses a mixture of the DSM and ICD and so what if there isn’t a chromosome marker, no one cares.

I totally agree.

I’ve never met anyone incorrectly diagnosed in a sample size of over 800.

Spoken by someone who has clearly never tried to obtain a diagnosis.

Why are you commenting if you don't care?

Because you’re relentlessly engaging in a thread in a way that detracts from the actual issue and sharing nonsense

I don’t care if there is a chromosome marker for autism. I don’t need there to be a chromosome marker to know it exists.

well that wasn't the point I was making but that's nice for you

and what "nonsense" have I shared?

It’s been helpful for all the neurodivergent children and adults I’ve supported over the years. So yes, it is nice for me. I’ve improved people’s lives. Thanks.

May I ask what your medical qualifications are?

may i ask what "nonsense" I have shared?

I have absolutely no idea.

I think @Mightymoog was correct in saying that it is generally easier to diagnose something where there is a clear physiological marker for a condition. This can be something at a genetic level such as an extra chromosome in the case of Down’s syndrome.
Or it can be something like blood sugar levels as in diabetes.

(It’s important to note that not everything is clear cut even when there are physiological markers though. Often things are subtle, or complicated. Even in Down’s Syndrome, some cases get missed as they are mosaic cases with an extra chromosome present in only some cells.)

We don’t have that sort of physiological test for autism at the moment, maybe never will.

Instead, we look at behaviours and difficulties that a person faces in order to diagnose. The diagnostic criteria are subject to revision, the diagnostic thresholds change, it’s subjective to a degree too.

I wish there were a physiological marker. There wouldn’t be room for accusations of over-diagnosis then.

I think this thread has taken a weird turn, which is a pity actually.

I genuinely don't know why some posters are getting so arsey with me.
( let's see if you get a slating too 😁)