Source: John Fetterman: social media made battle with depression more difficult | US Senate | The Guardian . . . The first-term senator added: “It’s just astonishing that so many people want to take the time to hop online and to say things to a stranger that never did anything to you – especially members of my family.” Fetterman’s blunt remarks about his depression, the resulting hospitalization, and the effect of social media came during an exclusive interview with NBC’s Meet the Press that the news program aired Sunday. In the pre-recorded conversation with Meet the Press host Kristen Welker, Fetterman said virtually everyone he knew advised him to stay off social media after he defeated Republican celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz for an open Senate seat in November of 2022. Fetterman – once the mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania, and the ex-lieutenant governor of the state – triumphed despite vocal support for Oz from former president Donald Trump. . . . Reflecting on my life, an undiagnosed depression led me to leave college to join the Marine Corps. Three weeks into bootcamp, 5:20 AM standing in line for a 15 minute breakfast, I had my first relief from depression. Since that moment, life has always gotten better. Sure there were a few knocks along the way, loss of my wife of 43 years was grim. But it occurs to me, early detection and treatment of depression would be a great help. Many college dropouts might complete their studies. Other symptoms ranging from hurting self to hurting others might also be relieved. This is not a trivial problem as diagnosis requires effort. Being 74 on Medicare, every year I take an 'attitude' test to detect early depression and cognitive decline. No, it should not be a 'magic pill' but perhaps they can help bridge the gap. Depression is not the root of all evils. Rather, it has a role even if difficult to quantify. Bob Wilson
Some politicians with mental issues rose to the top by denying treatment. There is real hope that an organic substance, psilocybin will help and it is available in cow pastures around America. Single-Dose Psilocybin Treatment for Major Depressive Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial | Depressive Disorders | JAMA | JAMA Network.
Timothy Leary started out as a Harvard lecturer and researcher on subjects including psilocybin. He later married the model who became Uma Thurman’s mother. A sure cure for what ails you, a model and magic mushrooms (which are sold legally in places like Jamaica).
When I think of depression, besides my wife's struggles (will Circle back to that later), I think of Rick Warren - number one best seller author Purpose Driven Life & founder of mega church Saddleback California. It was used for the McCain Obama debate that in part helped put Obama in office. His son was clinically depressed & ultimately committed suicide. When I think of all the prayers for healing as well as medical help & much counseling, ultimately it didn't help. Taking his own life .... after a day of spending much time with cherished friends/family loved ones .... that joy didn't help enough to offset the on coming darkness. The Pain to friends & family that brought. With all the support & medical help available to such a person - yet one could still take such a dark permanent road was hard to grasp. Rick Warren told the story how even as early as early teens his son telling him, "dad, why can't Jesus just take me now ..." In my better ½'s case - it appears to be genetic to some degree - as her mom's dad committed suicide ... & as a kid - my wife's mom threatened to do it to herself - as grandfather had already done. Yuk - it's the stuff you don't learn of - until after the wedding.
We live in a crazy world where if you have a traumatic experience/accident and get broken bones or a soft tissue injury you'll get treatment and time off to get well again. But if you "aren't injured" or "survived without injury" your mental health could have experienced a devastating injury that will take a long time to recover from, but no time off to get well again and the RX industry will be eager to load you up on long term use of psych meds that tend to inhibit/prevent you from working through the mental recovery process rather than assist/allow you to get well again in a way that doesn't get you dependent on the RX industry mix and matching their super expensive mind control cocktails for the rest of your life. Decades from now we will look back on this barbaric behavior for what it really is...
A problem is that physical injuries are relatively easy to quantify, reasonably easy to determine when healed. Regardless, people play games and try to take advantage of the system. I can't even imagine the system gaming that would occur if "mental" days were equally available, although I guess they already are, in a way....
Hummm, sounds like a task for Dr. AI. Have a machine AI system handle the diagnosis and quantification: ELIZA - Wikipedia ELIZA is an early natural language processing computer program created from 1964 to 1967[1] at MIT by Joseph Weizenbaum.[2][3] Created to explore communication between humans and machines, ELIZA simulated conversation by using a pattern matching and substitution methodology that gave users an illusion of understanding on the part of the program, but had no representation that could be considered really understanding what was being said by either party.[4][5][6] Whereas the ELIZA program itself was written (originally)[7] in MAD-SLIP, the pattern matching directives that contained most of its language capability were provided in separate "scripts", represented in a lisp-like representation.[8] The most famous script, DOCTOR, simulated a psychotherapist of the Rogerian school (in which the therapist often reflects back the patient's words to the patient),[9][10][11] and used rules, dictated in the script, to respond with non-directional questions to user inputs. As such, ELIZA was one of the first chatterbots ("chatbot" modernly) and one of the first programs capable of attempting the Turing test.[12] I once introduced a young lady to Eliza and within 10 minutes, she was on the verge of tears. I never again repeated that experience. Bob Wilson
Some laymen have trouble seeing mental illness in others and some victims know nothing else. Add weapons and you get the US.
Here is a novel take on Depression from a book (Rocking Chair Prophet by Matthew Kelly) I am reading: "If there is one idea needed to reframe the conversation around depression it may be that depression isn't a human malfunction. It's a messenger. We look at depression as an indication that something is wrong, when in fact it may be better characterized as an indication that something is right. Depression is proof that all the highly intricate systems within you are working. It's an alarm sounding within, warning you that all is not well and that adjustments are needed. Depression is always trying to share a profound message about our lives and who we are becoming. Depression is a manifestation of unmet needs. It is always asking: What needs are not being met in your life? When we ignore what matters most in favor of what's trivial and superficial, there will always be consequences." "Sometimes depression is caused by a chemical imbalance in our brains, but we don't spend enough time exploring the causes behind that chemical imbalance or what changes to our lifestyle could restore the much needed balance. Perhaps the imbalance is in the way we live our lives." Maybe this would help someone who is struggling with this now- maybe not- but thought it worth posting.
