As for the DSMIV book, it has grown like a malignant stage IV tumour. Not from knowledge so much as human arrogance and narcissism which has led us into the slope to hell.
All my journals over all those years became less readable. A waste of my attention. The same old crap, over and over. Authors getting points for a “peer-reviewed Update”. Enough.
Are you referring to DSM-V? I was taught stuff from the DSM-IV while in college and I believe the DSM-V was coming out around that time. I don't remember how contentious the DSM-IV was, but the DSM-V was met with a lot of contention from my psychology professors. There were a lot of issues with how many of the diseases were categorized and were partially done to be more "PC", so to speak. I believe there were even talks of many psychologists, psychiatrists and therapists still using the DSM-IV even if the DSM-V came out. I do wonder who are in charge of organizing the manual and if many of those people actually practiced.
Any relationship to SAD -- "Standard American Diet"? One sometimes should wonder what life would be like if we hadn't been poisoned so much.
There is more to the poisoning than diet, but that is a biggie. Pharmaceuticals are too. I had not given a thought in years to SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) until I read your post. Any tendency toward SAD seems to have passed after eliminating bad food, pharmaceuticals, and toxic household products, and reducing EMF/EMI.
On the other hand, reading the uncensored news can still be depressing, not to mention anxiety-inducing, in any season.
There's likely to be a relationship. The microbiome appears to have an influence on depression and mood symptoms, so it's not out of the ordinary to think that a poor microbiome from a bad diet would not contribute to SAD.
It's likely that a combination of behavior and light exposure are likely to influence SAD given that a lot of people are likely to be eating poorly during the holiday season.
thanks for this report, in my clinical practice id say the lowest hanging fruit is diet (high sugar, alcohol/drugs, nutrient deficient foods, Low D- note it takes time to rebuild,) sleep, exercise, isolation, STRESS, (to name a few) some of my pts swear by the bright light which is great... a proper evaluation helps dx severity of depression vs SAD vs something else, its important to realize if someone is too depressed to make changes meds can be an optional stepping stone to taking action.
There's definitely a lot of factors that all come together to cause SAD, and so it makes sense to try to tackle a few different aspects. I didn't cover alcohol and exercise but it's definitely true that many people may be drinking too much around this time while not getting enough sleep, as well as less exercise and staying indoors for too long.
Yes, and a plug for those bravely and extremely well written books by Canada’s fave MD, Jason Fung. The Obesity Code and The Diabetes Code. I made my dental patients read these instead of People-fk-up-yer-life Magazine in my office b4 escaping the woke profession i otherwise liked.
If we decide that our glass is half full vs half empty( gratitude) we can decide to carry the sunshine with us even when a couple clouds obstruct the view. The faith in things unseen(permanence) is bestowed upon us very early in development.
Then something happens to it. Is it stolen from us? SAD is at least partially a conscious phenomenon; lets not be fooled by the science-folk. The Inuit of the North would have moved south from that land devoid of sunshine for 3 months if this were not true. They practised spiritual wisdom by habit. It saved them. And it can save you too.
There are likely to be a social aspect of SAD, and I wouldn't deny the fact that depression and mood disorders may partially be caused by a social contagion phenomenon, however that doesn't mean that there isn't a scientific underpinning as well.
Our cultures are far different than that of the Inuit so we have to be careful of making apples to oranges comparisons. If the role of Vitamin D is to be believed, then the Inuit diet rich in fats, especially fatty fish, may help sustain Vitamin D levels unlike modern WEIRD diets. Generations of such a diet are also likely to be more beneficial to them as epigenetics as well as their microbiome may be shaped around such a diet.
Our diet in the WEIRD world could be argued to be rather novel relative to the rest of our species lineage, and so we haven't had time to properly adjust to such a diet (although our diets are likely not to be things we should adjust to, but that we should consider adjusting our diets away from the standard American diet).
That also doesn't take into account that we don't adjust our lifestyles in accordance to the sunlight. I'm not sure of the Inuit culture, but I wouldn't be surprised if their practices are changed during much darker months. However, in the West we make no changes. A 9-5 in the summer is a 9-5 in the winter, and that inability to adjust is likely having an issue on us as well.
So I wouldn't deny that part of SAD can be self-serving, in that we may reinforce behaviors and mental attitudes that align with SAD, especially if we consider that we may have it. But there's also plenty of other factors, predominately behavioral, nutritional, and seasonal, that can explain SAD in the West.
As for the DSMIV book, it has grown like a malignant stage IV tumour. Not from knowledge so much as human arrogance and narcissism which has led us into the slope to hell.
All my journals over all those years became less readable. A waste of my attention. The same old crap, over and over. Authors getting points for a “peer-reviewed Update”. Enough.
Are you referring to DSM-V? I was taught stuff from the DSM-IV while in college and I believe the DSM-V was coming out around that time. I don't remember how contentious the DSM-IV was, but the DSM-V was met with a lot of contention from my psychology professors. There were a lot of issues with how many of the diseases were categorized and were partially done to be more "PC", so to speak. I believe there were even talks of many psychologists, psychiatrists and therapists still using the DSM-IV even if the DSM-V came out. I do wonder who are in charge of organizing the manual and if many of those people actually practiced.
Any relationship to SAD -- "Standard American Diet"? One sometimes should wonder what life would be like if we hadn't been poisoned so much.
There is more to the poisoning than diet, but that is a biggie. Pharmaceuticals are too. I had not given a thought in years to SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) until I read your post. Any tendency toward SAD seems to have passed after eliminating bad food, pharmaceuticals, and toxic household products, and reducing EMF/EMI.
On the other hand, reading the uncensored news can still be depressing, not to mention anxiety-inducing, in any season.
There's likely to be a relationship. The microbiome appears to have an influence on depression and mood symptoms, so it's not out of the ordinary to think that a poor microbiome from a bad diet would not contribute to SAD.
It's likely that a combination of behavior and light exposure are likely to influence SAD given that a lot of people are likely to be eating poorly during the holiday season.
thanks for this report, in my clinical practice id say the lowest hanging fruit is diet (high sugar, alcohol/drugs, nutrient deficient foods, Low D- note it takes time to rebuild,) sleep, exercise, isolation, STRESS, (to name a few) some of my pts swear by the bright light which is great... a proper evaluation helps dx severity of depression vs SAD vs something else, its important to realize if someone is too depressed to make changes meds can be an optional stepping stone to taking action.
Thanks for providing your perspective!
There's definitely a lot of factors that all come together to cause SAD, and so it makes sense to try to tackle a few different aspects. I didn't cover alcohol and exercise but it's definitely true that many people may be drinking too much around this time while not getting enough sleep, as well as less exercise and staying indoors for too long.
Yes, and a plug for those bravely and extremely well written books by Canada’s fave MD, Jason Fung. The Obesity Code and The Diabetes Code. I made my dental patients read these instead of People-fk-up-yer-life Magazine in my office b4 escaping the woke profession i otherwise liked.
Stupidity Affective Disorder-
a feeling of depression caused by seeing how many people believe official lies without looking at the data
If we decide that our glass is half full vs half empty( gratitude) we can decide to carry the sunshine with us even when a couple clouds obstruct the view. The faith in things unseen(permanence) is bestowed upon us very early in development.
Then something happens to it. Is it stolen from us? SAD is at least partially a conscious phenomenon; lets not be fooled by the science-folk. The Inuit of the North would have moved south from that land devoid of sunshine for 3 months if this were not true. They practised spiritual wisdom by habit. It saved them. And it can save you too.
There are likely to be a social aspect of SAD, and I wouldn't deny the fact that depression and mood disorders may partially be caused by a social contagion phenomenon, however that doesn't mean that there isn't a scientific underpinning as well.
Our cultures are far different than that of the Inuit so we have to be careful of making apples to oranges comparisons. If the role of Vitamin D is to be believed, then the Inuit diet rich in fats, especially fatty fish, may help sustain Vitamin D levels unlike modern WEIRD diets. Generations of such a diet are also likely to be more beneficial to them as epigenetics as well as their microbiome may be shaped around such a diet.
Our diet in the WEIRD world could be argued to be rather novel relative to the rest of our species lineage, and so we haven't had time to properly adjust to such a diet (although our diets are likely not to be things we should adjust to, but that we should consider adjusting our diets away from the standard American diet).
That also doesn't take into account that we don't adjust our lifestyles in accordance to the sunlight. I'm not sure of the Inuit culture, but I wouldn't be surprised if their practices are changed during much darker months. However, in the West we make no changes. A 9-5 in the summer is a 9-5 in the winter, and that inability to adjust is likely having an issue on us as well.
So I wouldn't deny that part of SAD can be self-serving, in that we may reinforce behaviors and mental attitudes that align with SAD, especially if we consider that we may have it. But there's also plenty of other factors, predominately behavioral, nutritional, and seasonal, that can explain SAD in the West.