AHunter3-SHUT THE FUCK UP about psychiatry!

[Guinastasia]

From here.

Look, I understand that you have had some horrible experiences. But you know what? I'm sick and tired of you horning in on threads about mental illness where people are seeking support and spewing the same, tired old bullshit. Much of your information is horrible out of date and doesn't always apply to every situation.

You think psychiatry is evil? Fine. But don't sit there and tell someone they're depressed that by seeking treatment, they are, how did you put it?

You voluntarily play with psychiatry, you surrender a significant portion of your self-determination.

No, by taking the steps to seek treatment, some of us are taking control of our self-determination.

You can't sit there and act like the expert, because you're hardly an unbiased source. I'd love to see how you would handle a John Hinkley Jr. or a Mark David Chapman.

[Measure for Measure]

When you use the caps lock key it appears that you are shouting, which is problematic in a thread about psychiatry.

[Go You Big Red Fire Engine]

You think he's annoying with psychiatry? You should hear him talk about marraige!

[Go You Big Red Fire Engine]

Originally Posted by Go You Big Red Fire Engine

You think he's annoying with psychiatry? You should hear him talk about marraige!

And in other news, I can actually spell marriage.
But a good link to support my statement:

Originally Posted by AHunter3

Marriage is a relic. Commit to the persons who are your co-parents, for the life of your children. Don't confuse it with other (erotic, romantic) commitments. Commit to love, passion, the person for whom you feel it...for as long as you feel it. Be nice to them when it's time to go.

I made the mistake of once mentioning I was engaged to him. Of course he just had to go on and on about how he couldn't understand why you would want to get married, how could I know I want to spend the rest of my life with someone, and how marriages never last, etc etc.

AHunter3 should shut the fuck up about everything. He's a condescending ass.

[Zoe]

I admire AHunter3's intellect, activism and passion about many things, but he doesn't know shit about depression.

[Fish Cheer]

Originally Posted by Go You Big Red Fire Engine

I made the mistake of once mentioning I was engaged to him.

Then you should know better than to bad-mouth him in public!

[Go You Big Red Fire Engine]

Originally Posted by Fish Cheer

Then you should know better than to bad-mouth him in public!

Hah! Seriously though, I don't think I could be engaged to a man is a feminist.

[Siege]

I agree with Zoe. Much as I respect AHunter3, which is quite a lot, I was raised to have contempt for the psychiatric profession and consider them charlatans. I tried to cope with severe clinical depression on my own. It landed me flat on my back in a mental hospital and close to catatonic. I got treatment for the depression just as I would for diabetes or heart disease.

Like anything else, psychiatry can be abused. I've met a few couselors who I felt were clueless; I've also been treated by a couple of dead good ones. When I was attending a weekly group therapy session, I met people who'd been in group therapy for years and would continue to do so, in my non-medical opinion, because they were waiting for someone to come along and hand them the answers. I may have wanted that, but I didn't expect that and I didn't want to spend my life the way I was. It's been three years now since I've seen a therapist. I won't tempt fate and say "I'm cured" but I will say it's been some time since I last had a nasty depressive episode (2 years, nearly, as a guess?) and I've weathered a few storms which would have triggered one in between. I couldn't have done that without what I learned from two good therapists.

CJ

[Go You Big Red Fire Engine]

Originally Posted by Siege

It landed me flat on my back in a mental hospital and close to catatonic.

Tell me Siege, how does one tell if one is "close to catatonic"?

[Mr. Svinlesha]

Well, I don't know how things are in the States these days, or in England, but I can tell you Swedish psychiatry is a nightmare that easily lives up to AHunter's worst imaginings. On the other hand, most people suffering from clinical depression are treated on a voluntary, out-patient basis, so I doubt Kythereia to worry about that.

Personally, I'm skeptical about the meds. Latest research seems to demonstrate that they rely primarily (up to 80%) on placebo effects. Unfortunately this interesting volume of Prevention and Cure is no longer available on line; but I read the whole thing a couple of years ago and, for what its worth, found Kirsch's arguments compelling.

[Q.N. Jones]

A-fucking-men.

[AHunter3]

a) I am not now, nor have I ever been, engaged to Go You Big Red Fire Engine

b) OK, so I had this coming. People get tiresome when they are always on the same damn soapboxes. I know these to be my damn soapboxes.

c) As a survivor of the mental health system, I am entitled to say I don't need marriage because I've already been committed, thank you very much

d) Kythereia may not be at risk of having involuntary psychiatric treatment imposed on her. You who have had only good or primarily good results from psychiatric treatment may not think Kythereia is at risk of that. The people to whom it happens generally never anticipated that it could happen to them. I issue the disclaimers because the disclaimers should be issued. Think of them as being akin to the warnings on the little dessicant capsules in your bottle of SSRI pills ("DO NOT EAT") if you want. But whenever people post "I feel like shit and I was wondering, would it be a good idea if I go to a psychiatrist?", I'm going to be there and I'm going to post the disclaimer. ("Psychiatrists have the power to force treatment down your throat and they do use it sometimes")

e) I would handle David Chapman and John Hinckley Jr the same way I would handle other people who commit violent crimes. I would arrest them for committing violent crimes and I would prosecute them and upon their conviction I would see them punished as per the appropriate and available sanctions provided by penal code. Their alleged psychiatric condition doesn't authorize preventive detention (psychiaty is no improvement over random dice-throw at predicting dangerousness), nor should it be accepted as an excuse for criminal behavior once done. (There's a social, environmental, chromosomal, biochemical, emotional, or economic explanation for nearly every crime. In our criminal justice system we don't accept such explanations as excuses. If that's wrong, it's wrong for everyone tried and convicted, not just for folks with psychiatric diagnoses).

f) I'm sorry I'm often a condescending ass. I'll work on less condescending ways of expressing my less conventional / less mainstream opinions.

[Fear Itself]

Originally Posted by AHunter3

a)People get tiresome when they are always on the same damn soapboxes. I know these to be my damn soapboxes.

Personally, I am a little tired of the people who get on their "seek professional help" soapbox. As another survivor of the psychiatric merry-go-round, I think your viewpoint is necessary to any discussion of mental health issues. I am not saying people suffering depression shouldn't see a psychiatrist, only that they should be aware of possible negative outcomes. I don't see how your soapbox is any more tiresome than Guinastasia's.

[What Exit?]

Guin: I am glad you started this thread because I didn't want to highjack Kytheria's thread.
I don't agree with AHunter3's post in that thread but too many people in the thread are reading a short post about a girl who is feeling blue and took an internet survey that was probably provided by a drug company and are counseling her to seek professional help. (Horrible run-on wasn’t that)
This is BS; those surveys are largely designed to convince people to go for treatment.
Feeling depressed and "Depression" are too different things. AHunter3's impassioned dislike for involuntary psychiatric treatment might actually keep her from getting sent down the path of medication and long term counseling when all that is really wrong is a short term funk.

A few others recommended several self-help methods first. People seemed too quick to talk about therapists and drugs in Kytheria's thread.

Jim {I was diagnosed with depression and suicidal tendacies when I was 18, I did get better on my own.}

[askeptic]

Way to kill a Pit thread AHunter, being all reasonable and shit.

[Metacom]

Originally Posted by Zoe

I admire AHunter3's intellect, activism and passion about many things, but he doesn't know shit about depression.

I know way more about "depression" then I'd like to, and I agree with AHunter3's views (well, a lot of them anyways). I don't think he hijacked that thread one bit. Someone asked for advice, and he gave it. It happened to be different then a lot of the other advice in that thread. I'm sorry that bothers you Guinistasia. We can't all be like you, fortunately.

[astro]

A heapin' helping of caution is necessary for those who think anyone, including mental health professionals have their hands around the Gordian Knot of mental dysfunction. The human mind is an endlessly complex meat machine. At his stage of the game we're still in stone knife and fire hardened spear territory with respect to the tools and techniques available in understanding and influencing the mind, and a lot of drugs are just a big heavy sword hacking away at that knot, not an unraveling and correction of the root problems.

I don't agree with everything he says, but overall I think AHunter3 endeavors to speak truth to power and is necessary counterbalance to those who think every personal problem is amenable to a psychiatric or biochemical solution.

[Rubystreak]

Originally Posted by AHunter3

("Psychiatrists have the power to force treatment down your throat and they do use it sometimes")

Do they? I'm not being sarcastic here. How do they have any more power over you than any other health care professional? If you tell a doctor you are homicidal or suicidal or thinking seriously of harming someone or are a danger to yourself, he has to act on that, very possibly against your will. In what other circumstances can they throw your ass in a mental hospital?

My psychiatrist has never made me feel like I had to do anything. He makes suggestions, I research them and either take them or don't. When I don't, he is OK with that. He has helped me through several very difficult times in my life and I never felt coerced, manipulated, or threatened.

Maybe these situations are informed by the doctors we deal with?

[even sven]

AHunter3, in his own sometimes convoluted way, was an inspiration to me when I discovered that drugs didn't weren't what I needed. There are as many depression stories as people with depression, and not every one of those is going to be "My doc prescribed drugs, we tried a few, and then I found one that worked".

They are not 100% effective and they are not everyone's cup of tea. It was a godsend to have someone who realized this instead of the same old "It's a disease just like diabetes. A psychiatrist can cure it just like diabetes." .

[Rysto]

Originally Posted by Go You Big Red Fire Engine

Tell me Siege, how does one tell if one is "close to catatonic"?

...

Do we *really* have to do this again?

[Q.E.D.]

Originally Posted by Rysto

Do we *really* have to do this again?

Again?

[Lute Skywatcher]

Originally Posted by Rubystreak

Do they? I'm not being sarcastic here. How do they have any more power over you than any other health care professional?

I don't know about psychiatrists but I know that other mental health workers do sometimes force their clients into programs that they don't want to be in. My SO's caseworker wants her in a different, yet similar, program but she's happy in her current program. The caseworker knows this but started filling out the paperwork for her to switch programs anyway.

[Guinastasia]

Look, I'm not saying that meds are necessarily the answer for everyone. Not all psychology is about meds. I'm saying I'm tired of his, "psychiatry is EVIL and shrinks are out to lock you up forever and ever!" schtick. A different perspective is welcome, but he does this every time someone makes a thread about mental health-coming in and saying it doesn't exist, that there is NEVER a case where people should be treated, etc. It gets a little old.

And getting help != medication every time. I am on meds, yes, for an anxiety disorder. However, I also received counseling on how to cope with it.



(Oh, and ditto on Big Red's comments on marriage. Dude, not everyone wants to be poly. If it works for you, great. Stop looking down on people who feel otherwise).

[aldiboronti]

The problem is that psychiatry scarcely deserves the name of a science. No one knows exactly how the brain works and they probably won't for centuries, if then. The brain is of a complexity that is quite staggering. We stumble along with hit-and-miss methods and medications, never quite sure why they work when they do work, or why they don't when they don't.

The simple truth is that we're in the Dark Ages when it comes to the workings of the brain. There are no sure-fire answers; we're not even certain we're asking the right questions. Translated into terms of patient-care, this means that its a lottery. Sometimes medications will work, sometimes they won't, sometimes they will make the patient worse, sometimes they will effect what seems like a miracle-cure.

So would I take medication if I were depressed? Perhaps surprisingly, in view of the above, I'd follow the advice of my doctor. He may not know everything but one thing is certain: he knows a hell of a lot more than I do.

[Larry Borgia]

I don't agree with Ahunter on a lot but I find his viewpoint intriguing and I'm glad he shares it. (I will not, however, be subscribing to his newsletter.) He's a good writer, and if he goes on a tirade I can just skim the post. Kytheria is an adult, and she's able to weigh his advice along with everybody else's.

[WhyNot]

Originally Posted by Rubystreak

Do they? I'm not being sarcastic here. How do they have any more power over you than any other health care professional?

Well, presumably all those people suggesting Kytheria seek help weren't suggesting she see an otolaryngologist. It's only reasonable that his warning be about the pertinent profession.

If we're counting "votes", I also don't agree with most of what AHunter3 has to say about psychiatry, but I think he should keep saying it. It's all factually correct, if extremely biased, and I think it's important that prospective patients have all the information possible to make an informed consent, if that's what they choose to do. Any thread on hormonal birth control has at least one horror story, as well as a bunch of "loved it!" posts. Bias in both directions leads to choice and fuller information. Why should mental health be a sacred cow?






Ok, do I get extra points for using the word "otolaryngologist" in a sentence?

[OtakuLoki]

I don't agree with a lot of AHunter3's views about modern North American psychiartry. I've been in and out of treatment for over a decade, now, and the only time I was put inpatient was in a situation where even I recoginized it was a needed step. The only overbearing, controlling and non-listening twit I met during that time was the P.A. who'd had a wild hard-on about my weight, liver function, and cholesterol. (BTW, WTF's up with having only doctors and P.A.s giving out diagnosis data from lab tests? Going through a weekend when I was convincing myself I must have had Hep C, because the nurses at the call station couldn't tell me what the test results were, was the worst part of my whole experience with inpatient psychiartry.)

I don't doubt his experiences, however. There are a lot of dark corners in the history of psychiartry, and not all of it is as far in the past as we might like to believe.

So, while I often roll my eyes when I read his posts, and feel some of them are almost as emotional and strident as my own posts about obesity, I don't think he deserves pitting. There was already sufficient other information in Kytheria's thread to give her a more balanced view of things. And, I have to add this - someone who's read AHunter3's position on modern psychiartry is likely to be more motivated to check out the current, and local, legal protections that patients have these days, which isn't such a bad thing, IMNSHO.

[Guinastasia]

Well, fair enough. Perhaps I jumped the gun a little. I guess I just tend to be rather sensitive because I'm tired of people saying things like, "Oh, it's just bullshit, you're making it up, you just need to suck it up and get over it, it's not real, blah blah blah", so when I read stuff like AHunter3, I tend to knee-jerk.

I suppose he does play a purpose, fine. I just find it irritating to have to deal with from time to time. No big deal, really.

[Eureka]

Originally Posted by WhyNot

Ok, do I get extra points for using the word "otolaryngologist" in a sentence?

Nope. Extra points not given for sentances which fail to make clear just what kind of specialist an otolaryngologist is.

Put me down as another vote for: I don't always agree with AHunter3's viewpoint, and he may sometimes go too far in expressing it(the soapbox thing), but I absolutely think he needs to keep reminding us that the dark corners of psychiatry are not always as far back in history as we would like to believe.

[WhyNot]

Originally Posted by Eureka

Nope. Extra points not given for sentances which fail to make clear just what kind of specialist an otolaryngologist is....

My daughter had to go see an otolaryngologist when her doctors suspected hearing problems. She said her hearing was fine, and her nose and throat looked wonderful as well!



(Now do I get the points? )

[Kalhoun]

I'm in the AHunter3 corner, for the most part. I think psychiatry has become more business and less medicine in the last couple decades. I think It's turned us into a nation of pussies, incapable of dealing with life.

That's not to say many people can't or don't benefit from it. But fercrissakes...feeling crappy about the rough spots in life, and medicating so you don't feel them, doesn't always mean you need a doctor's care.

[Guinastasia]

Originally Posted by Kalhoun

That's not to say many people can't or don't benefit from it. But fercrissakes...feeling crappy about the rough spots in life, and medicating so you don't feel them, doesn't always mean you need a doctor's care.

Again, depression !="feeling crappy about the rough spots in life", nor does psychology automatically mean medication!

[jsgoddess]

AHunter3 is one of my favorite posters. That doesn't mean I don't want to poke him in the nose on occasion, but I think he'll remain one of my favorites.

The problem with the brain is we don't know what we don't know. Who is right? Who knows? Certain things work for certain people. And I think we'd all agree with one thing: It isn't someone's fault if they show symptoms that can be attributed to one syndrome or another.

That part, at least, we might be coming out of the dark ages on.

[What Exit?]

Originally Posted by Guinastasia

Again, depression !="feeling crappy about the rough spots in life", nor does psychology automatically mean medication!

Then why did you and so many others urge Kythereia to run to the Doctors and get help?
She took an online survey. She did not say I have been having really dark moods for years. She just said

Originally Posted by Kythereia

I think I have depression
I've checked out a number of sites online and the symptoms seem to match up.

What do I do next? Is there any advice anyone can give me?

Ask for more information; suggest something less drastic than therapy and drugs.
I'm glad this has helped you but if Ky is just in a bad spot, the drugs could do more harm than good.

Jim

[Eureka]

WhyNot,

OK, you can have the points now.

Interestingly enough, I know a woman who is married to an otolaryngologist. So, when a mutual friend was coughing enough that people recommended she see a doctor, the wife pointed out "I know someone who can take care of that for you" frequently.

[Metacom]

Originally Posted by Guinastasia

Again, depression !="feeling crappy about the rough spots in life", nor does psychology automatically mean medication!

No, but psychiatry practically does.

[Guinastasia]

Again, for the thick-skulled:

Seeing a doctor does NOT automatically mean go take meds! How many times do I have to repeat it?

As for the online survey, that's for Kythereia to decide. Maybe she is having a bad time and decided not to go into details. Maybe it was just some bullshit survey. The point is, if she THINKS she may be suffering from depression, what the fuck is so gung-ho about asking one's doctor, "Gee, I've been feeling such and such, what does this mean?"

[What Exit?]

Originally Posted by Guinastasia

Again, for the thick-skulled:

Seeing a doctor does NOT automatically mean go take meds! How many times do I have to repeat it?

As for the online survey, that's for Kythereia to decide. Maybe she is having a bad time and decided not to go into details. Maybe it was just some bullshit survey. The point is, if she THINKS she may be suffering from depression, what the fuck is so gung-ho about asking one's doctor, "Gee, I've been feeling such and such, what does this mean?"

I guess I am one of the Thick-skulled, thanks for resorting to insults.
The problem with asking the doctor over something that might be minor and temporary is that some doctors prescribe Meds too easily. If they get her on meds it can actually cause her more problems. Do you understand that possibility?

Jim {did you notice that I refrained from insulting you for no good reason}

[Guinastasia]

You've got a point there, and I appologize.

However, by your logic, one would assume, "Never go to the doctor, because he or she might screw up and make things worse!" Honestly, part of dealing with something like this is taking it one step at a time.

"Okay, I THINK I might be having a problem. I will call an expert and see what he or she has to say." She doesn't have to automatically take that doctor's word-that's what second opinions are for. Don't start creating new problems before you've solved the first one.

Make sense?

[Campion]

Originally Posted by Guinastasia

Seeing a doctor does NOT automatically mean go take meds! How many times do I have to repeat it?

I believe people are taking issue with your use of the word "psychiatrist." A psychiatrist is a medical doctor with the attendant privilege of writing prescriptions for medication. A psychologist, by contrast, usually cannot write prescriptions and therefore tends not to prescribe drugs (a psychologist may instead work with a medical doctor, such as a GP, or may refer to a psychiatrist if he/she believes medication is warranted). Thus, a recommendation that someone see a psychiatrist rather than a psychologist could be taken as a recommendation that medication be considered as a primary option. After all, if medication doesn't need to be part of the package, why see a psychiatrist?

Originally Posted by What Exit?

{did you notice that I refrained from insulting you for no good reason}

You never fail to crack me up.

[Fear Itself]

Originally Posted by Guinastasia

I guess I just tend to be rather sensitive because I'm tired of people saying things like, "Oh, it's just bullshit, you're making it up, you just need to suck it up and get over it, it's not real, blah blah blah", so when I read stuff like AHunter3, I tend to knee-jerk.

Now wait a minute, though I am no fan of psychiatry, I certainly don't believe depression is just not real, nor is "sucking it up" an appropriate treatment. What you have to admit is that for a significant percentage of clinically depressed patients, their problem is beyond the capabilities of modern medicine to treat. For some people, there is no answer, and they will never feel better, no matter how many doctors they visit, how many hours they spend in therapy, or how many medications they try. It is not encouraging to consider, but it is the plain fact.

[Guinastasia]

Originally Posted by Campion

I believe people are taking issue with your use of the word "psychiatrist." A psychiatrist is a medical doctor with the attendant privilege of writing prescriptions for medication. A psychologist, by contrast, usually cannot write prescriptions and therefore tends not to prescribe drugs (a psychologist may instead work with a medical doctor, such as a GP, or may refer to a psychiatrist if he/she believes medication is warranted). Thus, a recommendation that someone see a psychiatrist rather than a psychologist could be taken as a recommendation that medication be considered as a primary option. After all, if medication doesn't need to be part of the package, why see a psychiatrist?You never fail to crack me up.

Ah, well then, that was my fault. Again, I appologize.

By doctor, I was basically saying, "Ask your PCP for a referral to someone who might help."

I guess I just get testy about this because I get tired of having to constantly justify a method that works for ME. And when people make cracks about "over-medicated", "pussies who can't cope", "bullshit illnesses", etc, it really pisses me off. This isn't an excuse, mind you, just an explanation. I shouldn't have to appologize for the way I live my life.

[What Exit?]

Originally Posted by Guinastasia

You've got a point there, and I appologize.

However, by your logic, one would assume, "Never go to the doctor, because he or she might screw up and make things worse!" Honestly, part of dealing with something like this is taking it one step at a time.

"Okay, I THINK I might be having a problem. I will call an expert and see what he or she has to say." She doesn't have to automatically take that doctor's word-that's what second opinions are for. Don't start creating new problems before you've solved the first one.

Make sense?

Okay, also fair and apology happily accepted.

Not even so much your post in the original thread but so many many post that just went into diagnosis mode based on almost no information. I guess that is my entire objection.

Jim

[Zoe]

What Exit?: ...too many people in the thread are reading a short post about a girl who is feeling blue and took an internet survey that was probably provided by a drug company and are counseling her to seek professional help.

I don't think that this woman said anything about an "online survey." There are standard symptoms for diagnosing depression. They are not determined by drug companies. Since no one should diagnose themselves, recommending a professional is SOP. She also didn't say that she was "feeling blue."

You are certainly right though that one can be depressed without having depression. That's why it gets some people confused and they just write it off as "feeling crappy." In some of the worst of depression, you don't feel anything.

[quote]Kalhoun: ...feeling crappy about the rough spots in life, and medicating so you don't feel them, doesn't always mean you need a doctor's care.

Well sure, except that's not depression. Prozac, for example, is not a "happy pill." If I understand correctly, if your seratonin is not too low, then taking prozac will not make you feel better. The medication allows some people who take it to feel normal again.

Often my own bouts with deepening depression came when I wasn't having any "rough spots" except for the depression itself.

[Zoe]

Go You Big Red Fire Engine: Tell me Siege, how does one tell if one is "close to catatonic"?

I can't speak to Siege's experience, but you know there is a human being inside a catatonic patient. That human being is capable of remembering. And what the patient can't remember, she or he can be told.

Maybe this will help to describe the exterior characteristics:

catatonic depression

Tell me, Big Red, why do you ask?

[Jackmannii]

Originally Posted by Mr. Svinlesha

Personally, I'm skeptical about the meds. Latest research seems to demonstrate that they rely primarily (up to 80%) on placebo effects.

I think this is a misstatement of current knowleddge. When you look at large numbers of studies, there is evidence that antidepressant medications work, although overall they may not be dramatically more effective than placebo. That does not mean that they "rely primarily...on placebo effects" to get results.
While it is quite possible that they are overprescribed, there are a lot of people who are thankful that drugs allowed them to get back on with their lives, and without having to deal long-term with the murk of psychiatric analysis.

Any overuse of these drugs is still, in my opinion, less of a problem in society than defining depression as"...feeling crappy about the rough spots in life, and medicating so you don't feel them". No on who has ever suffered from moderate to major depression (or tried to help someone in that circumstance) would ever make such a statement.

AHunter's opinions sometimes differ from my own, but I respect his contributions on this and other subjects.

[Kalhoun]

[quote=Zoe]I don't think that this woman said anything about an "online survey." There are standard symptoms for diagnosing depression. They are not determined by drug companies. Since no one should diagnose themselves, recommending a professional is SOP. She also didn't say that she was "feeling blue."

You are certainly right though that one can be depressed without having depression. That's why it gets some people confused and they just write it off as "feeling crappy." In some of the worst of depression, you don't feel anything.

Kalhoun: ...feeling crappy about the rough spots in life, and medicating so you don't feel them, doesn't always mean you need a doctor's care.

Well sure, except that's not depression. Prozac, for example, is not a "happy pill." If I understand correctly, if your seratonin is not too low, then taking prozac will not make you feel better. The medication allows some people who take it to feel normal again.

Often my own bouts with deepening depression came when I wasn't having any "rough spots" except for the depression itself.

I agree. Depression is a real problem, but I think too many people jump to the "depression" diagnosis/conclusion (patients and doctors alike) when it really isn't true depression. I think it's extremely difficult to diagnose true depression. Just saying you are depressed doesn't make it clinically so. Yet, that is frequently all it takes for a doctor to prescribe antidepressants and other medications.

[Go You Big Red Fire Engine]

Originally Posted by Zoe

Tell me, Big Red, why do you ask?

Because she's a broken record with her "catatonia", it seems she manages to bring in how she was "close to catatonic" into mostly unrelated topics. She got called on it in this thread and this thread, but she's back at it again.

[Guinastasia]

Originally Posted by Go You Big Red Fire Engine

Because she's a broken record with her "catatonia", it seems she manages to bring in how she was "close to catatonic" into mostly unrelated topics. She got called on it in this thread and this thread, but she's back at it again.

Unrelated topics, sure. But since we're talking about depression and mental illness, maybe, just MAYBE talking about one's experience with it is relevant?

[Go You Big Red Fire Engine]

Originally Posted by Guinastasia

Unrelated topics, sure. But since we're talking about depression and mental illness, maybe, just MAYBE talking about one's experience with it is relevant?

Well, had you read the links I posted, you would know it's not just that (from the thread):

Originally Posted by EddyTeddyFreddy

You don't have to recite your personal background each time you wish to make some point. Should someone ask you what basis you have for your statement, responding with such material is fine. But pre-emptive injection of yourself into whatever issue you're addressing is unnecessary and, over the long run, off-putting.