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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   32189 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of January 23, 2023

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To the question of an effective drug counting, I would say no. I’m more concerned that there is a physiological symptom from which the supposed mental condition is diagnosable.

I’m not sure that someone having a physiological withdrawal symptom from a substance to which they’re addicted would count either as someone who is not an addict will still experience those.

The sleep disorders seem a better candidate.

I’m more concerned that there is a physiological symptom from which the supposed mental condition is diagnosable.

Things like Down Syndrome, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease etc. can be. I'm guessing your asking this question, because you don't really view them as mental illnesses and are gerrymandering the category to only include things not easily physiologically measurable. The DSM doesn't do that and includes these things.

I’m just thinking it through out loud.

My family has a lot of mental illness of the OCD and bipolar type, and those family members insist this is a well understood science and then make claims that seem essentially religious. I’m feeling out the edges of where measurable physiological issue versus vague “chemical imbalance?” meet.

Want to share what those claims are exactly? Hard to know if they’re backed by science or not without actually seeing them.

Mental illness is caused by a “chemical imbalance” in the brain.

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