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Old 03-11-2010, 10:03 PM   #9 (permalink)
dippin
Crazy, indeed
 
Location: the ether
Quote:
Originally Posted by essendoubleop View Post
That's a good point. I'd say it's because the notion of having a mental condition can be magnified to the point where it becomes life-debilitating until measures are taken to correct it. If I have Restless Leg Syndrome, then I will unable to sleep at night, which then affects my performance the next day and my quality of life, and will continue to do so until I seek treatment. By increasing the threat of any of the factors leading up to "I need to seek treatment for this," RLS becomes more serious of a condition. Downplaying the significance of mental illnesses or conditions is frowned upon while amplifying the awareness of potential conditions is accepted, even if that can have a direct result on the onset of the condition. Conversely, in "physical" medicine, no matter how much an ailment is hyped, it will not increase the morbidity.

I'm not intending to come off so anti-Psychiatry. But there are significant flaws within the field that are often exploited and people are unaware of. Remember, the placebo effect is the most cost-effective treatment anyone can undergo.
If you are talking about how awareness of a condition leads to it becoming more bothersome/limiting/critical, you actually have as many if not more examples of this in the "physical" medicine than in mental health. I've already mentioned antibiotics, but there are several surgeries that have been overdone. Hysterectomies, episiotomies, surgeries to deal with carpal tunnel syndrome and even coronary bypass are seriously overprescribed in the US.

And I'm not doing this to attack medicine. I'm all for it. But there seems to be this "science vs non science" and "real vs mental" distinctions in this thread that really ignore how alike the procedures are in the two areas.
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