Checkin' in for the win

Still feeling oddly restless.

Wish I knew why. This only happens a few times per year, and never lasts for very long. One thing I do know is that it's causing me to not want to spend more than a few minutes at a time on Mingle. So I keep bouncing in and out.

602

Time to celebrate
Without taking for granted
Warmth, friends, family...

Thinking....I got my car!

R2D2...

I understand your own problems, and I've known people who feel as you do. The problem is that you are falling prey to what is known as "confirmation bias".

I used to think very little of psychiatrists and psychologists myself. I used to run circles around them, then wonder why they were so useless. So what changed?

Well, first off, I began having panic attacks. That forced me to admit there was a problem.

Secondly, I began educating myself. Of course, I had an advantage: I already had good instincts about how the mind works and why people behave the way they do. I looked at actual science and research.

A lot of old school psychology did not follow empirical methods. There was too much guesswork....and confirmation bias. Supposition based on observation rather than science and thorough documentation.

As for your own confirmation bias, you are wrong about the chemicals showing up in scans. BUT you aren't entirely wrong either. The chemicals should show up in other tests, like blood work. Scans typically show electro-chemical impulses, but they cannot show whether a lack of electrical activity is due to a chemical deficiency. On the other hand, blood work cannot show concentrations of brain chemicals in various parts of the part. They can only show a generalized concentration throughout the bloodstream.

So you are right to have doubts about meds which are supposed to correct chemical deficiencies. The science just isn't there.

But there are meds whose effects actually can be tracked via brain scans. In controlled tests, introducing certain drugs then running scans can show whether or not the drug boosts activity in key areas of the brain. It's not detecting the chemical but the change prompted by the drug.

That said, there are still some holes that research has yet to fill. But now I'm digressing...

In your case, your experience causes you accept certain views or misinformation as fact, just because it aligns with your own personal experience. But that does not mean it is true.

You're actually a pretty intelligent guy. That's why I'm mentioning this.

And I'm not saying you're entirely wrong either. Instead, what I see is that you're exaggerating the things that you want to believe, making them more important or more grandiose than they are in reality. If you pay attention to what Tom has been saying, he's effectively telling you the same thing.

I will say this though...
If there are still people being treated as you've experienced, then that is disgraceful in this day and age. They should lose their licenses, and be barred for life from practicing. I'm not talking about just pushing pills. I'm talking about the overall treatment of patients on all levels. If they are that bad - that insensitive and apathetic - then they need to be removed from the field of treatment altogether.

Thankfully, my experience - both personally and observationally - has not been the same as yours, even though I am very aware that your experience was once much more prevalent here in the U.S. than it is now.

Kanye Diggitt

601

What if I said as soon as I finish the cooking?

Thinking, "Why are my regular threads so mixed up? Those aren't the threads I've posted in most recently!"

What if I wanted some venison sausage?

595

Okay, you ladies are having too much fun in here.

590

Howie Dune Safar

If I did that, then I couldn't say that you're da bomb.

Unexpectedly restless.