If thou gazest long into the Pit, the Pit will also gaze into thee

It sounds like you think a full understanding of depression would allow someone to cure their depression without the need for any sort of chemical treatment or physical tinkering with the brain. If I understand what you mean by "cure," then no, that isn't what I think. That implies you believe in a...

... better understanding of the mechanisms might produce better solutions but the vast majority of doctors treat depression, they don't research it. I agree with that. There might be a lot more of that research being done, and being used, honestly and responsibly, than I'll ever be able to guess fr...

Some responses to my posts about drug abuse masquerading as treating diseases, helped me realize that I was making the same mistake that I was discussing in my posts about words taking on new meanings. In the medical profession the definition of "disease" been changed to include syndromes. As appall...

All of the talk about NMDA and AMPA receptors, glutamate, ketamine, etc., is about repressing and masking the symptoms, without doing anything at all to address whatever might be causing them, and in fact reducing the chances of doing so. I'm not objecting to using drugs for relief from symptoms. W...

Jim, I take thyroid hormones because my thyroid went bad about 20 years ago, most of it is gone. Am I simply masking the symptoms? Thyroid supplements are a poor substitute for a working thyroid, but they're better than nothing. That might possibly qualify as what I mean by "masking the symptoms," ...

You think taking medication for a documented mental illness (not a behavioral disorder) is drug abuse? I think that most of the perpetual daily use of pills that's being excused as a way of treating (and more recently, preventing) mental illnesses, is drug abuse, child abuse, and elder abuse. Not a...

Steersman wrote:People - on all or most all sides - can be rather thuggish about their ideologies.

This is a part of your thinking that I like.

More thoughts about identities and identity politics: 1. Identities based on private definitions of labels that people apply unilaterally to themselves, are like the make-believe games of children, only nobody tries to force everyone else to live in children's make-believe worlds. 2. Some historical...

[On the other hand, you can start reviewing the literature on the subject, which does try to understand the matter in a non-metaphorical way. Not true. The metaphorical planetary model of the atom permeates the science of chemistry. If the use of metaphors is dangerous, in and of itself, then your ...

On the other hand, you can start reviewing the literature on the subject, which does try to understand the matter in a non-metaphorical way. You'll still be hopelessly confused, but you'll have a list of actionable strategies you can start tackling. Check them off one by one until you find somethin...

Depression is less like exhaustion after a run than suffering cartilage damage. It's not your brain powering down to recover, it's having it totally fucked over. Depression isn't just like being sad, for longer. It's unfortunate that we have a non-medical name for it because it gives entirely the w...

You never did read that article on taxonomy, or the one on gametes, did you? If you think there's something in them contrary to what I've said, will you spell it our for me please? (false premises, evasions and insults snipped) Steersman, I've decided not to respond any more to posts peppered with ...

@free thoughtpolice Another rough analogy to depression might be physical exhaustion, which is the response of a healthy body to overexertion. It's disabling, but it's disabling for a purpose. Think of depression symptoms as some kind of defensive reaction to your circumstances and to the poisonous...

I don't know how well drug rehab programs work, but they might work just as well for people who want to get off of psych pills and tune-up pills prescribed by doctors as they do for anyone else.

There's a theory that explains depression as a means of signalling that one can't cope, that one needs help and is vulnerable. To put it slightly differently, depression is a strategy for getting others to help you when you don't feel able to look after your own interests. Not saying it's a conscio...

[This doublethink is an inheritance from Rousseau and it affects all the strands of political philosophy derived from him - it corrupts the Old Right into Fascism (via, for example, Fichte and other right-wing derivations from Hegel), and it corrupts classical liberalism into the Left as we know it...

I disagree with protesting against words taking on new meanings, and debating about their "true" meanings. If people want to protect the integrity of their definition of a word that has taken on new meanings that they want to reject, they can qualify it, for example by calling it "scriptural marriag...

Steersman wrote:You never did read that article on taxonomy, or the one on gametes, did you?

If you think there's something in them contrary to what I've said, will you spell it our for me please?

@free thoughtpolice Another rough analogy to depression might be physical exhaustion, which is the response of a healthy body to overexertion. It's disabling, but it's disabling for a purpose. Think of depression symptoms as some kind of defensive reaction to your circumstances and to the poisonous ...

- The feminism and social justice ideologies that are currently being used to excuse and camouflage oppression and repression are revisions of Marxism, substituting race, sex, orientation, and identity in the place of class; white people and men in the place of the oppressors; and everyone else in ...

- It seems to me that there's really nothing new about oppression and repression in the name of feminism and social justice, other than the ideology that's being used to excuse and camouflage it, and who is privileged by it. It might seem new to men and white people because it's the first time an id...

Every time I try to put into words the folly of people claiming rights, and demanding considerations, based on their own private definitions of labels they apply unilaterally to themselves, I end up thinking that no one can really believe in that, and that it's futile to try to reason with anyone ab...

Posting some of my thoughts about identities, identity politics, and oppression and repression in the name of social justice, might help me clarify them for myself. - In any language, words continually take on new meanings. I think it's futile and counterproductive to try to resist that, or to debat...

I'm getting a bit of signal that you have an attitude ... that misfortune is caused by some kind of sin or bad karma. No. There's nothing in my mind like that at all. The idea that one should welcome and be grateful for misfortune? No. Not grateful for misfortune, but for the capacities it reveals,...

Peterson's refusal to use preferred pronouns just looks to me like a symbolic protest against oppression and repression in the name of social justice, but maybe he doesn't see clearly himself why he's doing it, or maybe he's embarrassed to say that, and is making up reasons that he thinks will look ...

Our favorite doctor here in Guilin is Doctor Hu.

A friend of mine was diagnosed with depression, and taking SSRIs for a while, but has been doing better and better, without any psych meds, for at least ten years now. Part of what helped was CBT. Another part of it was learning some of the physical and emotional health practices that have been disc...

Brive1987 wrote:
jimhabegger wrote:What happened to Com? I miss him. The Pit isn't the same for me without him.
Apparently there are only 10,200 wrestling gifs on the web.

His job was done.

Not so. Part of his job was to help make the Pit more fun for me, and that job will never be done.

[... and there might possibly still be something in my future that I wouldn't want to miss. So was there? :D zomg, yes! I married someone who made all my dreams come true. I've loved my life for decades now, and I love it more and more year after year. Apart from some minor irritations like being c...

My psoriasis improves during the summer especially the patches that are exposed to the sunlight. I can't say whether stress makes it worse though it wouldn't surprise me. I tried getting a prescription for a tropical vacation after my doctor suggested it but was told that our shitty Canadian health...

Barbie's Boyfriend wrote:... until Comstink returns

What happened to Com? I miss him. The Pit isn't the same for me without him.

... and one day I may decide that enough is enough. I hope that day never comes. That would grieve me. I never seriously considered suicide, but there was a time in my life when I could feel the temptation. For me, it was enough to think that I was going to die anyway some day, and there might poss...

InfraRedBucket wrote:Anyway to lighten the mood, here's a funny catwalk I saw the other day.

Thanks. I appreciate that.

The kid is not ONLY unfortunate in getting a Watson-like look. She also seems to have her personality! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvhgmNzOXuU Actually, she looks a lot like Ketchup to me, or how she might have looked ten years ago. Do you think ...? Uh oh, I have no idea who you're talking abo...

Scented Nectar wrote:The kid is not ONLY unfortunate in getting a Watson-like look. She also seems to have her personality!

Actually, she looks a lot like Ketchup to me, or how she might have looked ten years ago. Do you think ...?

The question of refusal of service is a different matter. It's actually a matter of refusal of service in general which has only emerged due to the gay marriage debate, and it's not tied to a discussion of individual rights but of anti-discrimination laws (can private businesses refuse service to a...

When the gay marriage debate was first gathering steam, I thought the solution was obvious. Make the civil/legal aspects of marriage the sole concern of government and make it available to any pair of adults,under a name other than marriage. The term 'marriage' would be completely privatized. This ...

The sad truth is that rapists exist and will always exist, false accusations exist and will always exist, and the justice system has made, makes and will make mistakes. We can discuss reasonable reforms, reasonable campaigns, the effectiveness of different strategies, and how to reconcile protectin...

screwtape wrote:... service to others is the best behavioural treatment for one's mental health.

I've noticed that too.

What I think about depression is what I think about most or all other labels for recurring or continuing emotional adversities, and disturbing behavior, that are being used to market pills and potions from the drug and health food industries. Sometimes the adversities are real, and genuinely nightma...

My wife and I are playing Guild Wars 2 now, because World of Warcraft lost its charm for us. Right now we're both locked out of our games, after buying both expansions, possibly because we bought hers and mine with the same PayPal account.

Speaking of Casey Kasem:

On the topic of musical instruments:

Come to China. There's no oppression, repression, violence or vandalism in the part of China where I live, in the name of religion, feminism, or social justice, at all. True, there are some uprisings in the west, which might be associated with a religion, but that hardly affects us in this part of ...

Also, I forgot: the endless battle for Truth, Justice, and the American Way, trying to get around the Great Firewall, to keep in touch with family and friends on social networks, to do my online banking and shopping, and to use Google Maps and Google Translate.

Come to China. There's no oppression, repression, violence or vandalism in the part of China where I live, in the name of religion, feminism, or social justice, at all. True, there are some uprisings in the west, which might be associated with a religion, but that hardly affects us in this part of ...

Come to China. There's no oppression, repression, violence or vandalism in the part of China where I live, in the name of religion, feminism, or social justice, at all. True, there are some uprisings in the west, which might be associated with a religion, but that hardly affects us in this part of C...

I started following Redpillblack. Candace Owens! Yay1 I wondered what happened to her. She shook up one of the counterfeit feminism circles, in gaming journalism, and she was big news in Gamergate forums for a while. She thought she was going to bring down the whole counterfeit social justice indus...

Now some have suggested that I - and maybe others - are simply "mean-spirited" to be criticizing that transactivist position but not doing so rather clearly leads to no end of quite problematic if not sticky consequences. I'm not disagreeing about the problems. I'm disagreeing about possible soluti...

rayshul wrote:On the privilege checker I got 89/100, making me THE MOST PRIVILEGED.

So! I knew it all the time!

Steersman, it's coming back to me now. I think we were agreeing that some meanings of "woman" are derived from others, and that there might be some value in considering which meaning all the others might be derived from. I was thinking that the childbearing definition would have preceded the ova one...

Those are the standard definitions, and they were selected for some quite good reasons. I agree. I didn't think my question through enough, before I asked. I remember you promoting that definition in the context of discussions about trans women and bathrooms, and I don't see how that can be helpful...

"woman: human female (produces ova)" Steersman, it seems more likely to me that the original definition of "woman" was "person constructed for bearing children," determined in practice by looking between the legs of a child at birth. Your definition might be an equivalent of that, but I don't see a...

deLurch wrote:@jimhabegger, glad to hear that you are enjoying traveling around. Mishaps happen.

We'll, we did have some wonderful times, but I also went through a lot of agony, and spent a lot of money, all through the summer, getting those documents for our visas.

feathers wrote:I think you're well within reach of Kim's firecrackers, Jim.

Funny, I hadn't thought of that!

My wife and I were in the US and Canada this summer, visiting family and friends in Virginia, Indiana, Ohio, Quebec, Pennsylvania, and Virginia again, in that order. I also went to DC a few times, to get documentation for new China visas and to apply for them. Coming back from the USA, we arrived at...

Kirbmarc wrote:The Catholic Church has a child sexual abuse problem. This is known and not controversial. Why is it controversial to say that islam also has a child sexual abuse problem?

I'm guessing that's a rhetorical question. :-D

bigfoot

I just wanted to see how that works, for myself.

Oops! I see that Shatterface said that already.

If the mass of Earth, or of Mars, or of any other body allegedly orbiting the Sun, changed, the orbit of that body would change, because the "r" in the equations would change. Ignoring all the complications of more than two bodies, and just considering Mars and the Sun, Mars is not actually orbiting...

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