Is stress a bad thing?

Use this forum to discuss the November 2021 Philosophy Book of the Month, Natural Relief for Anxiety and Stress: A Practical Guide by Gustavo Kinrys, MD
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Sushan
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Re: Is stress a bad thing?

Post by Sushan »

Memaw18 wrote: November 7th, 2021, 11:44 am I'm working as a social worker. Stress is nature. It depends on the individual on how much they were affected by stress. Too much stress/pressure will cause an imbalance which is bad. However, stress can be something that makes us more human, it makes us learn and it makes us be more than what we think we are. So they are probably referring to TOO MUCH.
I think every being is subjected to various stresses. Even getting hungry is a stress to the body and mind. But as humans we face many more stresses than such basic stresses. So maybe stresses do not make us humans, but being humans make us more prone to be exposed to a lot of stresses.

Yes, too much stress can affect a person badly. But I think all that depends on the individual's coping skills. Two individuals can face same stress levels differently and at the end one can totally go down while the other get out from it successfully.
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Re: Is stress a bad thing?

Post by Sushan »

LuckyR wrote: November 9th, 2021, 3:30 pm
Sushan wrote: November 9th, 2021, 4:54 am
LuckyR wrote: November 6th, 2021, 1:51 am
Sushan wrote: November 6th, 2021, 1:37 am

I agree. Both components are there. But what is having more potential to break someone? I think most of people can tolerate immense stress for a short time rather than tolerating relatively low levels of stress for a longer duration. Depression can be found in people who are exposed to low stress levels for a long duration, but not in people who experience stress from time to time.
Well sadness is commonly caused by sad situations, which are by definition typically stressful. Depression is classically cause by neurochemical imbalance.
When we look at the history of psychology and psychiatry, clinicians thought of some illnesses as problems of thoughts and some as issues with the brain. But nowadays all the psychiatric disorders are considered as having a brain related etiology. So the chemical imbalance part has a validity. And for such a change to occur some time is needed. To such a change to become irreversible further more time is needed. So effect to the person will be determined more by the time than the severity as I see it.
If you are hypothesizing that prolonged exposure to stress can cause clinical depression independent of further stress in someone without previous mood disorder, I am unaware of data to support it.
There are psychiatric disorders that need more genetic predesposition to occur. But some like depression are related more with environmental factors. That does not totally exclude genetic factors and personality traits. But there are people (whom I have met in my clinical practice) that succumbed to depression without any history of mood disorders or a known genetic predesposition (no known family history). I agree that there is a high chance that their brains have been acting differently from the beginning. But we currently have no methods to check such things, and also we usually don't do such tests since we diagnose people depending on their physical and mental outcome in psychiatric disorders (this does not include organic psychiatric disorders).
“There is only one thing a philosopher can be relied upon to do, and that is to contradict other philosophers”

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LuckyR
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Re: Is stress a bad thing?

Post by LuckyR »

Sushan wrote: November 10th, 2021, 10:55 pm
LuckyR wrote: November 9th, 2021, 3:30 pm
Sushan wrote: November 9th, 2021, 4:54 am
LuckyR wrote: November 6th, 2021, 1:51 am

Well sadness is commonly caused by sad situations, which are by definition typically stressful. Depression is classically cause by neurochemical imbalance.
When we look at the history of psychology and psychiatry, clinicians thought of some illnesses as problems of thoughts and some as issues with the brain. But nowadays all the psychiatric disorders are considered as having a brain related etiology. So the chemical imbalance part has a validity. And for such a change to occur some time is needed. To such a change to become irreversible further more time is needed. So effect to the person will be determined more by the time than the severity as I see it.
If you are hypothesizing that prolonged exposure to stress can cause clinical depression independent of further stress in someone without previous mood disorder, I am unaware of data to support it.
There are psychiatric disorders that need more genetic predesposition to occur. But some like depression are related more with environmental factors. That does not totally exclude genetic factors and personality traits. But there are people (whom I have met in my clinical practice) that succumbed to depression without any history of mood disorders or a known genetic predesposition (no known family history). I agree that there is a high chance that their brains have been acting differently from the beginning. But we currently have no methods to check such things, and also we usually don't do such tests since we diagnose people depending on their physical and mental outcome in psychiatric disorders (this does not include organic psychiatric disorders).
So these folks had no history of depression, suffered a stressful situation, naturally felt sad, then later after the stress was lifted continued on to clinical depression?
"As usual... it depends."
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Re: Is stress a bad thing?

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Sushan wrote: November 10th, 2021, 10:08 pm
Sculptor1 wrote: November 6th, 2021, 1:50 pm
LuckyR wrote: November 6th, 2021, 1:51 am

Well sadness is commonly caused by sad situations, which are by definition typically stressful. Depression is classically cause by neurochemical imbalance.
No. Depression IS a chemical imbalance.

It can be triggered by adverse circumstances, or other conditions.
You might was well say that the chemical imbalance is caused by depression as the other way round.
Its really about perspective.
The argument depends on the belief of the presence of 'mind'. Some say there is a seperate thing called mind. But some say mind is also a result of chemical reactions that occur in our brain cells. If the latter is correct, whatever the emotions we feel will be a chemical balance or an imbalance. But if mind and brain are two seperate things then the relationship in between and the affect from one to the other has to be considered.
There is no empirical basis for a non corporeal "mind", or "soul".
How would such a thing be affected by or have an effect upon the physicality of the world.
It seem to me that it makes more sense to say the "mind" is what the brain does.

There is a massive sleight of hand in the medical profession in which practicioners fool the patient into thinking that they know more than then. Like many experts they rely on a more detailed lexicon. "Bulsh.. Baffles the Brains" as the saying goes.
For example a diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis sounds like the doctor knows what he is talking about, yet the phrase is no more than a literal description of scarring of the lungs and the word idiopathic means cause unknown.
Macroglossia might sound like a specific disease but its just a literal description. Swollen Tongue.
I had a friend who got an ear "disease" when she was a child. For years she thought she had had a disease otitis media until she was told 25 years later that otitis media just means inflamation of the inner ear.

"Chemical Imbalance" is just a catch all phrase for a brain state that is undesirable and points to no cause, no diagnosis and no specific treatment regime.
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Re: Is stress a bad thing?

Post by LuckyR »

Sculptor1 wrote: November 11th, 2021, 4:58 am
Sushan wrote: November 10th, 2021, 10:08 pm
Sculptor1 wrote: November 6th, 2021, 1:50 pm
LuckyR wrote: November 6th, 2021, 1:51 am

Well sadness is commonly caused by sad situations, which are by definition typically stressful. Depression is classically cause by neurochemical imbalance.
No. Depression IS a chemical imbalance.

It can be triggered by adverse circumstances, or other conditions.
You might was well say that the chemical imbalance is caused by depression as the other way round.
Its really about perspective.
The argument depends on the belief of the presence of 'mind'. Some say there is a seperate thing called mind. But some say mind is also a result of chemical reactions that occur in our brain cells. If the latter is correct, whatever the emotions we feel will be a chemical balance or an imbalance. But if mind and brain are two seperate things then the relationship in between and the affect from one to the other has to be considered.
There is no empirical basis for a non corporeal "mind", or "soul".
How would such a thing be affected by or have an effect upon the physicality of the world.
It seem to me that it makes more sense to say the "mind" is what the brain does.

There is a massive sleight of hand in the medical profession in which practicioners fool the patient into thinking that they know more than then. Like many experts they rely on a more detailed lexicon. "Bulsh.. Baffles the Brains" as the saying goes.
For example a diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis sounds like the doctor knows what he is talking about, yet the phrase is no more than a literal description of scarring of the lungs and the word idiopathic means cause unknown.
Macroglossia might sound like a specific disease but its just a literal description. Swollen Tongue.
I had a friend who got an ear "disease" when she was a child. For years she thought she had had a disease otitis media until she was told 25 years later that otitis media just means inflamation of the inner ear.

"Chemical Imbalance" is just a catch all phrase for a brain state that is undesirable and points to no cause, no diagnosis and no specific treatment regime.
Speaking of sleight of hand, you are implying deceit where there isn't any. You are pointing out symptoms, conditions, diagnoses and diseases as if they are all diseases.

IPF as you correctly noted means the cause of the fibrosis is unknown, not everything is known. Conditions with unknown causes commonly have diagnostic tests and treatments, that's what most patients care about.

Macroglossia is a symptom. So is headache. Not controversial.

Otitis media is a condition, commonly caused by bacterial infection secondary to eustachion tube malfunction, treated with antibiotics and ear tubes if recurrent. Not a disease.

Chemical imbalance is a lay term (used for simplistic conversations), not a medical term.
"As usual... it depends."
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Re: Is stress a bad thing?

Post by Sculptor1 »

LuckyR wrote: November 12th, 2021, 12:18 am
Sculptor1 wrote: November 11th, 2021, 4:58 am
Sushan wrote: November 10th, 2021, 10:08 pm
Sculptor1 wrote: November 6th, 2021, 1:50 pm

No. Depression IS a chemical imbalance.

It can be triggered by adverse circumstances, or other conditions.
You might was well say that the chemical imbalance is caused by depression as the other way round.
Its really about perspective.
The argument depends on the belief of the presence of 'mind'. Some say there is a seperate thing called mind. But some say mind is also a result of chemical reactions that occur in our brain cells. If the latter is correct, whatever the emotions we feel will be a chemical balance or an imbalance. But if mind and brain are two seperate things then the relationship in between and the affect from one to the other has to be considered.
There is no empirical basis for a non corporeal "mind", or "soul".
How would such a thing be affected by or have an effect upon the physicality of the world.
It seem to me that it makes more sense to say the "mind" is what the brain does.

There is a massive sleight of hand in the medical profession in which practicioners fool the patient into thinking that they know more than then. Like many experts they rely on a more detailed lexicon. "Bulsh.. Baffles the Brains" as the saying goes.
For example a diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis sounds like the doctor knows what he is talking about, yet the phrase is no more than a literal description of scarring of the lungs and the word idiopathic means cause unknown.
Macroglossia might sound like a specific disease but its just a literal description. Swollen Tongue.
I had a friend who got an ear "disease" when she was a child. For years she thought she had had a disease otitis media until she was told 25 years later that otitis media just means inflamation of the inner ear.

"Chemical Imbalance" is just a catch all phrase for a brain state that is undesirable and points to no cause, no diagnosis and no specific treatment regime.
Speaking of sleight of hand, you are implying deceit where there isn't any. You are pointing out symptoms, conditions, diagnoses and diseases as if they are all diseases.

IPF as you correctly noted means the cause of the fibrosis is unknown, not everything is known. Conditions with unknown causes commonly have diagnostic tests and treatments, that's what most patients care about.

Macroglossia is a symptom. So is headache. Not controversial.

Otitis media is a condition, commonly caused by bacterial infection secondary to eustachion tube malfunction, treated with antibiotics and ear tubes if recurrent. Not a disease.

Chemical imbalance is a lay term (used for simplistic conversations), not a medical term.
I can tell you now that you have an odd idea what a disease is. An infection is a disease.
Chemical imbalance is not a lay term, but one invented by psych medicine to assure lay persons that they know what they are talking about, when in fact they are mostly clueless. It is a reassuring platitude, and an excuse to treat with chemicals, rather than more expensive treatments.
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Re: Is stress a bad thing?

Post by Belindi »

Sculptor wrote:
------ An infection is a disease.
Chemical imbalance is not a lay term, but one invented by psych medicine to assure lay persons that they know what they are talking about, when in fact they are mostly clueless. It is a reassuring platitude, and an excuse to treat with chemicals, rather than more expensive treatments.
I'd define as a disease any constant syndrome, whether or not it was acute or infectious or both.

I have very limited experience of so called mental illness. My best friend got what was called manic depression at the age of nineteen following heatstroke. He had it all his life Electric shock treatments did him no good but the specific mood stabiliser lithium seemed to stop the most damaging mania. All sorts of talking therapies did him no good but owning his life's purpose helped him quite a lot.
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Re: Is stress a bad thing?

Post by LuckyR »

Sculptor1 wrote: November 12th, 2021, 7:21 am
LuckyR wrote: November 12th, 2021, 12:18 am
Sculptor1 wrote: November 11th, 2021, 4:58 am
Sushan wrote: November 10th, 2021, 10:08 pm

The argument depends on the belief of the presence of 'mind'. Some say there is a seperate thing called mind. But some say mind is also a result of chemical reactions that occur in our brain cells. If the latter is correct, whatever the emotions we feel will be a chemical balance or an imbalance. But if mind and brain are two seperate things then the relationship in between and the affect from one to the other has to be considered.
There is no empirical basis for a non corporeal "mind", or "soul".
How would such a thing be affected by or have an effect upon the physicality of the world.
It seem to me that it makes more sense to say the "mind" is what the brain does.

There is a massive sleight of hand in the medical profession in which practicioners fool the patient into thinking that they know more than then. Like many experts they rely on a more detailed lexicon. "Bulsh.. Baffles the Brains" as the saying goes.
For example a diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis sounds like the doctor knows what he is talking about, yet the phrase is no more than a literal description of scarring of the lungs and the word idiopathic means cause unknown.
Macroglossia might sound like a specific disease but its just a literal description. Swollen Tongue.
I had a friend who got an ear "disease" when she was a child. For years she thought she had had a disease otitis media until she was told 25 years later that otitis media just means inflamation of the inner ear.

"Chemical Imbalance" is just a catch all phrase for a brain state that is undesirable and points to no cause, no diagnosis and no specific treatment regime.
Speaking of sleight of hand, you are implying deceit where there isn't any. You are pointing out symptoms, conditions, diagnoses and diseases as if they are all diseases.

IPF as you correctly noted means the cause of the fibrosis is unknown, not everything is known. Conditions with unknown causes commonly have diagnostic tests and treatments, that's what most patients care about.

Macroglossia is a symptom. So is headache. Not controversial.

Otitis media is a condition, commonly caused by bacterial infection secondary to eustachion tube malfunction, treated with antibiotics and ear tubes if recurrent. Not a disease.

Chemical imbalance is a lay term (used for simplistic conversations), not a medical term.
I can tell you now that you have an odd idea what a disease is. An infection is a disease.
Chemical imbalance is not a lay term, but one invented by psych medicine to assure lay persons that they know what they are talking about, when in fact they are mostly clueless. It is a reassuring platitude, and an excuse to treat with chemicals, rather than more expensive treatments.
And why wouldn't "psych meficine" folks (who are commonly paid fee-for-service) choose to not be paid more?
"As usual... it depends."
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Re: Is stress a bad thing?

Post by Sculptor1 »

LuckyR wrote: November 13th, 2021, 2:33 am
Sculptor1 wrote: November 12th, 2021, 7:21 am
LuckyR wrote: November 12th, 2021, 12:18 am
Sculptor1 wrote: November 11th, 2021, 4:58 am

There is no empirical basis for a non corporeal "mind", or "soul".
How would such a thing be affected by or have an effect upon the physicality of the world.
It seem to me that it makes more sense to say the "mind" is what the brain does.

There is a massive sleight of hand in the medical profession in which practicioners fool the patient into thinking that they know more than then. Like many experts they rely on a more detailed lexicon. "Bulsh.. Baffles the Brains" as the saying goes.
For example a diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis sounds like the doctor knows what he is talking about, yet the phrase is no more than a literal description of scarring of the lungs and the word idiopathic means cause unknown.
Macroglossia might sound like a specific disease but its just a literal description. Swollen Tongue.
I had a friend who got an ear "disease" when she was a child. For years she thought she had had a disease otitis media until she was told 25 years later that otitis media just means inflamation of the inner ear.

"Chemical Imbalance" is just a catch all phrase for a brain state that is undesirable and points to no cause, no diagnosis and no specific treatment regime.
Speaking of sleight of hand, you are implying deceit where there isn't any. You are pointing out symptoms, conditions, diagnoses and diseases as if they are all diseases.

IPF as you correctly noted means the cause of the fibrosis is unknown, not everything is known. Conditions with unknown causes commonly have diagnostic tests and treatments, that's what most patients care about.

Macroglossia is a symptom. So is headache. Not controversial.

Otitis media is a condition, commonly caused by bacterial infection secondary to eustachion tube malfunction, treated with antibiotics and ear tubes if recurrent. Not a disease.

Chemical imbalance is a lay term (used for simplistic conversations), not a medical term.
I can tell you now that you have an odd idea what a disease is. An infection is a disease.
Chemical imbalance is not a lay term, but one invented by psych medicine to assure lay persons that they know what they are talking about, when in fact they are mostly clueless. It is a reassuring platitude, and an excuse to treat with chemicals, rather than more expensive treatments.
And why wouldn't "psych meficine" folks (who are commonly paid fee-for-service) choose to not be paid more?
I do not understand the relevance of the question, but it looks like a prelude to a conspiraacy theory.
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Re: Is stress a bad thing?

Post by LuckyR »

Sculptor1 wrote: November 13th, 2021, 6:38 am
LuckyR wrote: November 13th, 2021, 2:33 am
Sculptor1 wrote: November 12th, 2021, 7:21 am
LuckyR wrote: November 12th, 2021, 12:18 am

Speaking of sleight of hand, you are implying deceit where there isn't any. You are pointing out symptoms, conditions, diagnoses and diseases as if they are all diseases.

IPF as you correctly noted means the cause of the fibrosis is unknown, not everything is known. Conditions with unknown causes commonly have diagnostic tests and treatments, that's what most patients care about.

Macroglossia is a symptom. So is headache. Not controversial.

Otitis media is a condition, commonly caused by bacterial infection secondary to eustachion tube malfunction, treated with antibiotics and ear tubes if recurrent. Not a disease.

Chemical imbalance is a lay term (used for simplistic conversations), not a medical term.
I can tell you now that you have an odd idea what a disease is. An infection is a disease.
Chemical imbalance is not a lay term, but one invented by psych medicine to assure lay persons that they know what they are talking about, when in fact they are mostly clueless. It is a reassuring platitude, and an excuse to treat with chemicals, rather than more expensive treatments.
And why wouldn't "psych meficine" folks (who are commonly paid fee-for-service) choose to not be paid more?
I do not understand the relevance of the question, but it looks like a prelude to a conspiraacy theory.
Well you're the one implying that "psych medicine" folk are using clueless platitudes to fool patients to pay for less expensive treatments. In other words to pay their practitioners less.
"As usual... it depends."
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Re: Is stress a bad thing?

Post by Sculptor1 »

LuckyR wrote: November 13th, 2021, 11:56 am
Sculptor1 wrote: November 13th, 2021, 6:38 am
LuckyR wrote: November 13th, 2021, 2:33 am
Sculptor1 wrote: November 12th, 2021, 7:21 am

I can tell you now that you have an odd idea what a disease is. An infection is a disease.
Chemical imbalance is not a lay term, but one invented by psych medicine to assure lay persons that they know what they are talking about, when in fact they are mostly clueless. It is a reassuring platitude, and an excuse to treat with chemicals, rather than more expensive treatments.
And why wouldn't "psych meficine" folks (who are commonly paid fee-for-service) choose to not be paid more?
I do not understand the relevance of the question, but it looks like a prelude to a conspiraacy theory.
Well you're the one implying that "psych medicine" folk are using clueless platitudes to fool patients to pay for less expensive treatments. In other words to pay their practitioners less.
All medicine has used symptomic desriptors in place of knowking the real causes since they adotped Latin as jargon. This has been going on for 100s of years. I never said any thing about "clueless platitudes to fool patients to pay for less expensive treatments.". So I do not feel obligated to respond to an obvious baiting.
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Re: Is stress a bad thing?

Post by LuckyR »

Sculptor1 wrote: November 13th, 2021, 1:12 pm
LuckyR wrote: November 13th, 2021, 11:56 am
Sculptor1 wrote: November 13th, 2021, 6:38 am
LuckyR wrote: November 13th, 2021, 2:33 am

And why wouldn't "psych meficine" folks (who are commonly paid fee-for-service) choose to not be paid more?
I do not understand the relevance of the question, but it looks like a prelude to a conspiraacy theory.
Well you're the one implying that "psych medicine" folk are using clueless platitudes to fool patients to pay for less expensive treatments. In other words to pay their practitioners less.
All medicine has used symptomic desriptors in place of knowking the real causes since they adotped Latin as jargon. This has been going on for 100s of years. I never said any thing about "clueless platitudes to fool patients to pay for less expensive treatments.". So I do not feel obligated to respond to an obvious baiting.
I believe this is a direct quote: "It is a reassuring platitude, and an excuse to treat with chemicals, rather than more expensive treatments".
"As usual... it depends."
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Re: Is stress a bad thing?

Post by Sculptor1 »

LuckyR wrote: November 14th, 2021, 2:15 am
Sculptor1 wrote: November 13th, 2021, 1:12 pm
LuckyR wrote: November 13th, 2021, 11:56 am
Sculptor1 wrote: November 13th, 2021, 6:38 am

I do not understand the relevance of the question, but it looks like a prelude to a conspiraacy theory.
Well you're the one implying that "psych medicine" folk are using clueless platitudes to fool patients to pay for less expensive treatments. In other words to pay their practitioners less.
All medicine has used symptomic desriptors in place of knowking the real causes since they adotped Latin as jargon. This has been going on for 100s of years. I never said any thing about "clueless platitudes to fool patients to pay for less expensive treatments.". So I do not feel obligated to respond to an obvious baiting.
I believe this is a direct quote: "It is a reassuring platitude, and an excuse to treat with chemicals, rather than more expensive treatments".
Yes that is what I said.
It is a no brainer that psychological and psychiatric medicine tends to reach for the drugs rather than offer group therapy, art therapy cognitive therapy, and time consuming consultancy.
I am sure you will agree.
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Re: Is stress a bad thing?

Post by Sushan »

LuckyR wrote: November 11th, 2021, 2:58 am
Sushan wrote: November 10th, 2021, 10:55 pm
LuckyR wrote: November 9th, 2021, 3:30 pm
Sushan wrote: November 9th, 2021, 4:54 am

When we look at the history of psychology and psychiatry, clinicians thought of some illnesses as problems of thoughts and some as issues with the brain. But nowadays all the psychiatric disorders are considered as having a brain related etiology. So the chemical imbalance part has a validity. And for such a change to occur some time is needed. To such a change to become irreversible further more time is needed. So effect to the person will be determined more by the time than the severity as I see it.
If you are hypothesizing that prolonged exposure to stress can cause clinical depression independent of further stress in someone without previous mood disorder, I am unaware of data to support it.
There are psychiatric disorders that need more genetic predesposition to occur. But some like depression are related more with environmental factors. That does not totally exclude genetic factors and personality traits. But there are people (whom I have met in my clinical practice) that succumbed to depression without any history of mood disorders or a known genetic predesposition (no known family history). I agree that there is a high chance that their brains have been acting differently from the beginning. But we currently have no methods to check such things, and also we usually don't do such tests since we diagnose people depending on their physical and mental outcome in psychiatric disorders (this does not include organic psychiatric disorders).
So these folks had no history of depression, suffered a stressful situation, naturally felt sad, then later after the stress was lifted continued on to clinical depression?
The stressor may have been lifted physically, but the person might have been having the mental ssuffering throughout the time despite his/her family being very much supportive.

One example was about a law student who was diagnosed with depression following a relationship breakup. She had no psychiatric history, and her traceable family history also was clear from any psychiatric illness. She was a bright student until she came to the university, fell in love, and finally ended up in a breakup. Then she started to act wierdly and all her academic performances reduced. Then it continued to become a widespread unhappiness which affected her day to life as well. Ultimately she was diagnosed with clinical depression without psychotic symptoms, and I happened to meet her in the asylum for the mentally ill people.
“There is only one thing a philosopher can be relied upon to do, and that is to contradict other philosophers”

– William James
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Re: Is stress a bad thing?

Post by Sushan »

Sculptor1 wrote: November 11th, 2021, 4:58 am
Sushan wrote: November 10th, 2021, 10:08 pm
Sculptor1 wrote: November 6th, 2021, 1:50 pm
LuckyR wrote: November 6th, 2021, 1:51 am

Well sadness is commonly caused by sad situations, which are by definition typically stressful. Depression is classically cause by neurochemical imbalance.
No. Depression IS a chemical imbalance.

It can be triggered by adverse circumstances, or other conditions.
You might was well say that the chemical imbalance is caused by depression as the other way round.
Its really about perspective.
The argument depends on the belief of the presence of 'mind'. Some say there is a seperate thing called mind. But some say mind is also a result of chemical reactions that occur in our brain cells. If the latter is correct, whatever the emotions we feel will be a chemical balance or an imbalance. But if mind and brain are two seperate things then the relationship in between and the affect from one to the other has to be considered.
There is no empirical basis for a non corporeal "mind", or "soul".
How would such a thing be affected by or have an effect upon the physicality of the world.
It seem to me that it makes more sense to say the "mind" is what the brain does.

There is a massive sleight of hand in the medical profession in which practicioners fool the patient into thinking that they know more than then. Like many experts they rely on a more detailed lexicon. "Bulsh.. Baffles the Brains" as the saying goes.
For example a diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis sounds like the doctor knows what he is talking about, yet the phrase is no more than a literal description of scarring of the lungs and the word idiopathic means cause unknown.
Macroglossia might sound like a specific disease but its just a literal description. Swollen Tongue.
I had a friend who got an ear "disease" when she was a child. For years she thought she had had a disease otitis media until she was told 25 years later that otitis media just means inflamation of the inner ear.

"Chemical Imbalance" is just a catch all phrase for a brain state that is undesirable and points to no cause, no diagnosis and no specific treatment regime.
Many medical terms are of Latin origin. So even the simple terms may hear like a big term. But the specific terms are continously used because of their significance and the wide recognition by the doctors. Yes, Otitis media is an inflammation of the ear, and that is for the common people. But there is a difference to the clinicians. When it is said like otitis media then the illness is well understood and medicine can be prescribed without any more clarifications. But if it is said like inflammation of the ear then a whole lot of questions have to be asked to diagnose the illness and prescribe medication.

Idiopathic means cause not known, I agree. But that does not necessarily mean that there is no cause. Medical science is still evolving and there are lot to be found. Until then such cases will remain as idiopathic. But even such conditions are being treated though sometimes are not being cured. This is common to psychiatric illnesses as well. Many are being treated by addressing the known chemical imbalances (i.e. Dopaminergic pathway, seretonin pathway, etc) of the brain. And now the researches are expanded to look for problems at cellular level which might cause psychiatric illnesses. Then the therapies will be much more advanced.
“There is only one thing a philosopher can be relied upon to do, and that is to contradict other philosophers”

– William James
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2023/2024 Philosophy Books of the Month

Entanglement - Quantum and Otherwise

Entanglement - Quantum and Otherwise
by John K Danenbarger
January 2023

Mark Victor Hansen, Relentless: Wisdom Behind the Incomparable Chicken Soup for the Soul

Mark Victor Hansen, Relentless: Wisdom Behind the Incomparable Chicken Soup for the Soul
by Mitzi Perdue
February 2023

Rediscovering the Wisdom of Human Nature: How Civilization Destroys Happiness

Rediscovering the Wisdom of Human Nature: How Civilization Destroys Happiness
by Chet Shupe
March 2023

The Unfakeable Code®

The Unfakeable Code®
by Tony Jeton Selimi
April 2023

The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are

The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are
by Alan Watts
May 2023

Killing Abel

Killing Abel
by Michael Tieman
June 2023

Reconfigurement: Reconfiguring Your Life at Any Stage and Planning Ahead

Reconfigurement: Reconfiguring Your Life at Any Stage and Planning Ahead
by E. Alan Fleischauer
July 2023

First Survivor: The Impossible Childhood Cancer Breakthrough

First Survivor: The Impossible Childhood Cancer Breakthrough
by Mark Unger
August 2023

Predictably Irrational

Predictably Irrational
by Dan Ariely
September 2023

Artwords

Artwords
by Beatriz M. Robles
November 2023

Fireproof Happiness: Extinguishing Anxiety & Igniting Hope

Fireproof Happiness: Extinguishing Anxiety & Igniting Hope
by Dr. Randy Ross
December 2023

Beyond the Golden Door: Seeing the American Dream Through an Immigrant's Eyes

Beyond the Golden Door: Seeing the American Dream Through an Immigrant's Eyes
by Ali Master
February 2024

2022 Philosophy Books of the Month

Emotional Intelligence At Work

Emotional Intelligence At Work
by Richard M Contino & Penelope J Holt
January 2022

Free Will, Do You Have It?

Free Will, Do You Have It?
by Albertus Kral
February 2022

My Enemy in Vietnam

My Enemy in Vietnam
by Billy Springer
March 2022

2X2 on the Ark

2X2 on the Ark
by Mary J Giuffra, PhD
April 2022

The Maestro Monologue

The Maestro Monologue
by Rob White
May 2022

What Makes America Great

What Makes America Great
by Bob Dowell
June 2022

The Truth Is Beyond Belief!

The Truth Is Beyond Belief!
by Jerry Durr
July 2022

Living in Color

Living in Color
by Mike Murphy
August 2022 (tentative)

The Not So Great American Novel

The Not So Great American Novel
by James E Doucette
September 2022

Mary Jane Whiteley Coggeshall, Hicksite Quaker, Iowa/National Suffragette And Her Speeches

Mary Jane Whiteley Coggeshall, Hicksite Quaker, Iowa/National Suffragette And Her Speeches
by John N. (Jake) Ferris
October 2022

In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All

In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All
by Eckhart Aurelius Hughes
November 2022

The Smartest Person in the Room: The Root Cause and New Solution for Cybersecurity

The Smartest Person in the Room
by Christian Espinosa
December 2022

2021 Philosophy Books of the Month

The Biblical Clock: The Untold Secrets Linking the Universe and Humanity with God's Plan

The Biblical Clock
by Daniel Friedmann
March 2021

Wilderness Cry: A Scientific and Philosophical Approach to Understanding God and the Universe

Wilderness Cry
by Dr. Hilary L Hunt M.D.
April 2021

Fear Not, Dream Big, & Execute: Tools To Spark Your Dream And Ignite Your Follow-Through

Fear Not, Dream Big, & Execute
by Jeff Meyer
May 2021

Surviving the Business of Healthcare: Knowledge is Power

Surviving the Business of Healthcare
by Barbara Galutia Regis M.S. PA-C
June 2021

Winning the War on Cancer: The Epic Journey Towards a Natural Cure

Winning the War on Cancer
by Sylvie Beljanski
July 2021

Defining Moments of a Free Man from a Black Stream

Defining Moments of a Free Man from a Black Stream
by Dr Frank L Douglas
August 2021

If Life Stinks, Get Your Head Outta Your Buts

If Life Stinks, Get Your Head Outta Your Buts
by Mark L. Wdowiak
September 2021

The Preppers Medical Handbook

The Preppers Medical Handbook
by Dr. William W Forgey M.D.
October 2021

Natural Relief for Anxiety and Stress: A Practical Guide

Natural Relief for Anxiety and Stress
by Dr. Gustavo Kinrys, MD
November 2021

Dream For Peace: An Ambassador Memoir

Dream For Peace
by Dr. Ghoulem Berrah
December 2021