Posted on 02/23/2013 10:54:26 AM PST by Drew68
THE grieving process is in danger of being branded a medical condition if a mourner feels sad for more than two weeks and consults a GP, according to an international authority on death and dying.
At present, mourners can feel sad for two months before being told they have a mental disorder, says Professor Dale Larson. Decades ago, a diagnosis could be made after a year.
In a keynote address at an Australian Psychological Society conference in Melbourne on Saturday, Prof Larson will express his anger about the American Psychiatric Association's new diagnostic manual, DSM 5, which is used in many countries including Australia and New Zealand.
The manual, to be published in May, allows a diagnosis of depression after two weeks of grieving.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
In many cases, doctors are the cause of many problems.
Thank you for your thoughtful, reasoned and well written post. Refreshing really.
As you said, grief is normal and everyone deals with it differently. However if someone is unable to function due to extreme grief or more likely the resulting depression; they can’t work, are unable to enjoy anything in life, withdraw from family and friends, even stop taking care of their homes or themselves and it persists over an extended period, weeks, months years, then that is not normal grief and counseling or even in some cases, medication is probably warranted.
“Great post! Very informative and well stated!”
I just wish all the ones who posted here would read it.
Grams A, you have it right. I’m reeling right now trying to think of how I could respond. Words fail me, but I will. Anyone who has a Kiddo is good to go in my book.
A man calls the psychiatrist at a mental hospital and asks who’s in room 24. “Nobody” comes the reply. “Good” says the man, “I must have escaped.”
And then there willl be a new study which recommends a commission which, in turn, will lead to a new federal agency to deal with this critical issue and then the agency will have its annual budget growth scaled back by the Republicans and then the Republicans will get the blame for... oh, whatever.
Who the hell cares anymore?
A guy is walking past a big wooden fence at the insane asylum and he hears the residents inside chanting, "Thirteen! Thirteen! Thirteen!" Quite curious about this, he finds a hole in the fence, and looks in. Someone inside pokes him in the eye. Then everyone inside the asylum starts chanting, "Fourteen! Fourteen! Fourteen!"
In the case of severe depression with severe suicidal ideation , I have sent a patient to a psychiatrist for medication, not for counseling as I kept that patient with me. Medication is the only reason I would involve a psychiatrist. Even doing that is “iffy” with a patient I described above and that is because a depressed suicidal person usually doesn't have enough emotional strength to kill themselves but if they take an antidepressant and get a little better, then they have the strength Io actually go through with the suicide. Working with suicidal people was a specialty of mine.
A story: A patient told me she was going to kill herself. I said, “Gee, I hope you don't do that because it would make me look bad - a patient of mine killing herself.” The lady said, “I never thought of that - I would not want you to look bad so I'm not doing it.” It's important for the therapist not to freak out if a patient brings up suicide. A calm response from the therapist is much better.
“People who go to psychiatrists don’t recognize a joke when they read it. It’s one of the symptoms of being nuts.”
I like that.
Thanks.
My wife had one two actually over 11 years ago who missed a Serotonin Syndrome diagnoses for prescribed antidepressants. She was being treated for PTSD, Clinical Depression, and abuse. The PTSD was set off by a dentist giving her a wrong medication nearly killing her.
With that said her LCSW she began seeing 11 years has been a true Godsend.
Thanks for your well-written professional take on this issue.
Gee, the whores are looking for more money.
“Gee, the whores are looking for more money.”
Which “whores” would you be talking about? I guess I missed that. Drew, do you know?
“Ya might want to read Mr. Robinson’s many postings about what this place is based upon before digging your hole further.”
Let’s get this straight: You are claiming mental health experts are contrary to religious beliefs, which is a complete falsehood. What you are backing up is that people that seek mental health help should really just forget about mental health treatments and go get more into religion instead, that all our military service members returning home and in need of some help should just shut the Hell up and go get a Bible instead, that they somehow lack your narcissistic level of faith and that’s their only problem.
How do you know these are some kind of atheists that don’t already have faith? You are calling them atheists, false believers, or some kind of less than spiritual persons. How do you know they are such people? How do you know they lack faith? How do you know that prayer isn’t part of their daily lives?
This psychiatry bashing has got to stop. You arrogant SOBs are hurting people. Let’s see you high and mighty uberfaith types go to war and come back and be told just shut up and say a prayer instead of receiving mental health treatment.
Any ideas what this is about?
‘No guns for you!’
I had Vets with PTSD in my practice. I have been a Christian since I was 10 years old. I was a church pianist for years. I haven't kept up with this war between you and piytar but one can't paint every counselor/psychologist/psychiatrist with the same brush - we are all individuals with different belief systems so one can't say “all” mental health workers definitely do “this” (whatever “this” is).
I used my belief in God to do the best I could for every patient who needed help. To suggest I didn't believe in God if I was a professional counselor/psychological examiner, would be absolutely wrong. Judging the soul of mental health workers or anyone is a sin and that is Biblical.
I’m so depressed at this news that just reading this article may be enough to get me on the dole.
That was the idea but the inmates have since taken over the asylum and are now calling the shots. Now the old mental illnesses are called normal and those who aren’t abnormal are called nuts.
Yea and she's made great progress. My wife faced the news of Thyroid cancer and the treatment like a champ. 11 years ago it would have been different.
18 years ago I was diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder and PTSD. They hit me at the same time. Most anxiety disorders are from traumatic issues or phobic in nature. Mine I would discover about two years later was a life long neurological issue. Vestibular/Cerebellar induced anxiety disorder. The Inner Ear and the portions of the brain coordinating sensory processing become damaged. This in turn triggers anxiety and in my case seizure activity in the form of Myoclonic Seizures from auditory and visual stimulation. It's not curable and protocol antidepressant therapy many doctors use for G.A.D. and Panic Attacks can cause far greater harm because of the increase in sensory impulses. That is the last thing needed.
It takes Benzo class medications to treat this and Xanax is likely the best. Environmental modifications are a must. You have to limit exposures to triggers if possible. Such therapies as CBHT I think is the term won't work any more than hitting your hand with a hammer will eventually overcome pain.
Thanks to my LCSW I got through the PTSD in about five years. Once he understood I had Vestibular induced GAD I became a learning experience for him and Anxiety Disorders were his specialty.
Two years into this I found a book called Phobia Free by Harold Levinson MD. He is a research Neurologist and Psychiatrists. In the 1970's he discovered the neurological link between Vestibular Disorders and Anxiety Disorders as well as ADD ADHD a variant of sorts now called C.A.P.D. Early on even through the 1990's his writings on the subject ridiculed. His theories have been vindicated by Independent Vestibular Researchers. He was ahead of his time.
I indeed have a life ling Vestibular and sensory processing history. The last Psychiatrist I had about 10 years ago was the only one of five who would even consider this. He was also the one who got my meds right. Now my regular doctor writes the script.
Seek mental help quickly.
Am I right that noise is a problem for you?
Yet men who like to park their flesh swords in other men’s anal canals are not considered mentally ill......
newsflash.. walking past an office that houses a mental health professional is now considered a mental disorder and will allow Obama to place your name on a list to keep you from buying guns.
Thanks for your thoughts. There is a poem that means a lot to me, Footprints on your Heart. Some people come into our lives and leave footprints on our harts and we are never ever the same.
I had 40 years with my daughter, the last 5 she lived with me so have lots of memories. I also know I will see her in Heaven one day. Military families who have lost their young ones in a far off land didn’t have this chance. My heart grieves for them and I offer up prayers on their behalf. They are the true warriors.
Kids who have had sinus allergies or chronic ear infections are at risk for this down the road. Not to this extent but at least to some extent. Our technology advances IMO is the main driving culprit behind the supposed ADD ADHD epidemic. The kids likely have C.A.P.D. but the noises and visual stimulation unprecidented until the past 20 or so years is wreaking Havoc and most persons do not even know what is doing it to them. Professionals aren't making the obvious link.
I can walk into a busy Walmart and I can pick them out LOL. The shoppers with the deer in headlights look or the ones becoming agiated minute by minute are likely Vestibular patients. That's why we shop very late at night. Don't get me wrong I get out and about daily. But I pick the times and places. I can run into a store now and grab a few items and get out OK but I can't do the monthly shopping during busy times. I'll leave the stuff sitting because it confuses me so.
By the Grace Of GOD when my wife and I have needed answers about our conditions they were given us. By The Grace Of GOD when my wife went pyschotic and was halicunating thinking she was Tess on Touched BY An Angel I did something six doctors did not. I looked up Zoloft and Trazadone +adverse reactions. The answers came real fast even down to the teaching hospitals pharmacology professors article on Serotonin Syndrome. Convincing the doctors was a different matter. She still has partial amnesia. They actually took her off the meds in the hospital then a Psychiatrist who never saw her before put her back on Zolot. An hour after the pil she was in Serotonin Syndrome again.
She is also a quadriplegic of 28 years. We married after the fact a second marrigae for both of us. Her previous marriage was physically abusive. Less than a year before I met my wife now I had lost my first wife to a massive heart attack at age 23. Thus a major factor leading to my PTSD and a few more very unsettling traumatic events we both faced in a short time.
Ten years later my brain said enough. It was dealing with the Cognitive corrections of my Vestibular and sensory issues. That is unnoticed stress the brain is under all the time. It got compounded by the other events and my brain couldn't juggle it anymore. Like a computer processing task above it's rated capacity it froze up and crashed LOL.
Now that the federal gubmint has access to all of your medical records they will know that since you have grieved longer than the allotted time after the death of a loved one you have a mental disability and hence not perrmitted to possess firearms.
Queer behavior is normal, though, right?
IMO, holding a degree in psychiatry is a mental illness.
Like six million sent to the gas chambers?
Well, you and your wife have had more medical crap to put up with than most people. It's a good thing you are smart so you can figure out what's wrong and do something about it. Good wishes to you,
Marcella
I wouldn't have figured out a lot of this without help both from GOD and from reliable websites. I've helped a couple of cousins who developed the anxiety part of it as well as my dad. The neurological issue seems to be one of genetics. My dad was almost what would be termed a social phobic. He didn't dislike people as such but rather disliked being around crowds. Like me in crowded situations even at family gatherings he could only tolerate so much background noise. You hear people talking but trying to pick out any given conversation of follow one is difficult. You can have perfect hearing as far as that goes and still have the interpretation issues.
BTW I did lern another thing in Levinsons book. In most cases a persons fear of heights is a symptom of Vestibular Issus. It is the brains internal correction and self preservation that demands a rsponse to the danger it sees. IThe brain senses lack of balance. In my case I had to take two years Occuoational therapy as a kid for eye/muscle coordination. I have poor balnce to the point of using a cane now. But I’ve always had a fear of heights even before they knew about the coordination issues.
God bless you and you will see your daughter again someday.
The psychiatrists. Everybody grieving over two weeks is a potential new patient.
I think he needs a shrink....
No, I am NOT. YOU called G Larry an idiot and implied he was a "born again" nutcase for suggesting that faith in God was a valid way to deal with grief.
To you next "point":
What you are backing up is that people that seek mental health help should really just forget about mental health treatments and go get more into religion instead, that all our military service members returning home and in need of some help should just shut the Hell up and go get a Bible instead, that they somehow lack your narcissistic level of faith and that’s their only problem.
Wow. Just plain delusional. May I suggest that YOU seek true counseling from mental health professionals? Seriously. You are WAY out there. Please don't hurt yourself or others. PLEASE.
Yup. Seriously. Scary delusion/projection/anger at play there.
Your mother died. GET OVER IT!
Your guns. Give them to me.
Pretty ironic.
Not to someone incapable of genuinely caring about another person.
Remember, liberals think caring and generosity involves taking your money and giving it to someone else.
Of course not. And I NEVER derided the value of good counseling. I just stood up for G Larry's post that faith in God and praying were valid ways to deal with grief. The rest has been projection by CodeToad. Apparently to him, the idea that you can seek comfort in God means you hate counselor/psychologist/psychiatrist. I never said that. I did note the getting medicated into a stupor as opposed to dealing with grief may not be a good thing (in so many words). Apparently that makes me a religious nutcase.
To be blunt, that level of projection and anger scares me and requires professional counseling.
PS Your posts have been very insightful and informative. Thank you for sharing you professional experience.
You are aware that this is just BS to ban people from owning guns?
I'd be far more wary of those who feel no grief. They are often disconnected, and the emotionless seldom have remorse. Nice qualification for a serial killer.
Of all the Psych majors I met in college, the vast majority said they went into Psych 'to sort out their head'. Only two seemed relatively normal, as people go.
I thought, too, when kids from the subsidized housing areas in town started being labelled as "depressed", that a kid from the projects who can't afford a lot of gee whiz stuff other kids have and doesn't have the best family/living arrangements should be a little bummed from time to time.
That's the incentive to bust your keester to better your lot, but instead they're medicated.
What they need is some advice--study, work hard, and get out of the crab basket.You'll feel better when you do better.
And the people around them. For those who are supposed to be so conversant with human nature, this reveals either a striking ignorance or a hidden agenda.
Foam ear plugs of the type common on construction sites are less conspicuous and reduce noise nicely. They are disposable and cheap, and you can keep a pair or two in your jacket pocket or glove box, just in case. (We use them a lot on oil rigs...)
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