For First Time, US Task Force Recommends Screening Adults For Anxiety Disorders 174
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNN: Adults ages 19 to 64 in the United States should be screened for anxiety disorders, according to a new recommendation from the US Preventive Services Task Force released Tuesday. The final recommendation, published in the medical journal JAMA, marks the first time the USPSTF has made a final recommendation on screening for anxiety disorders in adults, including those who are pregnant and postpartum. The task force found "insufficient evidence" to screen for anxiety in older adults. The USPSTF, a group of independent medical experts whose recommendations help guide doctors' decisions and influence insurance plans, also continues to recommend that all adults be screened for major depressive disorder, including those who are pregnant or postpartum and older adults. The recommendation is consistent with the task force's 2016 recommendation on depression screenings.
While rates of clinical depression had been rising steadily in the United States, they jumped significantly during the Covid-19 pandemic. In general, about 1 in 6 adults will have depression at some time in their life, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And although depression and anxiety are different conditions, they commonly can happen together -- and such screening recommendations can help clinicians identify which patients may need treatment for both conditions or one versus the other. "Anxiety disorders are common, and they can really impact people's quality of life, and what the task force found is that screening for anxiety disorders in the general adult population can lead to identifying these conditions early and then, if those people who are identified get linked up with appropriate care, they will benefit," said Dr. Michael Silverstein, vice chair of the USPSTF and director of the Hassenfeld Child Health Innovation Institute at Brown University. "So it really is extremely good news for the delivery of preventive services for the American public," he said. "We also found that in the older adult population, which is defined as age 65 and older, that the task force really needs more evidence to weigh the risks and benefits of screening for anxiety disorders. And for that older adult population, we're calling for urgent new research."
USPSTF researchers noted in their anxiety screening recommendation statement that most people with anxiety disorders don't receive treatment within the first year of symptoms, if ever -- showing a need for more robust screening. "Only 11% of US adults with an anxiety disorder started treatment within the first year of onset; the median time to treatment initiation was 23 years," the researchers wrote. "A US study of 965 primary care patients found that only 41% of patients with an anxiety disorder were receiving treatment for their disorder." Once the new screening recommendations are practiced in the real world, the results may reveal that anxiety disorders are much more prevalent than previously thought, said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, who was not involved in the recommendation statements. "Anxiety has been way under the radar for a long time, and so I think it's good that they are recommending for the broad population to be screened. When we start screening for anxiety, we're going to find a lot more of it than we thought we had," he said.
"I think it's an opportunity for us to get our hands around this crisis before we have a mental health emergency," Benjamin added. "So we definitely have to do more. We know as a nation, we have under-invested in mental health. We have not put as much money into mental health. We have not been treating mental health at the same level as physical health. And we know that people who need mental health services are really struggling to find providers to care for them."
While rates of clinical depression had been rising steadily in the United States, they jumped significantly during the Covid-19 pandemic. In general, about 1 in 6 adults will have depression at some time in their life, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And although depression and anxiety are different conditions, they commonly can happen together -- and such screening recommendations can help clinicians identify which patients may need treatment for both conditions or one versus the other. "Anxiety disorders are common, and they can really impact people's quality of life, and what the task force found is that screening for anxiety disorders in the general adult population can lead to identifying these conditions early and then, if those people who are identified get linked up with appropriate care, they will benefit," said Dr. Michael Silverstein, vice chair of the USPSTF and director of the Hassenfeld Child Health Innovation Institute at Brown University. "So it really is extremely good news for the delivery of preventive services for the American public," he said. "We also found that in the older adult population, which is defined as age 65 and older, that the task force really needs more evidence to weigh the risks and benefits of screening for anxiety disorders. And for that older adult population, we're calling for urgent new research."
USPSTF researchers noted in their anxiety screening recommendation statement that most people with anxiety disorders don't receive treatment within the first year of symptoms, if ever -- showing a need for more robust screening. "Only 11% of US adults with an anxiety disorder started treatment within the first year of onset; the median time to treatment initiation was 23 years," the researchers wrote. "A US study of 965 primary care patients found that only 41% of patients with an anxiety disorder were receiving treatment for their disorder." Once the new screening recommendations are practiced in the real world, the results may reveal that anxiety disorders are much more prevalent than previously thought, said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, who was not involved in the recommendation statements. "Anxiety has been way under the radar for a long time, and so I think it's good that they are recommending for the broad population to be screened. When we start screening for anxiety, we're going to find a lot more of it than we thought we had," he said.
"I think it's an opportunity for us to get our hands around this crisis before we have a mental health emergency," Benjamin added. "So we definitely have to do more. We know as a nation, we have under-invested in mental health. We have not put as much money into mental health. We have not been treating mental health at the same level as physical health. And we know that people who need mental health services are really struggling to find providers to care for them."
Do you have any idea how anxious this makes me? (Score:3)
Seriously. As if I didn't have enough to worry about. Tourist submarines sinking, AI taking over the world, Donald Trump being a harder on top of everything else... Christ in a chicken basket, what am I gonna do now? Game over man, game over.
Oh... Just you wait... (Score:2)
How about conspiracy loons with guns "rising" against such government-imposed mind control?
Supported by other anti-government loons complaining about what will that do to taxes and healthcare and the sportsball.
It's a good idea (Score:3, Interesting)
It's insane to think that there are still people in America who believe in that nonsense let alone who don't understand that mental illness isn't a moral failing it's a biochemical problem.
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Whenever my doctor asks me these kinds of questions I just answer with the "correct" answers. No way I'm flagging myself with issues.
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telling everyone that "anxiety" is a medical condition that requires medical intervention
I mean, it is. But it is often self inflicted and the treatment isn't always medicine. Just because it's not severe doesn't mean you don't need help. People literally do not know how to take care of their own mental health. And they are in the first world, so it is a problem they can get help dealing with. Ideally after a referral to someone who can help them with patterns and behaviors rather than seeing a doctor and getting medicine.
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Of course, it doesn't have to be pills. But could be.
It's really shitty that we rely on people basically having to first self-diagnose potential mental health issues that they have no education on. It could be years or decades until someone realizes they might have a treatable condition that's been fucking up their lives.
This is definitely a good idea (if it can be actually executed), helping people catch issues early on like high school and college age, could result in huge, life-long improvements in well
Re: It's a good idea (Score:5, Insightful)
While this "mandatory" type screening they wish for could be helpful for some people.
It also sounds like a GREAT method for trying to sell more of the people more drugs....
It also sounds like a great new way to try to flag people to prevent their purchase of firearms....tie this to the push of red flag laws they have.
All it takes is one anti-2A doctor checking off boxes on his patients and bam you're on a list now.
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And how much will they bleed our wallets to help our mental health? That's what all this shit ultimately does in America. If I had the money to go to a good therapist I'd have been doing it. Having some government asshole tell me I have to, and probably get stuck paying out of pocket since I can no longer support the health insurance scammery, er "industry" I'll basically be fucked for it. Which is why I need therapy to begin with. Our entire country is set up to bleed the middle class, which I've always be
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I mean, it is
does that mean worry or panic is a mental illness? theyre certainly undesirable mental states, but does it make them illnesses? By the same logic, you might say physical pain is an illness. Whilst we dont want to live in pain, nobody thinks pain in itself is an illness, they know it always has to be caused by something.
I put to you, it is wrong to think of anxiety as an illness, more like an indicator of something else that may well be an illness. Expecting a life free from anxiety is the same as expecting
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I actually only called it a condition. You could just as well say that means symptom. Self inflicted anxiety needs dealt with just as much as any other kind. If someone's tired all the time, you expect a doctor to recommend exercise. Why shouldn't they be a first line for poor mental health?
Anxiety is a normal part of life, but constant general anxiety through the whole day is not.
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Ok, in the quoted part I definitely meant illness. But illness doesn't mean dysregulation or disorder. Your brain can be working fine but be given junk as input.
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There are those that have anxiety attacks...that have NOTHING to do with your mental feelings of anxiousness or how your life
Re: It's a good idea (Score:2)
As a practical matter, telling everyone that "anxiety" is a medical condition that requires medical intervention (which is how a lot of people will hear this) will havr the effect of clogging up a system with finite capacity with a lot of "special people"
That's like saying you shouldn't ever take a Tylenol if you've got a headache because it might clog up the drug store over a minor condition that people used to have to just put up with back in the day.
Re: It's a good idea (Score:5, Insightful)
Of course "anxiety" per se isn't an illness. Normal anxiety focuses your attention on preparing for future events. If you're a little anxious about a business meeting, maybe you go over the papers one last time before going. But if you anxiety reaches the point where you can't bear to *go* to the meeting, you've passed beyond normal anxiety into *morbid* anxiety. If this happens repeatedly, you have a *disorder* of anxiety. Or to use the standard terminiology, "an anxiety disorder".
The stuff of mental illness isn't something alien to a normal life. It's like a cancer cell is to a normal cell -- it's something that has a proper function that is working out of its context, and/or to and extreme and refractory degree. Feeling down in the dumps is a normal signal to take on a little less stress; being unable to face getting out of bed and dressing yourself is depression.
Sure there are people who use psychotherapy because it's fashionable and who would probably do about as well without. But an anxeity disorder *by definition* is something that is crippling to some degree. People *do* lose sight of the fact that feeling a little less than tickety-boo sometimes *isn't* crippling, and therefore *isn't* a mental illness. But that doesn't mean mental illness doesn't exist.
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Anxiety can be treated with some lessons that help people cope with it better. Once you understand how to deal with it, a lot of anxiety can be dealt with just by doing some simple mental exercises.
I'd argue that a lot of this should be taught at school. Some of it can't be because you need to be experiencing severe anxiety to really master it, but even just knowing some of the techniques is a valuable life skill.
Re: It's a good idea (Score:4, Interesting)
Yeah, "Cognitive Behavioral Therapy" is basically applied critical thinking. It has deep roots in empiricist traditions of Western philosophy.
While everyone can benefit from critical thinking training, I think it's important to acknowledge that education can't fix everything in advance. Circumstances matter and sometimes people need support dealing with anxiety even when that anxiety isn't *pathological*.
I’m a veteran (Score:2, Interesting)
I’m a veteran who grew up in an extremely abusive household. My father had tried to kill me before I was 10 and he was very much of the “man up” variety. I went straight from that to the military just as he did, in order to escape that household. He blew his brains out a few years later and I sucked it up through the military, telling myself it could always be worse, thinking of the bright side and so on.
Then I went into the civilian world and sucked it up some more. Right now I’
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What difference does it make if it is part of the human condition or not? And trusted elders/mentors/parents/religious figures can do a lot of damage if indeed they are not one of the causes. Having a trusted "religious" figure attempting to get you to assume the trusted "religious" figure's hobgoblins is not a recipe for success. Having an Eye in the Sky watching your every move is only paranoia inducing.
What after diagnosis? (Score:5, Interesting)
The US doesn't exactly have a great health care system. It has the most expensive per capita and total, beating Norway out by a 2x margin, but it is one of the lousiest outside of a third world country.
Yes, what is that info going to be used for, if someone now has anxiety or depression? Flag them as a pariah for the rest of their life? I have worked at MSPs where they fired anyone they found with any mental illness, saying, "it is better to pay the legal bills and let them sue, than risk letting defective, unstable people near our data center."
Will it be used as a scarlet letter to invalidate witness testimony in court? "Yeah, the dude saw the defendant strangle the victim, but the witness is depressed, so his testimony means nothing, just like any other mentally ill person, so maybe the guy also saw Jesus coming or machine elves as well."
Will it be used to lock people up forever? We went through an era of civil commitment, and private prison companies can easily switch to private asylum providers, and they would be chomping at the bit to build those, especially when commitment means a life sentence.
Will this be used for anything useful, or just a way to populate databases and assign more social credit score factors?
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What do you mean "build those"?
What makes you think the same companies that look at prisoners the same way battery chicken farmers look at chickens would find they need to do anything different to house mental patients?
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My experience trying to find a therapist in the US:
1. The ones that seem to be good aren't accepting new patients.
2. Railroaded into a lower fee, less credentialed provider than the one I wished to see by the front office because I have an HDHP.
3. "I don't work with EAPs," despite being on the provider list for my EAP.
I gave up looking for one, and I suspect a lot of other people do, as well.
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You're looking at the wrong aspect of the USA's poor system. Expense isn't the issue, the issue is that mental health is utterly ignored systematically at every level of the USA's healthcare system.
You're right, screening people for something that won't be addressed is utterly pointless.
You apparently missed something somewhere. Mental health isn't systematically ignored. It's both mocked, and turned into a profit center by the pharma companies. Because if you aren't happy, there's a drug to fix it. And if that drug has bad side effects, there's probably another drug to compensate for that. I've watched my mother go through this shit her entire life. That's what mental health care leads to in this country. Creating druggies for profit. It's utter bullshit, but it's just part of this wonder
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Even if the healthcare system took anxiety and depression seriously, they're literally only able to treat the symptoms, not the root-cause. And that's more of a societal problem than anything and not likely something that can be fixed in any clinical way.
I was about to prattle on about the sources of greed and consumerism but it's been done to death by others - both here and numerous other outlets. I'll leave the extrapolation as an exercise to any readers, here.
Actively harmful policy (Score:5, Insightful)
Jokes on them, everyone i know with anxiety avoids Doctors for this very reason. It is beyond foolish to think that the answer to helping more people is to increase the rate of/method of screening. people who suffer from anxiety are fundamentally running away. i don't have a solution to this, social anxiety is a tough nut to crack because of its self reinforcing nature. its wise to recognize it as an issue, but this is the dumbest way anyone could've ever come up with to help persons with anxiety. if anything this will cause more people to AVOID the doctor since its going to be more GUARANTEED that a potential anxiety issue is part of a screening.
the methods of screening for, identifying, and treating anxiety is highly complex. this method does less than nothing to help, infact id argue its actively harmful.
Re: Actively harmful policy (Score:2)
Anxiety and paranoia are not necessarily the same though. Like there is a lot of overlap between PTSD and anxiety disorders. A veteran who saw some horrible stuff in war knows that the anxiety response to loud noises or whatever is not rational for peacetime, but the brain is producing it anyway. It is like that for a lot of people, there are triggers that set off anxious emotions they know are not useful, but cannot stop. It can be very different from the trapped in a system that is out to get me feeling,
This isn't necessarily social anxiety (Score:2, Interesting)
There's a wide varie
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Meet me. Though I'd like to avoid doctors, I can't really avoid them since I need my medicines for high blood pressure and acid reflux.
I was on SSRIs for a while, but I quit since they didn't really solve the problem. The best I've been able to do is admit to myself that I'm irrationally anxious all the time and just live with it and do what I have to, anyway, rather than trying to fight it.
19 to 64? (Score:2, Troll)
Adults ages 19 to 64 in the United States should be screened for anxiety disorders, according to a new recommendation from the US Preventive Services Task Force released Tuesday. [...] The task force found "insufficient evidence" to screen for anxiety in older adults.
If you're under19 or over 64, take a hike, because depression magically does not exist at those ages.
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That doesn't make it not exist. It means there's insufficient evidence that a generalized screening is recommended in the absence of other factors that would demand it. These recommendations drive whether insurance covers the cost of the screening.
Anxiety and depression are related and some of the same medications can work, but they are not the same condition.
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Anxiety isn't depression. The age range is likely because it encompasses "adults that aren't geriatric". Those who fit on either side of that range likely need methodology
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edit: need *different diagnostic* methodology
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What this basically says is they know EXACTLY where the anxiety comes from. Work.
This is a relatively direct statement that how the US system of gainful employment makes you mentally ill.
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Work can make me anxious. But not working doesn't stop the anxiety. So, no, I doubt work is the reason for recommending screening to that age group.
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Not working has never made a single person anxious. It's the prospect of a lack of income that does make you anxious.
The work culture that makes you anxious while you do have gainful employment is things like healthcare being coupled to your job/employer. The employer deciding what kind of health care plans you can have.
It is the risk of losing your income on short notice because your employer feels like it and it is the overreach into private lives of the employees by employers that drives anxiety IMO.
Imagine (Score:4, Insightful)
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Now we wouldn't want people to think that isn't the case, would we? The suxiety, pardon (cough, cough) - society is healthier and better than ever, and our government will make sure everyone is even happier and better off, by getting these people mandatory help. Oh my Crom, you can't imagine they would go that far.
To whom it may xoncern (Score:2)
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No you're right, it's *your business*, and you would do well to understand it, especially as most mental health issues are not able to be self diagnosed.
GFY & FOAD
This is equally a declaration of your own mental health while also being unfortunately very likely what you'll end up doing if you actually have an issue yourself.
Anxiety (Score:2)
Most people see and feel terrible things. Most of these people deal with these feelings and thoughts by distracting themselves with work/hobbies, drinking, or just plain being dead inside and repeating the mantra "It could be worse".
The people that can't figure the above out get wound up worrying ... and have anxiety.
Literally everybody should be falling apart at the seams every day, and the crisis has already come with idiots shooting people every day. Same exact problem - some sort of coping mechanism t
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Re: Anxiety (Score:2)
I don't think so.
If you think because one is crippled by anxiety and depression that one is special and nobody else could possibly understand, and opinions to the contrary are somehow targeted at them...you are the definition of snowflake.
I assure you I have seen plenty of real death, touched and tempted by suicide, and felt less than good enough or afraid of consequences.
You are incorrectly assuming people that manage to function through it haven't dealt with it.
Literally everyone is a little crazy sometim
I'm Fine, Goddamit (Score:2)
Now leave me the fuck alone.
I sees me some faulty thinking here (Score:5, Informative)
A number of people here seem to think anxiety disorder is just a worse case of the social anxiety many Slashdotters are familiar with. It's not [mayoclinic.org].
A number of people here seem to think clinical depression is just a worse version of that type of depression most people feel at times. It's not [mayoclinic.org].
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first line from your first link
Depression ranges in seriousness from mild, temporary episodes of sadness to severe, persistent depression.
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Screening? (Score:3, Funny)
What about fear? (Score:2)
Come on, some people are afraid of things, such as fire, climbing mountains, jumping off cliffs, being shot at. These should also be classed as medical conditions and therefore be treated, rather than merely a sensible response to danger!
It's reasonable to be anxious. The world is a challenging place. Or, to paraphrase "Sh*t happens, get over it."
Just because something is less than 100% joyous doesn't mean it needs treating.
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You're conflating being anxious with having an anxiety disorder.
causes matter (Score:4, Interesting)
So when we find out that 300 million people have various anxiety disorders, will we ask why?
Personally I think we will eventually find that our shitty, synthetic-loaded diets, particularly as children, have a lot to do with it. Likewise, having a government and media constantly messaging that everything is wrong, and everyone should be terrified is some deep-programming bullshit.
"The task force found "insufficient evidence" to screen for anxiety in older adults"
I suspect as well that has nearly everything to do with what age you were when social media "broke open" in about 2012,, maybe earlier.
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Maybe it has more to do with almost 0 social safety nets, an 'every man for themselves' mentality pounded in hard from birth - exacerbated by a health care system that demands the same.
My PCPs keep quitting, even when they don't NO ONE gives a fuck about anything, it's entirely reactive care, and only when you advocate for yourself, loudly and consistently, do you even get that.
I've also learned the hard way you better second guess everything they do, because you're the only one living in your skin and they
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"The task force found "insufficient evidence" to screen for anxiety in older adults" I suspect as well that has nearly everything to do with what age you were when social media "broke open" in about 2012,, maybe earlier.
It's also right at the cusp of retirement age, for those lucky enough to do so. Today that still happens for quite a few folks. It probably won't in the near future. But once you retire, you no longer matter, and should probably just be shuffled off to the old folks home where you can be ignored by everyone but the poor nurses who are stuck caring for these people whose families have been programmed to believe that if you aren't earning a wage, you aren't worth being cared for. AMERICA! FUCK YEAH!
Re:causes matter (Score:5, Insightful)
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Oh yes, in this day and age overpopulation will "automagically" take care of itself. It's not hard to see that.
I wish I was being sarcastic.
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They said they would own nothing and be happy... turns out instead they own nothing and are anxious.
Sometimes such a diagnosis is worse than useless. (Score:4, Interesting)
Anxiety and shootings (Score:2)
Cross-index with gun sales, shootings... What happens if they correlate.
Doctors are anxious (Score:2)
18 to 64? (Score:2)
I'm all for it. (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes, we should definitely have a national service screening adults for mental disorders, so that we can properly punish the motherfuckers for daring to not smile all the time, daring to realize what a shit-show our entire country is, and daring to question whether any of this shit is worth it if every ounce of effort we put into life is ultimately scraped by some rich bastard for profit. THAT'S the American dream. Maybe, if we're lucky, they'll create camps for those of us deemed "unhealthy" mentally so that they can keep us cordoned off from the people too stupid to realize what a fucked up dystopia we're living in so that they can live in happy peace without having to interact with us depressed pieces of shit.
We've been in a mental health crisis my entire adult life. The fact the government is finally noticing is. . . well, pretty much par for the course.
Yeah... no. (Score:2)
What some would call an "anxiety disorder" is just the way too often the way somebody is wired. It's not a disorder - it's a normal presentation in some portion of the public. Trying to stamp it out by calling it out and pushing treatment on them is unreasonable.
We're classifying everything we can find as disorders, and it's just stupid. You aren't depressed because your dad died. You're grieving. It's normal and you don't need a pill or a shrink. People have been coping with death since before people were
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Wasn't that pretty much what I said? I don't understand your objection.
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We're classifying everything we can find as disorders, and it's just stupid. You aren't depressed because your dad died. You're grieving.
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Still don't get it. It's not depression, it's grief. Exactly what you said.
Wow, look at all... (Score:2)
the posters to slashdot, none of who appear to be "nerds", but political hacks, screaming against this,,, given that I'll wager all of them would be diagnosed.
Consider this analogy (Score:2)
Alcoholism was never dealt with as a productivity or work impact issue. never.
Not even as a precursor to or 'cause' of abuse.
It was only dealt with as a public hazard due to driving while intoxicated and impaired, and the devastating impact of killing people because you were driving druink.
Even drug addictions are rarely dealt with as productivity issues, but mainly in response to the perceived crime etc. attendant to addiction. True or not.
If the mean time to treatment is 23 years, I suspect one of two obv
USPTF is political (Score:2)
USPTF has become political for quite some time now. A lot of their advice relates to cost not good medicine, and to medical fads. They are accountable to no one, and susceptible to activist capture.
screening = totatlitarianism (Score:2)
You want to know why they want to screen you for anxiety or depression? So that when you say for example that you need a sleeping pill, they will say, no, you can't have it because you are at risk of being an addict, and you get reported to the state database of drug-seeking miscreants.
Follow the money (Score:2)
This has the potential to be very expensive. There are no chemical tests to identify anxiety disorders. All this is going to do is allow insurance companies to raise your premiums because some subjective person decided that you have the potential for an anxiety disorder.
it's discrimination is what it is, I say (Score:2)
Mass shootings and acts of violence wasn't a hint? (Score:2)
Re:Of course they did (Score:4)
Some clinicians might find a revenue stream in this, but it wouldn't be the same people that would benefit from COVID preventative care and treatment. That would mostly be pharmaceutical companies that develop vaccines who aren't really involved in the USPSTF. Either way, doctors who might be members aren't getting rich off preventative care. It's just their regular job.
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Best way to medically addict someone for life while "helping" them deal with anxiety is to flatten the emotional curve. "SSRI wine aunt" is a meme for a reason.
They also don't actually work, but create emotionally disregulated people. Flattening the emotional curve with SSRIs works for people who are inherently disregulated. There's a very small amount of such people among general population. What's changed in last couple of decades is that these are now given to people who just have bad experiences, or are
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The corollary to "just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they are not out to get you" is "just because you are depressed doesn't mean your life doesn't totally suck".
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It's actually the opposite though. Just because your life sucks doesn't mean that you're clinically depressed. "Clinically" is the problem. People who have actual inherent biological disregulation of relevant naturally occurring substances get depressed not because their life sucks, but because their emotional regulation doesn't work and they cannot do what normal people do. Learn how to control it and regulate it. These people actually benefit from SSRIs. And there are very few such people in existence.
But
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And don't you worry, we'll also get a new slew of "skeptics" who will think it's an attempt to implant microchips and make them radioactive (or whatever the latest craze with these loonies is).
You mean, like we do with dogs (Score:2)
Sertraline (Zoloft) - Prescribed to dogs suffering from generalized anxiety, separation anxiety, thunderstorm phobia and fear-based aggression. This medication is an SSRI that works by increasing the amount of serotonin in the brain. [northgateveterinary.com]
We also inject microchips (more properly RFIDs) into dogs (and cats) so they can be found when lost.
I don't know of any radioactive treatments other than the technetium contrast. But that doesn't mean they don't exist. I'm told they do chemo on dogs, though that sounds crazy
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If I want to open your door I'd just need a sledge and a crowbar. Or just break a window depending. The amount of people who gain entry into someone's house by lockpicking is really goddamned low so as long as the lock is high quality enough that it can't be bumped you're generally good in that respect.
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Is there a possibility that you wanted to reply to someone else? Because that doesn't really fit what I wrote at all.
Re:Of course they did (Score:4, Insightful)
You dont think there is going to be a new anti-anxiety drug to go along with the new-found slew of patients? How gullible you must be.
If there's an anxiety treatment as effective as the vaccines have been, it'd be pretty amazing for everyone.
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Because that's easier than changing the root of the problem. How about... maybe all these people have anxiety problems purely naturally because the world we live in is terrible to live in? It is somehow easier to treat 1/6th (I think that's an underestimation, actually) of the population for mental disorders? That alone is a big red flag right there. "We need to monitor the population for mental disorders and treat them accordingly with medications". Doesn't it sound weird when said this way?
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Exactly. And some anxiety medications mask it for a while, then even exacerbate it. Like Diazepam. There is an on-going epidemic of Diazepam abuse and it is so easy to acquire. Way too easy. I personally think Diazepam can be used as a short-term med for anxiety and depression, but anything longer than a few weeks should be avoided at all cost. Just read about it on medical websites.
Re: Of course they did (Score:2)
Or we make society less... anxious.
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Then again, if you crash, there is a big comfy social security net to catch you, so people have room to stop functioning for a while and get better.
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In America we hand out drugs like candy because it's more profitable than looking at root causes when it comes to mental health. Helping people make a better life for themselves is deemed a communist, socialist plot, is is therefore deemed evil. Setting them up with life-long prescriptions is much more profitable for pharma, and much more likely to create well-behaved little automatons that go through life emotionally stunted and completely miserable, but numb to the misery.
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In America we hand out drugs like candy because it's more profitable than looking at root causes when it comes to mental health. Helping people make a better life for themselves is deemed a communist, socialist plot, is is therefore deemed evil. Setting them up with life-long prescriptions is much more profitable for pharma, and much more likely to create well-behaved little automatons that go through life emotionally stunted and completely miserable, but numb to the misery.
Medication in the USA is not a Left/Right political identity issue. Casting it as one perpetuates cognitive distortions and then legitimizes them to amplify a paranoid and isolationist social discourse that is absolutely not good for people's mental health, particularly those least emotionally self-regulated and those with underdeveloped critical thinking skills, who are the most vulnerable people on either side of a supposed binary political axis.
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In America we hand out drugs like candy because it's more profitable than looking at root causes when it comes to mental health. Helping people make a better life for themselves is deemed a communist, socialist plot, is is therefore deemed evil. Setting them up with life-long prescriptions is much more profitable for pharma, and much more likely to create well-behaved little automatons that go through life emotionally stunted and completely miserable, but numb to the misery.
Medication in the USA is not a Left/Right political identity issue. Casting it as one perpetuates cognitive distortions and then legitimizes them to amplify a paranoid and isolationist social discourse that is absolutely not good for people's mental health, particularly those least emotionally self-regulated and those with underdeveloped critical thinking skills, who are the most vulnerable people on either side of a supposed binary political axis.
Where did I describe it as a left/right issue? Profit is god here. Left/right/middle. Profit is all to both of the big parties, and most of the not so big parties that have a national platform. If anybody still believes that profit is only a right-leaning directive, they're about forty years removed from reality.
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In America we hand out drugs like candy because it's more profitable than looking at root causes when it comes to mental health. Helping people make a better life for themselves is deemed a communist, socialist plot, is is therefore deemed evil. Setting them up with life-long prescriptions is much more profitable for pharma, and much more likely to create well-behaved little automatons that go through life emotionally stunted and completely miserable, but numb to the misery.
Medication in the USA is not a Left/Right political identity issue. Casting it as one perpetuates cognitive distortions and then legitimizes them to amplify a paranoid and isolationist social discourse that is absolutely not good for people's mental health, particularly those least emotionally self-regulated and those with underdeveloped critical thinking skills, who are the most vulnerable people on either side of a supposed binary political axis.
Where did I describe it as a left/right issue?.
On Slashdot, this phrasing is the standard way people on the left mock people on the right:
"Helping people make a better life for themselves is deemed a communist, socialist plot, is is therefore deemed evil."
If I was mistaken, I apologize.
What did you actually intend by "helping people make a better life for themselves" and who are the people you are putting forward as suspicious of a "communist, socialist plot"?
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On Slashdot, this phrasing is the standard way people on the left mock people on the right: "Helping people make a better life for themselves is deemed a communist, socialist plot, is is therefore deemed evil." If I was mistaken, I apologize.
What did you actually intend by "helping people make a better life for themselves" and who are the people you are putting forward as suspicious of a "communist, socialist plot"?
I've come to a point where I tend to see the Democrats and the Republicans as two sides of the same ugly coin. So my intentions were that both parties are absolutely 100% to blame for the state of all healthcare in our country, and I hear people claiming to be members of both start tossing around communist and socialist as insults when anyone dares to mention improving it. I know others view those terms as left/right, but frankly, seeing the parties as separate entities is just a good way of ignoring realit
Re: Of course they did (Score:2)
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Wow, this sounds a lot like Jordan Peterson. Lots of complicated words to dodge a simple reality. And of course, you're doomed if you think otherwise.
What is the "simple reality" that you feel is being dodged?
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Benzodiazepines are not the first line treatment for Anxiety, SSRI's are, most likely Escitalopram.
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Now that I think on it, guns are a antidote for anxiety of conservatives. They appear to be anxious about damn never everything and never stop whining to the rest of us about their hangups....woke, LBGQ, dems, commies, Antifa, Hunter Biden's laptop, gender therapy, etc. I don't know how they can function without a gun; it gives them that warm teddy bear security blanket they need.