Searching for root causes
rationalpsychiatry.substack.com
Searching for root causes
Uncovering a straightforward cause-and-effect relationship is a relatively rare occurrence in clinical practice. Given how the mind works, it is much more likely that the causes of a symptom will be convergent and complex. Many experiences (in childhood, adolescence and adulthood) will create memories (accessible, partially accessible or inaccessib
... See moreFrank Tallis • Mortal Secrets
It’s not that moods and mental states don’t have causes. Presumably there are genetic, neurochemical, and situational factors behind every feeling we have. But those hidden mechanisms don’t always produce a knowable, expressible reason for feeling bad.
David Cain • It’s Okay to Feel Bad For No Reason
Looking for reasons as to why something happened keeps us from looking at the true cause, which is always within ourselves.
Richard Dotts • Dissolve the Problem
Before we seek to understand, we seek to diagnose. Instead of saying, “Let’s figure out what’s happening here,” we say, “Let’s figure out what’s wrong with you.” The elemental pathologizing embedded in the field of mental health is also why we’re so confused when we hear the phrase “mental health.”
Katherine Morgan Schafler • The Perfectionist's Guide to Losing Control
The same is true for any assumption that holds the mind or its pathologies to be inexplicable in some fundamental sense: it can only lead to extremely bad explanations. We have no choice but to treat mental illness as unknown but knowable .
Awais Aftab • On the Ignorance of Psychiatry and the Ignorance of Critics
Most mainstream training courses began to teach that forms of mental distress such as depression and anxiety have three kinds of cause: biological, psychological, and social.19 They are all real. This is known as the “bio-psycho-social model.”