At this time of year, I know a lot of people are struggling with depression & poor mental health. Editors commission a hell of a lot of pieces on how to beat depression, anxiety, etc. Having spent years researching & writing about these subjects, I have opinions! Here's a thread no one asked for. - ThreadSky

timclare.bsky.social • 4 days ago

At this time of year, I know a lot of people are struggling with depression & poor mental health. Editors commission a hell of a lot of pieces on how to beat depression, anxiety, etc. Having spent years researching & writing about these subjects, I have opinions! Here's a thread no one asked for.

Comments

pyrrho-of-elis.bsky.social•4 days ago

Tim, thank you so much for this. Such a valuable, vital thread. Very timely for me, too. Your contributions on these subjects are always very much appreciated.

bracht.bsky.social•4 days ago

Please talk more often about this. I don’t have questions, but I struggle with this and I resonate with what you’re saying.

timclare.bsky.social•4 days ago

In case you can't be bothered to read the unfiltered, unplanned thoughts I'm about to share, the TLDR is that mental health/illness is always *multifactorial*, & whenever you hear a pundit claiming otherwise, they are either deluded or a grifter. It's easier to get a podcast slot blaming 1 thing.

timclare.bsky.social•4 days ago

Ok, so factors. It makes sense that the very real oppression & injustice of a bigoted, capitalist system contributes to anxiety & depression. Whether you are the victim of, a witness to, or a perpetrator of that oppression (& you're probably all 3) it takes a human toll. It's a dreadful system.

timclare.bsky.social•4 days ago

Knowing that if you get sick you could lose access to shelter, to your home, to basic freedoms. Walking past people daily denied those liberties. Seeing literal theft & ethnic cleansing loudly rewarded while nurses have to pay for parking to work. Constant exposure to that makes us sick.

timclare.bsky.social•4 days ago

BUT. A subsection of progressives take this reasonable assessment & go one stage further. If I look at various studies & express the tentative opinion that chronic stress makes 5-HT1A dysregulation more likely which is associated with depression & stress, I'm a neo-liberal shill.

timclare.bsky.social•4 days ago

Depression, anxiety & all mental illness are - entirely - the fruiting bodies of a sick system, they say, & so to acknowledge that Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors do seem to help some people feel somewhat better is trying to cover up the crimes of the horrible consumerist blob digesting us.

timclare.bsky.social•4 days ago

My opinion on these pundits has evolved from thinking they make some good points but overstate them to recognizing them as harmful self-promoting cranks. Pundits like Joanna Moncrieff & James Davis will always get column inches because they present themselves as brave truth-telling mavericks.

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply