Fighting mental illness stigmas (Part 3 of 4)

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“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.

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Preface

My response to retired professional U.K.-based kickboxer Andrew Tate's recent "depression isn't real" Twitter rant took on a life of its own.

You can read my initial response here, which includes links to a number of articles and scientific studies on American suicide statistics and the physical evidence of depression; my follow-up response on the mental health issues facing the 9/11 first responders here; and finally, my thread on the scientific literature researching the relationship between inflammation and depression here. Here are also some links to the Wikipedia articles on depression and mental illness.

In Part 1 of this series, I also presented global statistics on depression, suicide, and the mental illness stigmas. In Part 2, I presented statistics on traumatic brain injury, discussed the mental health benefits of physical exercise and the martial arts, and critiqued Tate's tactics. This is Part 3 of a four-part series.

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Finishing the debate

Tate has made minimal effort to refute the scientific evidence I've presented to him, so why follow up at all? Because this information needs to be heard, and rational dialogue is part of how we fight our way out of the polarization our present.

As a journalist, I am interested in facts. My feelings about those facts is secondary to their existence. I'm not even asking people to trust in the authority of experts since this is both a logical fallacy and a path to intellectual bondage. Experts will always be wrong at some point in their careers. Neither am I a doctor. It's not my job to recommend treatment responses for people - that's between them and their loved ones, their doctors, and if they pray, their god(s).

I'm asking that people trust in the efficacy of the scientific method. We know mental illnesses are treatable physical phenomena because of this method.

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Veteran PTSD and Suicide Rates

In my initial thread I highlighted American veteran PTSD, depression, and suicide rates since I am most familiar with those statistics.

Tate mildly addressed this point in an answer to a softball question during the first few minutes of a recent podcast with Infowars and Prison Planet hosts Alex Jones and Paul Joseph Watson. At 3:49 in the interview Watson appeared to be attempting to massage Tate's message.

While I am glad Tate acknowledges that military veterans suffer PTSD and depression, depression and suicide affects even those who have never seen a war zone.

I further addressed some of these problems in Part 1 of this series.

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Advocating for Humane Treatment of the Mentally Ill

Tate still has yet to provide an adequate rebuttal to brain scans enabling the physical detection of depression. Even his attempt to bring a real data point in to his argument during the podcast falls flat. At 17:29 of the interview, Tate says:

"Loren Mosher, was the former chief of schizophrenic research at the National Institute of Mental Health, and he concluded after 2 years of study that there is no biological condition of depression, because in 100 percent of cases there's nothing actually wrong with the brain. You can't detect anything wrong with the human brain for these depressed people. There's nothing wrong their brain, there's something wrong with their state of mind and their outlook on life. And that's something that needs to be changed with will power and understanding."

His data point is factually not true for several reasons.

Mosher did not deny the existence of schizophernia, and according to his obituary in the British Medical Journal, he preferred to treat a patient with psychiatric drugs only as a last resort.

"Mosher had a far more nuanced view of the use of drugs than is generally admitted. Though he often emphasised environmental factors, his writings indicate that he believed a delicate interplay between inherent “vulnerability” and environmental challenges could tip a patient over into schizophrenia or what he preferred to call “disturbed and disturbing” behaviour. Far from rejecting drugs altogether, he insisted that they be used as a last resort—and then in far lower doses than currently is usual in the United States."

Tate wouldn't give me a straight answer when I asked him over Twitter about the study he cited. He didn't link to it; I had to hunt for it myself. And so I believe he was referring to a famous study Mosher did on schizophernia patients.

I believe the study he was referring to was actually a famous study Mosher did on schizophernia patents. He didn't link to the study; I had to hunt for it myself.

The study, titled, "Treatment of Acute Psychosis Without Neuroleptics," "compared residential treatment in the community and minimal use of antipsychotic medication with “usual” hospital treatment for patients with early episode schizophrenia spectrum psychosis."

By misinterpreting the study to mean all mental illness, Tate demonstrates further ignorance of mental health issues.

Mosher, who died in 2004, famously resigned from the American Psychiatric Association in 1998 in protest of the state of the psychiatry industry at the time.

"At this point in history, in my view, psychiatry has been almost completely bought out by the drug companies," said Mosher, in his resignation letter.

And Mosher questioned the inhumane psychiatric treatment methods of his day. His Soteria Project focused on minimizing medications for treatment of patients diagnosed with schizophernia spectrum disorders and advocated for their humane treatment.

You can read more information on humane mental health care here.

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For lists of international suicide prevention hotlines, you can click here, here, here, and here.

For guides on responsible media reporting about suicide, click here, here, and here.

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Next

In the next part, I conclude this series and provide more links for further study.

Thank you for reading,

Josh

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Series Navigation: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

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View History

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Josh Peterson is a 2016 Robert Novak Journalism Program Fellow and a writer living in Denver, CO. Follow Josh on Steemit and Twitter. Keybase for secure chat. PGP Fingerprint: 4507 3000 1A40 2691 DAB8 ED65 A3EA 3629 73FD B7FF

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