

NHS develops online psychological therapy for Bipolar Disorder - zhudenym
http://www.software.ac.uk/blog/2014-09-11-online-psychological-therapy-bipolar-disorder

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lutusp
This is hilarious. How is it that people, when confronted by the fact that an
online therapy actually works, has a measurable therapeutic effect, don't ask
themselves whether their mental illness is as superficial as its treatment?

To the question "Is my mental illness real?", one answer can be "If you can
treat it by looking at some pictures and reading some words on a Website, then
no, it's not real."

Imagine an oncologist saying, "Yes, you have cancer, but I have a Website with
some pictures and words, that will fix you right up." This isn't likely,
because, unlike a psychological condition, cancer is a real disease.

More here:
[http://arachnoid.com/science_of_mind](http://arachnoid.com/science_of_mind)

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DanBC
Your kook-like obsession with refusing to accept the possibility that mental
illness exists is indistinguishabke from bigotry in this post.

People who are sometimes hospitalised can be treated -safely and effectively-
with some forms of talking therapies. That does not mean their illness is not
real and it is fucking offensive to suggest otherwise.

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bsdshepherd
Terms such as 'kook', 'bigotry' and 'f-ing offensive' will not further the
discussion in a positive way. Ad hominem will solve nothing.

Maybe citing the following will be useful:

Griefers have empirically demonstrated that websites can affect mental
processes by using flashing images to trigger epileptic seizures.

Music in psychological warfare and torture is well documented.

The Amanda Todd death is sufficient to show that words have the power to kill.

~~~
lutusp
> Griefers have empirically demonstrated that websites can affect mental
> processes by using flashing images to trigger epileptic seizures.

That's true, but the conclusion you draw has a logical defect -- an epileptic
seizure is not a mental process, it's a physical one. It can be started and
stopped by electrical and other kinds of stimuli.

When you hear "epilepsy", think brain, not mind. When you hear psychology,
think mind, not brain.

> Music in psychological warfare and torture is well documented.

Indeed it has, but there's no reliable science on that topic. The reason is
there's no repeatable, objective way to gather evidence.

> The Amanda Todd death is sufficient to show that words have the power to
> kill.

The Amanda Todd death is sufficient to show that there's sometimes a
correlation between words and death. To turn a correlation into science ...
shall I go on, or do you know the rest of this old tune?

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bsdshepherd
> The reason is there's no repeatable, objective way to gather evidence.

Not even wrong.

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lutusp
Avoid an embarrassing degree of self-reference -- Post your evidence, not your
opinion. Other scientists agree with my view:

[http://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/director/2013/transforming-
dia...](http://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/director/2013/transforming-
diagnosis.shtml)

~~~
bsdshepherd
> Avoid an embarrassing degree of self-reference

Ditto.

for (;;) cout << "[https://arachnoid.com/\n";](https://arachnoid.com/\\n";)

