Quote:
Originally posted by Vaskez:
edit: whoah, I never thought I had depression, but reading Aelia's second post, I have a scary number of those symptoms sometimes. But I tend to be like depressed for 2 days then fine for a day or two. Nah, I still don't think I have a major problem though.
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Huh. See how cool self-diagnosis can be
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While of course I understood that there is a lack of understanding about what psychologists do and whether they are worthwhile and so on, which leads to negativity and mistrust about the profession, it is always disappointing to see it so starkly. Most psychologists are well-trained and use scientifically-supported methods and assessments. Some psychologists are crap and people have bad experiences, but there are crap people in every profession. If we decided not to use services because there are some incompetents practicing, then all service industries would be up the creek. It's funny that you hear about doctors misdiagnosing or treating people wrongly often - and yet the same mistrust and decision to not use their services doesn't follow.
There is also confusion in the general public about the difference between psychologists and counsellors and therapists. Most people think they are interchangeable - but that couldn't be more wrong. For example, in Australia, psychologists need a postgraduate degree which included over a thousand hours of clinical practice, or equivalent field experience under supervision. Counsellors need no training or expertise whatsoever - you could leave high school and hang up your counsellor shingle. There is also no recourse for incompetent or dangerous practice for counsellors, whereas psychologists must be accountable to a judicial board and can lose their registration for poor or negligent practice.
Re. clinical vs 'normal' depression. Really, it is a matter of degree, duration, level of functional disturbance, and appropriateness. For example, you could not diagnose someone with depression who is exhibiting all the symptoms of major depression if they have recently had a bereavement and have been depressed for two months. Clinical depression has a chronic duration, impacts significantly on functionality, and is relatively inappropriate for the person's situation. Chemical imbalances are very vogue - but the truth is that we don't really know whether the imbalance is the cause of the symptoms, or comes about because of the symptoms. Sometimes clinical depression does have a trigger, like a bereavement. Sometimes it doesn't. The fact is that anti-depressants work - so they must be having some effect with chemicals and receptors in the brain, so something is going on there. But it is also a fact that talking therapy works. The most effective therapy is a combination of both, especially for severely depressed people who need the anti-depressants to actually have the motivation to actually get up and go to therapy. Talking therapy is also the best means for long-term recovery. Recurrent episodes are common in depression, and anti-depressants are in no way a cure. If you treat depression with medication and then go off it, there is every chance the person will have another episode somewhere down the track and have to use medication again. It only works when you're on it. Talking therapy however, teaches coping skills and strategies that allow a person to prevent recurrent episodes, or deal with them themselves if they arise. It is generally accepted and scientifically supported that depression is caused/afffected by/exacerbated by maladaptive thinking patterns - reacting to situations in ways that encourage feelings of worthlessness or failure. Therapy that targets those thinking patterns and challenges and modifies then so they are helpful and realistic rather than destructive, are effective because then situations that occur later that could potentially trigger another depressive episode are dealt with more adaptively.
By the way, I love Dr. Phil. I think he's super. However, he knows as I do, that the sound byte therapy he gives on his show is just that - sound bytes with little substance. You will notice that with people he can see are actually seriously in trouble have a lot of follow-up and therapy with him or people he has recommended in their town or whatever.