Posted by morganator on November 22, 2009, at 3:23:32
In reply to Re: No benefit to adding psychotherapy to medication » morganator, posted by SLS on November 21, 2009, at 5:46:12
Well I'm glad you have enjoyed some of my posts, thank you. Yours are very insightful and interesting I must say.
I'm too tired to make a long argument but I feel the need to briefly express my opinion on the subject. I believe that with people who have struggled with bipolar and major depressive disorder also did not get what they needed in childhood. Yes there is a biological predisposition, but if people suffering from these disorders had gotten what they needed from day one, I do not believe the suffering would be so severe. Now, the people who do not have the genetic predisposition to develop such severe disorders but are exposed to the same environment in early and later stages of development will still have issues. The difference with these people is that they will be able to continue on through life without their depression and anxiety growing into the monster that feeds on many of us. Look, bad parenting, child abuse, lack of love and nurture have been part of the human condition for a long time. There have been very few parents truly capable of giving their children what they need. We cannot deny that this has not had a major impact on our lives. I think finally now we are learning to truly love ourselves and our children. This generation of parents is much different than those in the past. We are far from perfect but I think we are better off than before. Fathers are more involved and able to show more emotion. People are getting married later so hopefully they will be less likely to get divorced, which by the way is incredibly destructive to the emotional psyche of the children involved. Even if both parents handle the divorce perfectly the children will suffer, maybe not as bad but they will still suffer. It is known that children from divorced parents have problems with anxiety, amongst other potential problems.
I guess I just don't think that it is possible for disorders to develop to such a severe state without environment and nurture playing a significant role. I have had two psychiatrists, not psychotherapists, admit to me that conditions in my childhood very well have made me more likely to experience such extreme mixed states later on. You have to also consider that we may have been more equipped to avoid the stressors that sent us deep into our states of suffering if we had what we needed throughout our development.
We may not have felt the need to use as much alcohol or drugs(which I believe can contribute to episodes). We may have been able to form relationships and maintain them better which would have given us more stability. We may have not carried all the anxiety and anger(by the way, believe it or not, almost all of us carry some anger about something, it's a different kind of anger) that interfered with so many things in our lives. This interference added to the instability that contributed to the suffering. We may have loved ourselves more and been more confident.Scott, while we agree on some things, we may have to disagree on others. Even with schizophrenia it is not inevitable that one will develop it just because they have the gene or the predisposition. The person may be a little different but they may never have a psychotic break given the right conditions.
I would love to hear in detail about the childhoods of all of those suffering from depression, major depression, bipolar, schizophrenia. I can almost guarantee that everyone will have some not so good things to talk about. Some may have some serious trauma. Others may have had a verbally abusive mother or father. Many will have had gone through a divorce. Maybe some never knew their mother or father and the single parent struggled to hold things together. Many may be in complete denial and say that there was nothing wrong with their parents or childhood. Denial is the most powerful of all coping mechanisms.
Oops I lied, I wasn't that tired after all.
poster:morganator
thread:926342
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20091117/msgs/926510.html