You don't have a mental illness

Why get a diagnosis when you could just go for a walk?

Last week I read two infuriating things. Actually I read many infuriating things, but mostly I can forget the stuff I read that pisses me off (an interview with a full blown conspiracy theorist dressed up as legitimate journalism, for one). But two stuck in my head. First up was a feature in The Sunday Times about a Psychiatrist who believes that antidepressants don’t work. Dr Joanna Moncrieff published a paper back in 2022 which refutes the theory that low serotonin causes depression. According to the piece, she’s become a bit of a darling of the right in recent years, Tucker Carlson even covered her study on his show. Apparently she was initially horrified, but after watching, she quickly decided his show was a good thing (perhaps in part based on the praise Carlson heaped on her). I’m guessing her book will be pretty popular with those who disdain what they see as an obsession with putting labels on ‘normal human sadness.’ The people who proclaim to cure depression by drinking raw milk and plunging into ice baths, and who do everything else one might do if they were part of a midtier cult. 

The whole piece rubbed me the wrong way - especially the very odd comparison between studies about antidepressants and the thalidomide scandal - “if you choose not to read the studies that’s fine, but to suggest they shouldn’t be out there its like suggesting we shouldn’t have let anyone know about thalidomide.” But I was especially annoyed by the bit where Moncrieff said something that an increasing amount of people (often of a certain age) seem to echo. “People have bought into the idea of being someone with a brain disorder. It’s a symptom of how insecure we all are.” Woof. 

The second thing to piss me off was an interview with Tony Blair. Granted, the man has an immense talent for pissing off the British electorate (no mean feat when he’s been out of power for nearly two decades). But last Monday he gave it another go. Speaking on a podcast, the former PM decided to weigh in on other people’s mental health struggles with this choice take: “I think we have become very, very focused on mental health and with people self-diagnosing…Life has its ups and downs and everybody experiences those. And you've got to be careful of encouraging people to think they've got some sort of condition other than simply confronting the challenges of life.”