Regarding dementia/Alzheimer's risk, I note that vitamin D deficiency increases your risk by as much as 40%. Clearly, D is almost a vaccine against it, sunshine was everyone's default line of defense. Almost causative if deficient. If you don't mention that (new research from Canada/Calgary) you may be doing your readers a disservice.
I received over 100 individual treatments of ECT (about 5-6 courses) before I was in my early 20's. It made me hypomanic. I lost years of my life because of the impact on my memory. I am convinced that it has had long-standing repercussions for my executive functioning (I am aware that most scientific literature disputes this). I can't believe they did this to someone so young. I was told I was be made an involuntary patient if I did not consent to ECT. This all happened in a private hospital in a first world country. I have seen it be effective for some people, I can't dismiss it out of hand. I believe it is overused and because it is relatively cost effective it is favoured over longer term treatments. The threshold for 'treatment resistant depression' is often not a clinical decision but dictated by what insurance companies will pay. This happened over 20 years ago and I am now a researcher. Researching ECT and trying to make sense of it all these years later has really highlighted to me the limitations of the scientific method.
I'm so sorry because I know this is supposed to be a page for optimism but I can't stomach reading that ECT has long established efficacy, I would dispute that, because it is never just about clinical treatment but about a range of other factors.
Weekly Dose of Optimism #45
Wow - had never heard of "skeletal editing" before!
Regarding dementia/Alzheimer's risk, I note that vitamin D deficiency increases your risk by as much as 40%. Clearly, D is almost a vaccine against it, sunshine was everyone's default line of defense. Almost causative if deficient. If you don't mention that (new research from Canada/Calgary) you may be doing your readers a disservice.
I received over 100 individual treatments of ECT (about 5-6 courses) before I was in my early 20's. It made me hypomanic. I lost years of my life because of the impact on my memory. I am convinced that it has had long-standing repercussions for my executive functioning (I am aware that most scientific literature disputes this). I can't believe they did this to someone so young. I was told I was be made an involuntary patient if I did not consent to ECT. This all happened in a private hospital in a first world country. I have seen it be effective for some people, I can't dismiss it out of hand. I believe it is overused and because it is relatively cost effective it is favoured over longer term treatments. The threshold for 'treatment resistant depression' is often not a clinical decision but dictated by what insurance companies will pay. This happened over 20 years ago and I am now a researcher. Researching ECT and trying to make sense of it all these years later has really highlighted to me the limitations of the scientific method.
I'm so sorry because I know this is supposed to be a page for optimism but I can't stomach reading that ECT has long established efficacy, I would dispute that, because it is never just about clinical treatment but about a range of other factors.