Biggest killer of men under fifty, and all people under 35 in the UK

as I understand it. Post-35, breast cancer takes more women; post-50, other cancers and heart disease start to kick in.

A real shocker is the level of funding devoted to research on mental health. Considering all the people it kills the sum is absolutely miniscule. This has direct impacts: even depression (the best-known MH issue) is very poorly understood in terms of its causes and how best to approach it medically.

We sort of think it might be something to do with a couple of brain chemicals so there's a bunch of meds which boost (actually inhibit re-uptake but effect is the same) levels of one, the other, or both of those. No-one can say which of these drugs (if any) will be helpful for any given individual.

On a personal level I've had seroxat, citalopram, escitalopram ("it's different really" - "is it bollocks" - "no, really" - "well, Ok then" - "no it wasn't really was it"), sertraline, mirtazapine, venlafaxine, buproprion, fluoxetine...each time it's a hit and miss process. Only thing I never really had was MAOIs and some of theolder bicyclics/tricyclics. Quacks don't know if any given pill is liekly to work for me as an individual or not because the science underlying it all is weak and the research to bottom it all out has not been done.

Meanwhile evidence suggests talking approaches like CBT (which you can get most places - works for many, though not for me), DBT (which you can't) and so on are very effective; but the gates to jump over to access them are somewhat ridiculous, and in the end it relies on a person with severe/major depression constantly nagging and saying "I need this" before you get anything. You know, like depressed people so often do.

As it happens I've lucked out and am currently in the middle of a year's worth of psychodynamic therapy (with no meds). It's really made a material difference to me. The waiting list was about three years, and it's extremely unusual to get this therapy at all, let alone a year's worth on the NHS (usual allowance is three months max). So I'm almost pathetically grateful for it.

I'm still a little odd but much less so than I used to be :) And I haven't had a really down day (the kind where you really can't get out of bed at all let alone wash yourself or get dressed) for several months which is fantastic.

Posted By: Old Man, Mar 26, 17:56:15