STD's vacation problems.

[Harke the Boeotarch]

To connect mental health treatments to addiction is a stretch since addiction has a lot of factors that can't be addressed proactively by mental health treatment. It's always hard to measure a intervention that prevents a measurable condition, though.

I only know that when people with (an inclination towards) pre-existing mental issues and drug addiction go together the combination can turn into a complete clusterfuck and what Miss Bridges says in her videos would indicate she might be that.

She relates her alcohol and drug (mis-)adventures (interesting) in combination with her eating disorder (boring as f*ck) and her moving through the Gothic world in the '90s, '00s and '10s (fascinating) and she is only a few years younger than I am.

My mother once said about someone else who dressed like someone in Gothic fashion that she looked like someone about to be committed to a mental ward for a spell (she mostly meant the make-up, also she was a teacher who specialized in students with learning disabilities). Miss Bridges looks just like that.

Also her paranormal stories on her youtube are completely bonkers, notably the one about vampires.

What the Scotland overdoses have in common is a population of disaffected workers, similar to those in the Rust Belt in the US. Once they are in the opioid addiction pattern, poor people tend to select the cheaper option which is street purchase of heroin or fentanyl.

Not sure if that's a fair comparison to the folks in the Rust Belt. In Western Europe such people are kept in welfare and universal healthcare all their unemployed lives. Same as the folks in the south.
The boozing and the drugging are mostly their choice.

Perhaps it has something to do with the lower level of sunshine?

 

[KaraBulut]

I only know that when people with (an inclination towards) pre-existing mental issues and drug addiction go together the combination can turn into a complete clusterfuck and what Miss Bridges says in her videos would indicate she might be that.

Addiction is very complicated and it does overlap with psychiatric and mental health issues. For example, we know that there are people have have undiagnosed mood disorders who self-medicate.

While there are patterns, each person's brain has a unique response, even though there are patterns to those responses. One thing that I noticed, even as a teenager, was that my group of friends would have very different responses to alcohol. The friends who enjoyed drinking and tended to overindulge were also from families who had similar patterns of drinking.

I often see similar patterns with groups of gay men. It's one of the reasons that impulse control has been a long-standing issue in the gay community. It's also why we have so many people in recovery.

Not sure if that's a fair comparison to the folks in the Rust Belt. In Western Europe such people are kept in welfare and universal healthcare all their unemployed lives. Same as the folks in the south.
The boozing and the drugging are mostly their choice.

Perhaps it has something to do with the lower level of sunshine?

Seasonal affect disorder is a thing but it, as the name indicates, a seasonal disorder.

Depression and hopelessness are universal, whether there's a safety net or not. As much as we have a love-hate relationship with work, it does have the benefit of keeping our minds occupied and forcing us to make choices in order to maintain employment.

That is a big issue with the Rust Belt (and Coal Country) in the US. The prospects for someone coming out of high school aren't great and poverty persists from generation to generation unless someone gets the resources to break the cycle.

 

[Harke the Boeotarch]

While there are patterns, each person's brain has a unique response, even though there are patterns to those responses. One thing that I noticed, even as a teenager, was that my group of friends would have very different responses to alcohol. The friends who enjoyed drinking and tended to overindulge were also from families who had similar patterns of drinking.

The question is, how much is (epi-)genetics and how much is imitation?

I often see similar patterns with groups of gay men. It's one of the reasons that impulse control has been a long-standing issue in the gay community. It's also why we have so many people in recovery.

I would venture we have percentually less than those, as homosexuality has been far less of a problem in The Netherlands for decades.

Seasonal affect disorder is a thing but it, as the name indicates, a seasonal disorder.

Could there be a sum-total lack of sunlight throughout the year?

Depression and hopelessness are universal, whether there's a safety net or not. As much as we have a love-hate relationship with work, it does have the benefit of keeping our minds occupied and forcing us to make choices in order to maintain employment.

Scotland is likely more like The Netherlands in the eighties than the US or Canada now.

That is a big issue with the Rust Belt (and Coal Country) in the US. The prospects for someone coming out of high school aren't great and poverty persists from generation to generation unless someone gets the resources to break the cycle.

They're having most everything produced in China in the US now.

 

[Harke the Boeotarch]

Well, just an observation: when it gets to this point, it's not really about the sex. There's another need that no amount of sex is going to fulfill. I don't have an answer as to what that need is. That would be work you would have to do to figure it out.

I'm very skeptical of psychologists, and psychiatric tests have not found anything out of the ordinary recently (had an autism test along with my manditory cognitive tests after my bicycle accident).

Don't know what that hole should be. Religion doesn't fill it, just end up having sex with other semireligious MSM's.

I've been this way ever since puberty. It has led me to some really interesting places.

But I've also paid for it.

Don't know anybody who talks about this who understands... much... not going to some bloody woman even too stupid to understand even ordinary straight men.

Have a couple of gay friends and those guys are even worse than I am (but not more sexual).

Amsterdam is fun... but it's also terribly disappointing. So much effort to get nowhere at all.

 

[KaraBulut]

I'm very skeptical of psychologists, and psychiatric tests have not found anything out of the ordinary recently (had an autism test along with my manditory cognitive tests after my bicycle accident).

Finding a good therapist is a little like finding a good mechanic. There's a lot of mechanics who work on diesel trucks or Mercedes or junk cars. Similarly, there are a good number of therapists who specialize in LGBT clients or with clients who have issues with impulse control.

Don't know what that hole should be. Religion doesn't fill it, just end up having sex with other semireligious MSM's.

That's what a good therapist can help you figure out. A good therapist should be like a flashlight in a dark room. It's up to you to find what is in the room; the therapist is just there to help illuminate things while you do so.

 

[Harke the Boeotarch]

What about a group meeting?

 

[Harke the Boeotarch]

What about a group meeting?

Never mind. I'll enquire what possibilities there are.

 

[KaraBulut]

Never mind. I'll enquire what possibilities there are.

Yeah, I don't feel like I am as plugged into that specialty to know whether individual or group is preferred. I would like to know what they recommend when you find out more, though.