Today in Labor History December 15, 1973: The American Psychiatric Association voted to remove homosexuality from its official list of psychiatric disorders, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. In the 1950s and 1960s, some therapists used aversion therapy to "cure" male homosexuality. Like in Anthony Burgess’s, “A Clockwork Orange,” they would show patients pictures of naked men while giving them electric shocks or drugs to make them puke. In the 1973 vote, 5,854 members voted to remove homosexuality from the DSM, while 3,810 voted to retain it. In a compromise, they agreed to remove homosexuality from the DSM, but replaced it with "sexual orientation disturbance" for people "in conflict with" their sexual orientation. They did not completely remove homosexuality from the DSM until 1987.
@MikeDunnAuthor@bookstadon
What an insane world that 5,000 PhDs got to 'debate' and determine what's 'curable' and what's not; but I guess letting a bunch of elected Libertarian wallies make regressive choices is just as nuts
In the Aotearoa New Zealand the people who voted for 'parental choice' and against removing conversion therapy as a 'treatment' are part of NZ's Coalition of Chaos #nzpol#conversiontherapy#mentalhealth
@knitting@Curator@nature I seem to have hit a patch of sadness for no apparent reason in the middle of my shift. Please share cheerful, bright, happy things. They can be sarcastic cartoons, photos of nature, beautiful art, knitting, abstract weirdness, anything. I just need a perk up please. #mentalhealth#december
Doctor appt today, and he happily wrote up all the pain relief I needed prescribed for my shoulder.
I thought it might be difficult to get him to prescribe endone, panadeine forte, mobic, panadol osteo, and palexia.. but we went over how I was taking them all and he agreed that I was fine with how I was approaching it - and that taking such a variety of things meant actually taking less opioid based meds because I was able to keep on top of the pain with things like panadol osteo.
We also did my mental health plan and I hit a 40 on the K10.. which is Very Fucking High. We talked about that, and about how therapy is helping and that a big part of the 40 score is probably actually pain related as well.
He agreed that I showed great insight into my illness and that I was comfortable with being vulnerable enough to ask for help, so I get to skip hospitalisation (fucking yay!) because I have a good support system and I know how to access acute assistance if needed.
But still, 40 was even higher than I was expecting tbh. I'm usually around a 25-27.
I've started a new Fetlife group for disabled people. It was started after it became apparent that the other group was going to allow chasers to fetishise and objectify disabled people and that the group wasn't safe for us.
A fifth-grader from #Brownsville ISD reported being bullied by his principal. Five days later, he was handcuffed and detained. He spent 3 days in solitary confinement.
I'm always a bit skeptical of presentations from tech company CEOs on
how their product areas are necessary in the mental health field.
That said, this article has a few good points:
/"Umar Nizamani, CEO, International, at NiceDay, emphasised that AI will
inevitably become an essential tool in mental health care: 'I am very
confident AI will not replace therapists – but therapists using AI will
replace therapists not using AI.'"//
/
I am beginning to think this also -- for better or worse. I took a VERY
fast 60 second look at NiceDay and it appears to be another
all-encompassing EHR, but with a strong emphasis on data. Lots of tools
and questionnaires and attractive graphs for therapists to monitor
symptoms. (I need to take a longer look later.) So data-driven could
be very good, if it does not crowd out the human touch.
/"Nizamani said there had been suicides caused by AI, citing the case of
a person in Belgium who died by suicide after downloading an anxiety
app. The individual was anxious about climate change. The app suggested
'if you did not exist' it would help the planet, said Nizamani."//
/
YIKES... So, yes, his point that care in implementation is needed is
critical. I worry at the speed of the gold-rush.
/"He [//Nizamni] //called on the industry to come together to ensure
that mental health systems using AI and data are 'explainable’,
'transparent', and 'accountable'." //
/
This has been my biggest focus so far, coming from an Internet security
background when I was younger.
/"Arden Tomison, CEO and founder of Thalamos"/ spoke on how his company
automates and streamlines complex bureaucracy and paperwork to both
speed patients getting help and extract the useful data from the forms
for clinicians to use. More at: https://www.thalamos.co.uk/
/"Dr Stefano Goria, co-founder and CTO at Thymia, gave an example of
'frontier AI': 'mental health biomarkers' which are 'driving towards
precision medicine' in mental health. Goria said thymia’s biomarkers
(e.g. how someone sounds, or how they appear in a video) could help
clinicians be aware of symptoms and diagnose conditions that are often
missed."//
/
Now THIS is how I'd like to receive my AI augmentation. Give me
improved diagnostic tools rather than replacing me with chatbots or
over-crowding the therapy process with too much automated tool data
collection (some is good). I just want this to remain in the hands of
the solo practitioner rather than being a performance monitor on us by
insurance companies. I want to see empowered clinicians.
@admin@psychotherapist@psychology@socialpsych@infosec
We need cross-discipline digital literacy. AI advances that improve one discipline are often exploited in others. When you celebrate diagnosis mental health biomarkers (how someone sounds, or how they appear in a video), this information is coveted by data brokers who would love to sell it. MH video is unacceptable until security improves. Even then, it will be risky.
Think of a spiritual awakening, a near-death experience or a feeling of awe in nature.
Social scientists call events like these psychologically transformative as they quickly change some “wiring” in the brain. And here’s an interesting thing: Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy appears to tap into this concept and facilitate accelerated change.
@TheConversationUS@psychology yeah my autoimmunity firing off all the neurotransmitters in my brain when I’m sick has definitely given me so trippy, experiences that have changed me.
I got an HD on the paper I handed in last week. It was a critical analysis of the policy report from People with Disabilities Australia and Domestic Violence NSW.
I'm pretty chuffed with the comment I got from my lecturer 😊