We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
Please do not go around diagnosing people - or even yourself. Still, this is something to watch out for when dating. Interestingly, many men are attracted to women with borderline traits because of the drama. At first, anyway, it can be exciting. Borderline men exist too, but they are easy to avoid.
... researchers agree, MT is particularly worth promoting among the young, a stance that seems at least somewhat at odds with today’s self-care narrative. Says Chawla, “I would define mental toughness as grit. Tenacity. And a fairly big chunk of that is having some discipline over your own impulses—doing things even when your mind is objecting. This idea is now reviled in mainstream culture in favor of approaches such as, ‘be gentle with yourself.’ [But] if you’re always gentle with yourself you will stagnate and grow weak and fragile.” If our goal is to uphold and not erode mental toughness, it is surely unhelpful to applaud iconic role models for extolling fragility.
Not really. Sex toys for ladies have been around forever. The newer ones might be more exciting though. Women, of course, have sexual needs and wants which cannot always be realized for many reasons.
Males can easily take care of themselves but it can just be a chore.
They are, simply, far too rare. They are terrible tragedies, but entirely unpredictable. It is wrong to use these as news and political fodder. It encourages copycats, and, worse, it makes every odd kid a potential suspect.
Psychiatry has nothing to offer with this other than opinions on TV. These adolescent or late-adolescent boys never get to Psychiatrists, and even if they did there would be little to do. None would tell a doctor that their dream is to shoot up a school.
The problem with that book review, and maybe with the book, it that it sounds as if "mental illness" were a unitary phenomenon and as if treatment approaches were somewhat unitary too.
Believe it or not, we have many ways to be of help to people with all sorts of problems. True "cures" are relatively unusual in all areas of medicine.
I wanted to transition because my body was my enemy, and my body was the enemy of the world. I hated myself and wanted to punish myself. It was the same feeling that motivates cutting, binge-eating, anorexia, and lashing oneself. My very nature meant I deserved pain. I couldn't remove my whiteness from myself, but maybe I could remove my maleness...
What is termed "schizophrenia" is not a unitary diagnosis so there is surely not a unitary genetic cause, but this sort of discovery is still a big deal.
According to Ruggles, in 1800, 90 percent of American families were corporate families. Until 1850, roughly three-quarters of Americans older than 65 lived with their kids and grandkids. Nuclear families existed, but they were surrounded by extended or corporate families...
"Diet and exercise" are typical suggestions for the sedentary or over-eaters. However, strict nutritional plans rarely work for overweight people in the long run, and exercise has minimal effect on fat loss (but is essential for general fitness). Nutritional self-control is difficult for most people. Most, not all. 70% of Americans are overweight by some measure.
Metformin is a typical medicine for overweight, pre-diabetes, etc. In my experience, it is not very effective and has many side effects.
In my view, semaglutide might be the current gold standard. It's a tiny weekly injection, done easily at home. Like everything, it has some side effects but not much. It can be labeled as Wegovy or as Ozempic. You have to qualify as meaningfully overweight to get a prescription. It definitely reduces appetite, but has other beneficial physiological effects especially on the insulin system. Can it permanently re-jigger your food compulsions after months of use? It is not clear.
Semaglutide is on-label for Type 2 diabetes, or pre-diabetes, and off-label for weight loss alone.
If you have overweight issues, discuss it with your doctor as an option. It could save your joints, your heart, maybe your life (for a while). I would try it, if eating were one of my hobbies.
The world does not do a good job with people with the most serious mental illnesses. It is partly the world's fault, but it is partly because many of the seriously-ill reject the sorts of help which can be offered. Or, in many cases, can't get their act together enough to avail themselves of it.
In my view, "gender dysphoria" is mostly a fad, or maybe a contagion, similar to other hysterias and things like anorexia were in the past. I have not seen enoough psychological studies. I wonder whether researchers might get canceled for doing them.
Why is it the wrong question? Because it makes it sound as if terrorism were some sort of pathology rather than a form of war for those without large armies and weapons.
After having spoken with many people, over decades, about their lives and sometimes their wildest sexual fantasies, I still find the gender identity issue sort of strange. I suppose I have heard it all, but have never seen a patient who was worried about their gender expression. I have seen plenty of gay men who were afraid to come out of the closet though. That was usually prompted by wives who wondered about their husbands' lack of sex drive.
Wild fantasies are normal, at least in people lacking in the usual sorts of repression of taboos. Perhaps the political climate is making way for the overcoming of sex and gender taboos.
My students, for instance, are surprised to learn that of the 154 love sonnets that Shakespeare wrote, the first 126 of them are to a young man. (The final 28, give or take, are love sonnets to the “dark lady,” who is characterized as both sexually experienced and sexually active, with desires and a will of her own. A woman adored and respected, deserving of admiration and love. So much for repressive patriarchy.) The question students invariably ask, then, is: “So… Shakespeare was bi?” To which I reply, “I think Shakespeare would have simply characterized himself as a man, a husband, and a father, though he clearly had an attraction to the beautiful young man of the sonnets, to say nothing of his many characters who demonstrate sexual flexibility in identity and desire.” “But then he’s bi!” they insist. To which I reply, “I think Shakespeare would have found our need for precise labels strange. Why do we have the need to define and to categorize human desire? Why this compulsion to attach precise labels to attraction, lust, and pleasure? If what Oscar Wilde says is true, ‘To define is to limit,’ then is it really Shakespeare and his contemporaries who are more repressed than us moderns because they didn’t self-identify as a category? Or is it us who try to contain our sexuality by itemizing every possible iteration of lust and attraction? Are we ready to assume that because we attach a label to human sexuality, we somehow understand better than Shakespeare did? Are we in a cultural position to say that Shakespeare’s insight into human nature is limited compared to the average 19-year-old student’s today?”
Where did the cultural habit of three square meals per day come from?
It's quite recent, actually, and really a European cultural concept. More specifically, a British aristocratic concept because even today an Italian breakfast (except for the tourists) is an espresso or latte and a biscotti, and a typical French breakfast is a cafe au lait and a croissant. Typical Italian supper? Soup and bread, or cheese and leftovers.
"Eating between meals"? I suspect people might feel better with 5 mini-meals - balanced snacks, really, because stuffed and lazy after supper is not an effective life plan. Stuffed and lazy after any meal is not a good plan except on Thanksgiving. Serious exercisers and athletes tend to discipline themselves to a 5 meal program to keep the nutrients flowing. They have to eat when they aren't hungry to maintain their level of fitness and power, and to keep their weight up.
A mini-meal for many can be something like a couple of slices of chicken and a handful of olives, or an apple and some cheese slices, maybe a slice of pizza or a cup of yoghurt or oatmeal with berries. Volume and details depending, of course, on total muscle mass, body frame, daily physical demands, physical goals, etc. Body-builders need 4-5 full meals daily to put on muscle mass, while the old-fashioned three squares/day will make most adults flabby if not obese.
To understand what your body needs, look at it nude in the mirror. One look will tell you what it needs in fitness and nutrition in terms of muscular development, leanness or fatness, posture, etc. When it comes to food, we can't listen to our body too much. It's a liar because it was programmed for scarcity a long time ago, before agriculture. Humans seem to have the instinctive inclinations (eat, nap, fight, play, sex, and repeat until dark when the predators come out) of monkeys, chimps, and gorillas but we have some added higher capacities, or so the scientists claim.
Where did the cultural habit of three square meals per day come from?