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Are all mental health issues related?

JamesJames Deactivated Posts: 1,706 Extreme Poster
in Politics & Debate
Hey everyone :wave:

So I came across this guy called David Kessler, who's come up with what he calls a 'unified theory of mental health'.
Essentially, he thinks that all mental health issues can be explained by working out at what we focus our minds on - or what he calls capture.

This video explains his idea in more detail:

<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/167900163?byline=0&portrait=0&quot; width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>

I found it pretty interesting, but I wonder what you guys make of it..

Does the idea of capture seem helpful to you?


Looking forward to hearing your thoughts :)
James

Comments

  • SienaSiena Posts: 15,493 Skive's The Limit
    Hi. This video is quite confusig and a lot to take in. But i complety disagree with it saying all mental illnesses are related. There are similarities but completely different. Just like with physical illness. But then i think mental illness is a physical illness, it causes physical symptoms and the brain is an organ and out of our control. So similar but completely different.

    And the thing we focuse our minds on being called capture i dont get. What our mind focuses on is just what the disorder is doing and the "captures" are all completely different anyway.

    I think what can explain mental illness is not "capture" but pain. The same with physical illness Emotional and physical pain is to explain for the illnesses.

    Hope that makes sense and that ive sort of understood this.
    “And when they look at you, they won't see everything you've been through. They won't see the **** that turned to scars that began to fade with time. They won't see the heartbreaking things that shook up and changed your entire world. They won't know how many tears you cried or even what it was you were crying about. They won't see how strong you had to be because you had no other choice. What they will see though is how compassionate you are because you experienced pain. What they will see is how kind you are because you experienced how cruel the world is. What they will see is how good you are because you've seen how bad things or people can be. The difference between you and your experiences are who you choose to be, despite everything that could have turned you cold and unkind.You are the good the world needs and the best of us.” ~ Kirsten Corley
  • LostsenseLostsense Posts: 1,329 Wise Owl
    I quite liked it and made sense of it in my own way😌
  • JamesJames Deactivated Posts: 1,706 Extreme Poster
    Shaunie wrote: »
    Hi. This video is quite confusig and a lot to take in. But i complety disagree with it saying all mental illnesses are related. There are similarities but completely different. Just like with physical illness. But then i think mental illness is a physical illness, it causes physical symptoms and the brain is an organ and out of our control. So similar but completely different.

    And the thing we focuse our minds on being called capture i dont get. What our mind focuses on is just what the disorder is doing and the "captures" are all completely different anyway.

    I think what can explain mental illness is not "capture" but pain. The same with physical illness Emotional and physical pain is to explain for the illnesses.

    Hope that makes sense and that ive sort of understood this.

    Really interesting stuff there Shaunie :)

    I liked how you touch on the difference between cause and effect. You say that 'what our mind focuses on is just what the disorder is doing' - so it sounds like for you, the 'captures' are an effect of a mental health illness?

    When I watched the video for the first time, I thought the guy was saying kind of the opposite. To me, it sounded like he was saying that it often the things we focus on (or capture) affect our mental health - so for example, just focusing on sad or negative things might make us feel depressed.

    Now I'm wondering if what he actually means is somewhere in the middle.. What do you think?


    Steph95 wrote: »
    I quite liked it and made sense of it in my own way

    Glad you liked it Steph :)
  • SienaSiena Posts: 15,493 Skive's The Limit
    James wrote: »

    Really interesting stuff there Shaunie :)

    I liked how you touch on the difference between cause and effect. You say that 'what our mind focuses on is just what the disorder is doing' - so it sounds like for you, the 'captures' are an effect of a mental health illness?

    When I watched the video for the first time, I thought the guy was saying kind of the opposite. To me, it sounded like he was saying that it often the things we focus on (or capture) affect our mental health - so for example, just focusing on sad or negative things might make us feel depressed.

    Now I'm wondering if what he actually means is somewhere in the middle.. What do you think?





    Glad you liked it Steph :)

    Im not sure i agree. You may not have a capture that affects your mental illness. And just have depression and have a mental illness for no reaon.
    And completely disagree with mental illness arent a result of what we focus our attention on. And that the capture is caused from our mental illnesses, and not our captures affecting out mwntal illness. Of that makes sense.
    I been told my mental illness could of been inherited. And think a capture didnt cause it but i have captures from it.
    Hopefully makes sense
    “And when they look at you, they won't see everything you've been through. They won't see the **** that turned to scars that began to fade with time. They won't see the heartbreaking things that shook up and changed your entire world. They won't know how many tears you cried or even what it was you were crying about. They won't see how strong you had to be because you had no other choice. What they will see though is how compassionate you are because you experienced pain. What they will see is how kind you are because you experienced how cruel the world is. What they will see is how good you are because you've seen how bad things or people can be. The difference between you and your experiences are who you choose to be, despite everything that could have turned you cold and unkind.You are the good the world needs and the best of us.” ~ Kirsten Corley
  • MaisyMaisy Moderator Posts: 627 Incredible Poster
    This was interesting and I have mixed feelings :p

    ​For me, I know that even though my symptoms of anxiety and depression have been around for as long as I can remember, I do know that sometimes when I start thinking of things in a different way, I notice the symptoms lessen. In a way, the basis of CBT is to change negative perceptions so it makes sense that with some mental health issues, changing the way you think may help ease your symptoms.

    ​That said, I do agree with Shaunie...

    Shaunie wrote: »
    I been told my mental illness could of been inherited. And think a capture didnt cause it but i have captures from it.

    ​Some mental illnesses do have a genetic element e.g Schizophrenia which needs treatment with medication. Other therapies may help, but ultimately, the medication that affects the chemistry with the brain is what helps more.
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  • FeatheredDreamsFeatheredDreams Posts: 91 Budding Regular
    Coming from a student of psychology, I would not accept this theory for any mental illness...nevermind all of them.

    First of all the idea of capture is really wishy washy - focusing on one element, thing, thought...isn't really reliable, or generalisable to all mental illnesses - schizophrenia presents a particular struggle for this theory due the lack of homogeniety (or that is, the lack of consistant symptoms) in this illness - for some schizophrenics a capture may exist, for some who have few positive symptoms (halluciations/delusions are the positve symptoms. the negative systems include things like a lack of motivation, emotion, speech poverty along with more symptoms for both catagories) then a capture is hard to deduce. I could think of other examples where capture could be difficult to deduce, but this one happens to be the one I have researched the most.

    Secondly on that - what is a capture - is it something consistant? I.e. i have obsessions (in the ocd sense of the word obsession) over dirt, grease and germs - is my capture dirt/the intrusive thoughts it evokes beause it has been consistant over time? OR is my capture only that when I happen to think about it? I don't see a clear difference between a "thought" and a "capture" personally. If it isn't consistant over time then everything can be explained by capture...that's just the cognitive approach to psychology, or behaviourist depending on what route you want to take to explain what a capture is. And if it is consistant over time then it fails to explain a whole bunch of instances of mental illnesses.

    On that note - it also doesn't account for why "capture" even occurs which is crucial as a theory for psychopathology (the study of mental illnesses) - it is theories of psychopathology that create cures/support for mental illnesses. Like i said above - to me at least, capture can be explained in different ways (primarily cognitive or behavourist, though i could think of an ethological evolutionary and even biological explanation if we consider a hollistic approach of a capture. i'm not sure which one is being inferred. if a single one is supposed to be inferred, the it would discredit a whole bunch of existing cures/supports, and if all of them are being inferred it seems to me this theory has no pratical use...or to attempt to get my psychology jargon out - i could explain it through thoughts and learning primarily but also from instincts and surivival of the fittest which...some psychologists believe in, as well as through the workings of the brain. If it were inferred from only a few of those theories for example, cognition/thoughts, then things like systematic desensitization for phobias would be useless but research proves that is not so. If it does infer all of those approaches then it cannot itself suggest a cure/support for any illness, and so it's practically useless)

    Furthermore, if one has co-morbidity in mental illness - they have more than 1 mental illness simultaneously, then how is that explained? It seems to me that a capture can be -anything- and is different for different people- some instances of co-morbidity may have two different captures...not sure whether that fits in theory or not though.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    eh...mental illness is a sham. it's based on non-observable shit.who or what is mentally ill?

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