ohialehua
Joined 2 years ago
Joined 2 years ago
I routinely recommend a ketogenic diet to my clients, and many of them are interested, but at the same time have to encourage them to consult with a physician or prescriber for support. This is where the possibilities end for most clients because few mental health prescribers buy into this model and even fewer want to risk their licensure or credentialing by going against the dogma.
This realization has convinced me that it’s not a supply problem. I go on Zillow and there’s HUNDREDS of affordable condos and single family homes and 2 flats on offer. I can buy many of them cash. But they are in the ghetto. And ghettos are not some sort of act of god or timey-wimey opopsie-dasie. They are deliberate creations of a society.
Similarly, I look on Zillow at houses in second-tier cities an hour or two drive and everything is reasonable. My partner and I work in person five days a week, and yet millennials and Gen Zers working remotely except for once a month have no legitimate reason to be in high COLA markets except for their love of marg towers.
It’s not a supply problem. It’s an “I’m a racist white person and I’m okay with the carceral industrial complex” problem.
All the crime I see in these areas that frankly makes living in them a threat to my female partner’s survival is due to 60+ years of stupid welfare policy and 50+ years of the War on Drugs removing fathers from homes and incentivizing criminal culture.
throughout the story there’s a false dichotomy presented as if it is natural: meds or madness. Other options do exist. I know first hand through lived experience and also my professional work.
I work in a correctional facility and also an outpatient clinic. In both situations I see the profound impact of dietary choices, as well as exercise and avoidance of cannabis. For example, ketogenic diets are clinically proven as effective in the management of psychotic and episodic mood disorders, as well as autism and ADHD. If a pill were as effective in reducing severity of symptoms and impairment as strict ketogenesis it would be deemed a breakthrough therapy and covered by Medicaid immediately. Pharma reps wouldn’t even have to visit psych offices to drop off donuts and lattes.
See: https://youtu.be/Qcv_CPdPsPc?si=-LB2OEXtgeCptpPq
I’ve also worked in emergency psychiatric medicine as well as residential treatment facilities and a homeless shelter. So basically every part of the continuum of care with the exception of “rehab”, which is a money grab. I often wonder how outcomes would differ if we didn’t adhere to the ideological fixation on medications. If we can sell people on adherence to a ketogenic diet in the brief period of lucidity after the intramuscular Haldol takes hold, how much wasted money and suffering could we avoid?
Hormone replacement therapy is a game changer for a lot of men who have CTE. I’m a clinical social worker. I’ve worked in emergency medicine, correctional medicine, and now outpatient psychotherapy. I used to think HRT was for ego lifters and old ladies. But I have seen first hand the value of HRT for CTE patients. I’ve seen guys go from three OWIs and unable to manage an entry level job at Lowe’s to law-abiding, midlevel executive at national corporations within months of starting on HRT.