Weekly WIL 5-Point Review #11
Understanding ADHD, a Divorce Attorney's perspective and more...
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1. Illusion of Psychotherapy
"In the illusion of psychotherapy, William Epstein asserts that psychotherapy is probably ineffective and possibly harmful. He maintains that there is no credible clinical evidence that psychotherapy is effective in handling personal or social problems or that it is more effective than any other mode of treatment."
Psychotherapy: resolving mental issues by exploring them through discussion with a psychotherapist. ‘Therapy’ seems to be getting quite big right now, and on the surface it seems like it would be really helpful. I hadn’t really explored it enough to have an opinion on whether it’s effective or not. However, this interview with Dr. William Epstein - Why Psychotherapy is Bullsh*t (Dr. William Epstein) got me more interested in the topic.
“the very best of the very best research up to 2017 is extremely deficient. On top of that, there are certain types of biases that are jaw-dropping. A series of studies has demonstrated that when you put a statistician among the authors, the effect size, in other words the degree of success is reduced by almost 50%. Another study compared outcomes by people within the field as opposed to people outside of the field conducting the study - again, the bias is almost 50%.
Dr. Epstein claims psychotherapy is a ceremony of approval “and they become addicted to these nice therapists that tell them they’re wonderful.” He says Ernest Becker, author of Denial of Death says he doesn’t know whether therapy works or not, but that everybody should have an opportunity to take a thorough look at their behaviors, and that in itself is valuable.
For now, I suspect the right therapy is good for the right person. There are good and bad psychotherapy approaches as well as good and bad psychotherapists. I would imagine (for the average person), the approach should be different depending on whether the patient is a man or a woman and the discussion should be directed at leading the patient into practical beneficial behaviors rather than ruminating (any more than is necessary) on the past.
2. WIL Podcast #3 - Interview with meditation master Delson Armstrong
3. Understanding ADHD through the lens of time
ADHD is a disorder of time perception. The key problem with ADHD is the perception of time has been truncated down to a narrow window. Basically, when it comes to the ‘I should do X now so I can do Y later’ type processing that we all do, ADHD have a lot more trouble with the later the farther away it gets. Very interesting presentation by Dr. Russell Barkley:
4. Higher Testosterone with Sun exposure - Skin-brain-gonadal axis
A 2022 study in the International Journal of Endocrinology found that both total and bioavailable testosterone levels were significantly higher in August through October compared to March. They suspect that the reason is increased exposure to sunlight (ultraviolet light). They say that there is a ‘skin-brain-gonad axis’ that is triggered by UV light, mediated by skin p53, which controls the tanning response.
Chronic UV exposure led to increased levels of sex hormones in male and female mice and increased sexual responsiveness and attractiveness. Conditional knockout of p53 specifically in skin keratinocytes abolished the effects of UV light. Thus, UV triggers a skin-brain-gonadal axis through skin p53 activation
5. A Divorce Attorney's Thoughts On Love and Marriage-James Sexton
A Divorce Attorney's Thoughts On Love and Marriage-James Sexton
“Marriage is like the lottery. You are probably not gonna win, but if you win, what you win is so good. Like, I don’t know. Maybe buy a ticket? Fuck it.”
Interesting interview on the channel Soft White Underbelly with James Sexton, a divorce attorney in New York City.
56% of [marriages] end in divorce. It literally fits the legal definition of negligence. It's a negligent behavior. The way you define negligenc in law school is when what you lose by not doing something is lower than the risk of harm. It's what's called a BPL analysis. So the burden of not doing a thing is lower than the likelihood, the probability of harm."
It’s an hour long and a bit bleak, but very interesting nonetheless. Note that he’s in New York City - it would be interesting to see the perspective of divorce attorneys from other states or countries. He does say being in a committed relationship is great, but in his opinion, getting married doesn’t make sense nowadays. One thing he noticed is that ironically, the couples that have an open line of communication that allows them to have a frank talk about a prenup before marriage, have better lasting marriages. He also says
"Our parents generation was struggling to just make it through - to meet your basic needs, to keep a roof over your head, to raise your children. Now it's very much 'are you self-actualized, are you happy? ... I don't think my mother would have ever been like 'Well y'know [my husband] doesn't have an 8-pack...'
Good point on the divorce attorney being in NYC, perhaps the pinnacle of modern decadence. He's clearly right that marriage is an outdated technology, but then the assumption from there is we need to change our technology and so the decadent context itself is totally fine or at least not considered. Wrong.
Considering the ADHD lens of time concept, is it too much of a stretch to say big cities breed ADHD (metaphorically if not literally)? If marriage is continued effort over a very long timeframe, an ADHD mind would seriously hamper its survival.
It is interesting that what basically amounts to rubber-ducking and basic societal support has turned into such an industry. It's likely to get even worse too; as parents end up being too old for their children to ever meet their grand-parents.
By the sound of this, ADHD could simply be the result of the brain never getting a moment of stillness in its training. So, helicopter parents giving in to their child's every whim and neglecting parents propping up their children with a phone.