Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for MuScle Disease (ACTMuS): Protocol for a two-arm randomised controlled trial of a brief guided self-help ACT prog

[Invisible Woman]

Apparently "dogs don't get depressed, which is why it is all due to language, coz dogs don't have language" - according to the clin psychologist I saw.

Really? What an ignorant fool!

When my father died his dog became very, very depressed. He wouldn't eat,wouldn't interact and be was normally a really friendly, happy go lucky dog.

My own first dog became very, very ill with a mystery condition and had to be hospitalised. Luckily it was at our local vet hospital so not too far. They asked us to come visit him in the evening after the practice closed to help keep his spirits up. They reckoned it kept him fighting until they could work out what was wrong and treat it.

I really hope this clinical psychologist showed a bit more curiosityt & empathy toward the human patients they encountered.

 

[Invisible Woman]

Now, I've thought about it some more what did this guy mean by:

dogs don't have language

My dogs couldn't speak any human language, but that certainly doesn't mean they don't understand it. Try saying the word "crisp" in my house and see what happens!

The Invisible Dog understands a fairly wide range of words, many of them food related, but not all. She can also count to a very limited degree. She gets two treats from me at bedtime and, trust me it doesn't matter how nice it might be, one treat is simply not acceptable.

She can definitely think independently, her breed are known for that, I agree she probably doesn't do it in English, or any other human tongue though.

 

[Lucibee]

She can definitely think independently, her breed are known for that, I agree she probably doesn't do it in English, or any other human tongue though.

Psychology will move on in leaps and bounds once we can converse with other species. I suspect we will realise that we are not quite so special, and those species will give us interesting insights into our behaviour.

 

[Woolie]

What we think we know about other animals - and don't - is almost as huge as what we think we know about mental illness - and don't.

To put it simply: what we think we know about everything is way, way much bigger than what we actually do know.

 

[Trish]

I wonder whether the moods of babies might also be interesting to research - before the stage where they develop language. For example a baby that seems to be very grizzly and miserable a lot of the time. Pre-language it cannot ruminate about its tummy ache or itchy skin, or need for a cuddle ... I'm not sure where this is leading... probably no-where.

 

[Woolie]

I wonder whether the moods of babies might also be interesting to research - before the stage where they develop language. For example a baby that seems to be very grizzly and miserable a lot of the time. Pre-language it cannot ruminate about its tummy ache or itchy skin, or need for a cuddle ... I'm not sure where this is leading... probably no-where.

I've had similar musings myself! Surely, if its all about verbal thought, then the very intelligent should more prone to depression than the stupid. Or at least the verbally gifted more than the inarticulate... and so on, and so on.

Its definitely not the case that smart people are more prone to depression than those less intellectually blessed - its the other way around.

To me, that makes total sense. Thinking is so very good for us in so many ways. It enables us to in investigate and better understand our gut reactions to things and also to manage our anger and distress and work out how to intervene. Not to mention confront and challenge our own prejudices.

The other problem with "rumination" is that its a valenced concept. Its defined as persistent negative thoughts. If the persistent thoughts are positive - for example, endlessly puzzling over some mystery or problem, or constantly thinking about some new love object - then apparently, that's not rumination. So the idea of rumination isn't independent of negativity. Its hopelessly confounded with it. And that, to me, makes the concept entirely useless.