My Reddit reply

Since you’re a social worker you should know all this but I’m gonna explain it all anyways.
Ok let’s break some of this down… first Alberta has chosen to be a province that continues to rely on its
oil industry. The oil industry is notoriously volatile. It think of it like a cocaine high… prone to high highs
but very low lows. That’s not a federal government shortfall that’s the nature of the oil industry. The
federal government recognizes this and the federal government has continuously tried to encourage
Alberta to look at adopting additional industry’s to the Alberta economy is less reliant on a industry that
that is largely influenced by factors outside possible human control, or federal control. Regarding this
Alberta has consistently voted conservative even if a party springs up like wild rose party… that’s a very
much Conservative Party. Just under a different name. The conservitives have shown a pattern of oh we
dropped the ball again… let’s rebrand, blame the federal government, and try again. It is a continued cycle
and it is insane. By definition it is actually insane. Doing the same thing over and over while expecting a
different outcome.
What’s interesting is oil and gas is very much a blue collar industry. And there are a lot of albertans who
grow up and go to the oils sands and earn a bunch of money. These people tend to also not have any
University or post secondary education. What’s interesting about this is Canada as a country generally
tends to lean and vote left (liberal) at the federal level… while Alberta that avoids developing industry’s
that would encourage more university education and training tends to lean right. There are a few proven
hardcore undeniable facts. Canada-which tends to lean and vote left (liberal) at the federal level is
considered the most educated nation in the world per capita. Per capita Canada has the highest number of
post secondary and university educated citizens then any other country globally. Alberta tends to depend
and promote blue collar industry and many people get grandfathered into certain industry such as
farming… they make a lot of money (weather dependent farmers are in for a rough year this year expect a
lot of drought, lots of bugs eating crops and leading to more diseased crop as a result… also expect them to
blame the liberals cause you know liberals control the jet streams and the weather…) but again they are not
university educated. It is a proven fact the people with lower education and lower IQs tend to vote
conservative or are right leaning in there views… while educated people or people with higher IQs (you
can have a high IQ and not be university educated just to be clear) tend to vote liberal or support left
leaning party’s and policy’s. That has been studied and is a documented fact. Anyone reading that who’s
feeling offended and how dare I question there intelligence… the facts are the facts are the facts… deal
with it.
You mentioned depression and anxiety so I want to make sure I make this very clear… depression is a very
misrepresented diagnosis. Depressed sounds like a more articulated way of saying sad… people don’t say
I’m feeling really sad right now (like they should)… people say I’m feeling really depressed right now. As
a result people have this idea that depression is so common and so many people function so well with it
how can it be a disability. General depression (the kind you likely have been diagnosed with) tends to
impact everyone at some point in their lives. Is less intense then other forms of depression and generally
lasts for sometimes up to a couple months but fades and a persons life goes back to normal… but… they
continue to tell people they suffer from depression when the symptoms of what would be called clinical
depression no longer exist. They are sad or experiencing a time when feeling emotional sadness is a
common an realistic reaction to outside factors( a parent dieing, or sudden shift in lifestyle or factors) is it
true clinical depression? Or is it sadness, period of increased stress, or shift in lifestyle?) a person can be
sad and not be depressed. Now what happens when a person experiences MDD (major depressive disorder)
they will have a much lower low and it can last longer. It will come with more noticeable signs and have
more physical symptoms or indications (think sleep issues, or decrease in hygiene and self care) now there
is PDD (persistent depressive disorder) this is when the depression is re-accuring. It comes and goes comes
and goes comes and goes. It’s also when the depression becomes harder to treat and certain more severe
symptoms start to show up and tend to remain (anhedonia- this is where you no longer feel pleasure)
imagine what it feels like for a person who goes through life day after day and they no longer feel pleasure,
lose all interest in things they once felt pleasureable. Then have the symptoms of depression consistently
showing up over and over again without any real explanation for it… no one died… nothing happened…
they didn’t lose there job… and the meds they take seemed to have just stopped working…) now imagine
for a second what happens when a persons PPD is also co diagnosing with MDD those constant reacting
depressive (genuine depressive episodes not just feeling sad) are now reaching extremes very low lows, no
sense or feeling of any pleasure, which leads to extreme levels of suicidal idiation, all loss of willingness to
be a part of society, lose of interest in dating or sex, a persistent feeling of hopelessness) and even if these
feeling subside for a month or two… they are back in full force a short amount of time later again without
any real no real explanation. So now a person is dealing with total and complete apathy towards everyday
life… they are now being constantly admitted to hospital perhaps voluntarily, perhaps of a form 10… or
several form 10s… sometimes those hospital stays (actually very often) they become 4-6 months stays in
the hospital or even more. And this becomes a reaccuring patten? Now factor in how that person feels
when they tell people they are depressed and they now have someone like YOU who probably feels sad
from time to time which is a normal human emotion, who was diagnosed with general depression who
doesn’t experience anhedonia or even know what it is. Who doesn’t even take meds for it because it was
something that was temporary for them is now judging this person and and saying well I’m depressed to so
why are you different. Why am I not disabled because I was diagnosed with depression to. Or if you are in
the hospital and the nurse who’s giving you you anti depressant is thinking… it’s just depression why are
you here? They won’t ask you but they are sure as shit thinking it. Fact is you aren’t in the room when
someone is speaking to there psychiatrist. You aren’t on every unit that person has been to over the last
year… all you know is I’m giving this person a anti depressant, something that nurse may take) who
doesn’t understand how depression actually works… no for something as simple as depression why does
someone with depression end up on AISH? Is there diagnoses persistent, and reacurring? Has there been a
documented history of several treatments several forms of therapy, several changes in medication and
unable to find one that shows any markable improvement to this persons overall mood, and has this
persons anhedonia continued to not just affect there feeling of pleasure but contributed to an ongoing sense
of apathy and hopelessness that standard treatments are unable to correct? Now when all these factors have
been combined and this persons anhedonia continued has a documented history of being in and out of the
hospital and unable to maintain there employment as a result of the reaccuring symptoms of there PPD and
MDD diagnosis and ongoing symptom on anhedonia? Now this is when psychiatric proffetionals are asked
do these symptoms and diagnosis affect this persons ability to work and earn a sustainable living? If a
person can work for three months just lose there employment because of reaccuring and persistent
depressive symptoms and it becomes a pattern and it’s marked by consistent stays in hospital or form 10s
which would take a person to the hospital by the police no options no choice your going you are at high
risk of suicide we have decided and you are going no if ands or buts. And they are losing jobs because they
are deemed “unreliable”… because depression is so miss understood and miss represented it has become a
way of expressing a simple emotion… rather then the serious chronic, reacurring, FATAL condition it
actually can be…
Now for anxiety… oh anxiety… this may come as a shock to you but anxiety is the reason human beings
are not extinct… anxiety is natural and exists in everyone. But for some people they experience it at much
higher and rates in situations that can be considered irrational by other people… but try to tell a person that
there anxiety they are feeling is irrational when they have an anxiety disorder. When the anxiety goes from
something like say… a women walking downtown at night, she see walks the same street every night
without issue. She’s always on guard when she is walking at a particular point of her walk (maybe through
a park with no lights) the final stretch because her home is just across the street from the other side. She
could walk around the block but it would take her 10-15 minutes longer and she has never had a problem
before she keeps pepper spray and a whistle on her just in case (which is common and encouraged…
actually I think in Alberta they keep bear spray cause pepper spray I think is technically illigal and bear
spray is easy to get… but I digress same shit at the end of the day) So she’s walking same as she does
every night. But tonight she sees a group of men she has never seen before. They look like there a little
rough around the edges. Maybe even homeless, there passing a paper bag among themselves and putting it
up to there faces she sees this so she makes a reasonable assumption there probably drinking. This is when
her anxiety picks in she’s notices several factored outside of what she normally experiences. She feels
general fear… these guys could be the nicest people in the world… there could be a man in the park who
could attack her and these men may even be the ones who would come to her aid… she doesn’t know
that… she can’t rely on that assumption. Her mind is now raising playing out the potential outcomes. Yes
she has her whistle, yes she has her bear spray… she may have even taken a women’s self defence
course… maybe (and it’s possable everyone’s different) she decides I’m feeling confident I’ll just walk
past I know what to do if something happens… or she could decide I could walk past them and into this
unlit park and assume I’ll be ok, but instead she decides even tho she has the whistle and the bear spray
she’s still rather not use it she takes the extra 10-15 minutes to walk around the block. See that whole
process was a side effect of anxiety in one situation the anxiety was less intense in another it was more
intense. I would argue the women who chose to walk around the block was actually the healthier choice
(inconvenient? Very slightly… but every slightly is also life altering for some people in today’s day and
age… again I digress) but what if that women who walked around the block and made it home is still
replaying the situation in her mind? What if she starts to call her friends and say omg I was just about
attacked by three men in the park outside my house. They know where I live now, there watching for me,
there waiting for me. They know where I live, now I have to move, if I move I have to find a new job. See
the reality of the situation was very different. There’s no proof there watching her, or waiting for her, or
they tried to attack her. But in her mind that’s how it happened. And when she explains this to other people
she explains it is a way that makes the person also believe she was truly in danger. So now this person is
unknowingly reinforcing her irrational thought. Now she’s validated and every aspect of her life begins to
become fixated on this and it will happen again there going to find me. I can’t leave my house which
means I can’t go to work. I’m using this as the example because it could be an irrational anxiety response
and it connects to my previous scenario. She may have went home made a cup of tea smoked a joint on her
balcony called her parents or a friend to make plans for the weekend and went to bed. Woke up the next
day and never thought about it again. Anxiety can show up in many situations and for various reasons
perhaps a women was sexually assaulted before she could feel more anxiety and still remain in the realm
of rationality about it. Where some women may believe that because it happened once every man is a
rapest. It’s not rational to assume every man is a rappest because she was assaulted sexually by 1 man. But
some people experiencing anxiety as a disorder experience things like this persistently and different
situations. Some people have a fear of death. It’s a pretty common anxiety point. But for some people that
fear of death prevents them from leaving there house. They may not plug anything in because there house
could burn down, there are people who have anxiety that prevents them from making a left hand turn when
they drive. It might take them an hour to drive somewhere where it might take someone else 10 minutes
but they have a way to get to where there going making only right turns and that’s the way they take. There
are people who have been attacked by a dog before maybe a pitbull or a Rottweiler maybe as a child. They
have a fear of dogs but maybe not small dogs like a poodle or a yorkie or a Pomeranian. But some people
maintain a fear of all dogs no if ands or buts if it barks it will kill me…. People with anxiety disorders also
tend to not like to explain their anxiety. A lot of people diagnosed with anxiety do suffer anxiety
sometimes at a higher level but no where near the level that it would be considered a debilitating disorder.
Some people get cancer maybe melanoma(skin cancer) never miss a day of work. Get a procedure done
remove the tumour and there fine. Some people get cancer maybe something like pancreatic cancer and
there told it’s stage 4 it’s spread to your lungs bone and liver (the reason why you woke up yellow and
went to the doctor in the first place) and all of a sudden your being told your terminal and best case
scenario is 2 months… and three weeks later you die… in both cases it’s cancer… both people say they
where diagnosed with cancer (which is true) but one cancer was more severe then the other..
This is the problem with mental health diagnosis there very stigmatized and people often compare them as
if depression is just depression, anxiety is just anxiety, when the reality is much deeper… that’s why we
have psychiatrists they know how to dig deeper and measure the severity of a persons diagnosis. When you
first go to see your doctor with depression sure they will diagnosis you give you some anti depressants and
you move on with life. Some people get referred to a specialist when the patient family doctor starts to see
this is a little farther outside my general scope of being a medical doctor this person should be getting help
for a psychiatrist who will know more then they do. A depression diagnosis coming from a MD compared
to a psychiatrist can mean very very different things. And AISH won’t approve people for aish for most
mental health diagnosis unless the diagnosis and paperwork is coming from a psychiatrist. If the person
was diagnosed but never had any stays in a hospital as a result of the symptoms they experience…
Also… mental health has become a lot less stigmatized. It has become more recognized legally is several
pieces of legislation… even Addiction… just addiction… read the Alberta mental health act… under the
Alberta mental health act Addiction is classified as a disability. There has been a significant increase in
mental health diagnosis because more and more men are being taken seriously regarding their own mental
health concerns… for decades men’s experiencing or expressing mental health concerns have been highly
stigmatized. It goes against society’s preserved gender roles…. And what’s interesting with gender roles is
for women they have evolved and changed with society. But for men expectations today are still the same
as they were 50 years ago and even longer before that. Men are also expected to do certain things simply
because of civility… if a ship sinks and there aren’t enough lifeboats… men are expected to die and let the
women live… that’s an actual law by the way. When John Smith ordered women and children first when
the titanic sank that’s wasn’t just a common curtsy or chivalry like people falsely believe… that’s is an
actual law. A legal requirement and that law still exists today and is recognized internationally. That law
was made about 40 years before the titanic sank… also if there’s a war (like is currently starting) in the
event of a draft women can’t be drafted. They can sign up, they can volunteer to serve, they can get a job in
the military during both peace and wartime… but they can’t not be drafted to serve only men can. Only
men can be sent to fight without consenting without pay and be court marshaled and potentially even
executed for refusing to go… (yes under Canadian military law the death penalty still technically exists.
It’s not likely to ever be used. But unlikely to be used does not mean it absolutely 100% would not be.
Why does that matter well the massive influx is because more and more men are expressing mental health
concerns and they are taken very seriously when they come up because of another statistic… men commit
successful suicide 4x more then women… the methods used are very different… women tend to engage is
self harm that causes lasting visual damage more then men… but the vast minority of the time… it’s across
the street not down the road.. also women tend to swallow pills. They also more often then not call an
ambulance immediately after throw up as many pills they took as they can and get there stomach pumped.
It gets classified as a suicide attempt even though it can be argued there was an after plan for survival.
Meaning… a plan in place so it got documented as a suicide attempt but was less likely to be successful…
men on the other hand… men are much much much more likely to do things like hang themselves, shoot
themselves in the head, jump in front of a train? The kinds of things you don’t walk away from… that’s
why men commit successful suicide at a rate of 4x more than women…
So for years since mental health even showed up on the radar women where treated. Men where told to
man up get over it… now that men are actually being taken more seriously and treated for their mental
health. It explains the dramatic increase in disability cases espeshially concerning mental health… because
an entire gender class is now being treated and documented when they were not before…
As for the last ten years… well if you recall in 2020 there was a little virus that caused the entire world to
shut down. Entire economy’s came to a sudden stop all across the globe. (Except North Korea they kept
things going and a lot of people died but the regime denied it) 5 years later there are now reports starting to
come out now that they have had time to research the long term effects COVID’s has had… 5 years ago
they could only assume but now they can start documenting the longer term effects… what are they
finding? Higher neurological disorders that are significantly measurable in populations who contracted
COVID compared to people who didn’t. Higher and more severe cases of clinical major depressive
disorders and anxiety, epilepsy, MS they are also finding that Covid seems to plant itself in the lining of a
persons inner scull and attacks the brain. These are documented and proven. So yes diagnoses are going up
because long covid is a very very real documented now officially proven thing. And less stigma regarding
mental health particularly amount the male population…