Let's all take Blindboy seriously now...

Cienciano wrote: »

I don't think it's any secret that exercise helps against depression.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/depression/in-depth/depression-and-exercise/art-20046495
Getting motivated is the thing which he goes into a bit more detail in addressing.

If you don't like the guy, fair enough and I can understand why, I unsubscribed a while back and think he talks ****e on plenty of things and comes across as condescending on others. But comparing his stance on helping people with depression with antivaxxers is not only stupid and disingenuous, but proves you never actually listened to his show and have just made up your mind about him. Again, I'll stand to be corrected if he does this outside his podcast, because apparently the guy is "paraded all over the media". I haven't bought a newspaper in about 15 years, don't listen to the radio and don't watch RTE, so he could be all over those for all I know.

Was i correct in saying he promotes transactional analysis, a form of pseudoscience?

Unless he has changed his mind on this in some poodcast i'm not aware of its a valid comparison.

I am not seeing the distinction. A person in character is still a person.

Also I am not seeing a disparity either between talking about mental health, and talking about drink and drugs. The majority of people who engage with drink and drugs have no mental health issues at all.

weldoninhio

nozzferrahhtoo wrote: »

If a person speaks on any given issue I tend to evaluate their suitability based on what they actually say.... not who they are, or are pretending to be, while they say.

I would not agree with that at all. It's a completely different character to the one we are talking about here, but it is a character all the same.

Regarding the first part, this isn’t a “person” speaking on an issue. It is a character. A character that talks about drinking, drugging and fighting out of one side of its mouth, then waffles about mental health out of the other.

The “character” is a social drop out. Dave Chambers went to colleges, blindboy (the character) did not.

weldoninhio wrote: »

But the act is one of an urban Limerick street urchin, heffing bags of glue, doing drugs and fighting. Should we take this seriously as a mental health advocate??

If a person speaks on any given issue I tend to evaluate their suitability based on what they actually say.... not who they are, or are pretending to be, while they say.

weldoninhio wrote: »

He doesn't "play a character".

I would not agree with that at all. It's a completely different character to the one we are talking about here, but it is a character all the same.

weldoninhio

nozzferrahhtoo wrote: »

Yea but "the bag" is just part of his act. So like I said, he is just another artist who is getting a platform through his work..... and then using the platform to deliver a message. Saying he only has a platform due to his bag is like saying Bono only has his platform due to his band.

But the act is one of an urban Limerick street urchin, heffing bags of glue, doing drugs and fighting. Should we take this seriously as a mental health advocate??

Bono isn't acting like a scobe, then saying, take me seriously on third world debt etc. He doesn't "play a character".

pumpkin4life

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If you Google you see his face. Everyone in Limerick knows his real name.

But look fair play to him it works and people buy into it. He is no fool and he got people into his art if it's what ye call it

Wanderer78

PlaneSpeeking wrote: »

More like he doesn't want former private school classmates and teachers to recognise him and blow the working class Limerick b**locks clean away.

im sure plenty of people recognise who he is, from his past and present

Cienciano

jh79 wrote: »

Any soultions he suggests need to be backed up with evidence as mental health is too serious of an issue to rely on anecdotes.

I don't think it's any secret that exercise helps against depression.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/depression/in-depth/depression-and-exercise/art-20046495
Getting motivated is the thing which he goes into a bit more detail in addressing.

If you don't like the guy, fair enough and I can understand why, I unsubscribed a while back and think he talks ****e on plenty of things and comes across as condescending on others. But comparing his stance on helping people with depression with antivaxxers is not only stupid and disingenuous, but proves you never actually listened to his show and have just made up your mind about him. Again, I'll stand to be corrected if he does this outside his podcast, because apparently the guy is "paraded all over the media". I haven't bought a newspaper in about 15 years, don't listen to the radio and don't watch RTE, so he could be all over those for all I know.

PlaneSpeeking

optogirl wrote: »

The bag has been explained by BB a good few times at this stage - it's anonymity because A) He wants to be able to go about his days without everyone recognising him He is aware that his area of work is transient and he may need to go back to a day job at some point - not being recognised will make that easier.

The bag means nothing in context of the podcast because we can't see him

More like he doesn't want former private school classmates and teachers to recognise him and blow the working class Limerick b**locks clean away.

The bag has been explained by BB a good few times at this stage - it's anonymity because A) He wants to be able to go about his days without everyone recognising him

He is aware that his area of work is transient and he may need to go back to a day job at some point - not being recognised will make that easier.

The bag means nothing in context of the podcast because we can't see him

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

Us Irish love sorting stupid and a bag works well with the trend.

Yea but "the bag" is just part of his act. So like I said, he is just another artist who is getting a platform through his work..... and then using the platform to deliver a message. Saying he only has a platform due to his bag is like saying Bono only has his platform due to his band.

It is true..... but..... what is your point? I am not questioning WHAT you are saying. I am just struggling to see the relevance of you saying it.

Deleted User wrote: »

And should they, do you reckon?

I do not see why not. Many people when they see a platform.... use it. You and I saw the platform boards.ie and we are using it. Why should we not?

Deleted User wrote: »

It does get tiresome though..

One can only blame oneself for that though. We can select what media we consume. If we consume it, and then moan it is tiresome.... it's really our own fault.

nozzferrahhtoo wrote: »

Many artists gain a platform through their art/act, and then use that platform to spread a political message. Musicians do it. Actors do it. Artists do it. Comedians do it.

And should they, do you reckon?..
This politicization of art could turn out to be dangerous I reckon..When does it stop being art and become propaganda?..

Although generally at the minute it's just an attempt to remain relevant/in the news..

It does get tiresome though..

nozzferrahhtoo wrote: »

I can see what you are saying but I am really unclear on why you are saying it. It seems you are just stating something entirely obvious but doing so in a way that implies you think you are making a point.

Many artists gain a platform through their art/act, and then use that platform to spread a political message. Musicians do it. Actors do it. Artists do it. Comedians do it.

Is there an issue with that I am not seeing?

Us Irish love sorting stupid and a bag works well with the trend.

For 3rd time if he did not have a bag I to don't think he get the reaction he does and I'm comparing him to other 'artists', in same field.

But it works so fair play him. Some people think he the Business

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

Well if he didn't have a bag like I said previously, I think he be just your normal lad. He may still have a fan base but not to same level.

I can see what you are saying but I am really unclear on why you are saying it. It seems you are just stating something entirely obvious but doing so in a way that implies you think you are making a point.

Many artists gain a platform through their art/act, and then use that platform to spread a political message. Musicians do it. Actors do it. Artists do it. Comedians do it.

Is there an issue with that I am not seeing?

optogirl wrote: »

I still don't know what reaction you mean or how the bag ensures this reaction is attained? What do you mean by

'He has a bag over his face. That's why he gets what he wants.'

Well if he didn't have a bag like I said previously, I think he be just your normal lad. He may still have a fan base but not to same level.

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

The fan base especially the ones who preach on his every word

I still don't know what reaction you mean or how the bag ensures this reaction is attained? What do you mean by

'He has a bag over his face. That's why he gets what he wants.'

optogirl wrote: »

I don't know what reaction you are referring to

The fan base especially the ones who preach on his every word

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

Do you think he get same reaction if he did not have bag? Really?

I don't know what reaction you are referring to

optogirl wrote: »

Do you think he get same reaction if he did not have bag? Really?

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

He has a bag over his face. That's why he gets what he wants.

jh79 wrote: »

Fair enough if he generally does add the preface but it doesn't come across that way in the Bressie interview.

But that doesn't mean we should ignore his promotion of pseudoscience such as transactional analysis

Transactional analysis is just a way of understanding your own responses and behaviours - I don't see the danger in it. It's a method of coping no more scientific than taking a few deep breaths to calm down.

optogirl wrote: »

If you knew an alcoholic that said AA helped them would you demand evidence or could you just accept that, having benefited from it themselves, they are suggesting it as an aide and that the only evidence they have is their own experience? I don't see any problem with BB, or anybody else who has mental health issues, suggesting ways of coping with them. He is not dogmatic about it and always prefaces it with a 'it worked for me, it wont for everyone'

Fair enough if he generally does add the preface but it doesn't come across that way in the Bressie interview.

But that doesn't mean we should ignore his promotion of pseudoscience such as transactional analysis

Wibbs

jh79 wrote: »

He promotes psychotherapy and psychology over medication with proven efficacy.

This is what the always reliable Science Based Medicine has to say on these;

"When tested, psychoanalysis was shown to be less effective than placebo. Its theories have been disproven, and no reasonable scientist or practitioner takes it seriously today. "

"Psychotherapy
Psychotherapeutic interventions in general have been remarkably unsuccessful. Only one of the many varieties of psychotherapy is supported by acceptable evidence: cognitive-behavioral therapy. There is no correlation between a therapist’s training or experience and patient outcomes. Amateurs get equal results. The benefits of psychotherapy may be no better than the benefits of talking to a friend; in a sense, psychotherapists are paid to act as friends, which could be considered a sort of prostitution."

https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/psychology-and-psychotherapy-how-much-is-evidence-based/

Not a shock for me TBH JH. I was very interested in psychology as a possible career when I was in school. Interested enough to mark it down as my primary choice on my CAO form. Got it too, but life got in the way, as it sometimes does. But anyway, the more I read on it, while it very much held my interest as an area of pure research, as a therapeutic tool I found it decidedly lacking, with a lot of conflicting theories, dubious research and passing fads on the back of that. For socially/mentally/emotionally isolated folks who feel they have nobody to actually listen or need a neutral party to listen it certainly has merit(if the therapist is a good one. There are an awful lot of quacks, qualified or no) and as noted above CBT does have good results that are repeatable, but otherwise?

And one could argue the proof is in the pudding. For all the talk of more awareness of mental illness required we have never had so much awareness in the public mind, never had so many therapies of all kinds, yet mental illnesses continue an apparently upward trajectory. This doesn't follow the usual pattern of diseases and access to efficacious therapies, whether preventative or curative. If a new Therapy A came out to treat Condition X and after years of use across the population of sufferers the numbers of condition X were going up, one would not unnaturally conclude that Therapy A was ineffective.

Compare that to the new suite of antidepressants that came along in the 80's, specifically the SSRI family of drugs. Yes they have their detractors(and I would personally argue they're overused) and they have their issues, but their introduction did positively change the maps as far as the treatment of a range of mental illnesses. There are a huge number of people around today that wouldn't be, or be in hospitals, or junked up on valium without them.

DickSwiveller Returns

Here's another example of nutjob liberals in academia, Brian
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09589236.2017.1287064?journalCode=cjgs20

jh79 wrote: »

Any soultions he suggests need to be backed up with evidence as mental health is too serious of an issue to rely on anecdotes.

If you knew an alcoholic that said AA helped them would you demand evidence or could you just accept that, having benefited from it themselves, they are suggesting it as an aide and that the only evidence they have is their own experience? I don't see any problem with BB, or anybody else who has mental health issues, suggesting ways of coping with them. He is not dogmatic about it and always prefaces it with a 'it worked for me, it wont for everyone'

He has a bag over his face. That's why he gets what he wants. If we saw his face he be just your normal lad.

He just says what people want hear if honest. But it works so fair play to him but thankfully lot see through him too and know about his background before.