Thanks for your comments. I hope you keep posting here on HN, if you don’t already. There don’t seem to be many people on this board in your profession, and you write about the topics in a way that is clear and makes sense in the context of this community.
I responded below to another commenter, not on your behalf of course. I hope I didn’t misrepresent your point. Thanks for posting.
I haven't looked again at this thread until now (I hadn't noticed the little karma ticker in my HN account go up), so apologies for missing this.
I've just seen your comment below and it's great to see that people in this community are curious about these ideas and mental health more broadly. I don't think you misrepresented my point at all; in fact you engaged with it in a way I hadn't considered before. I think it's essential to remind ourselves just how freakin' young psychology, psychiatry, "mental health", and all within these things (especially ACT) really are. I don't think the public really knows how little we know as a profession, and how much many of the most touted interventions are, from researchers' points of view, really just modest attempts at making a positive impact. The public certainly aren't aware of the possible negative consequences of mental health treatments, including psychotherapy. And I'm sad to say many of my colleagues don't think a lot about this potential for _iatrogenesis_ , as it's known, either. All of which is to say that the more that intelligent people, like yourselves here on HN, engage critically with mental health, the better.
I'll gladly continue posting here, and I thank you for the encouragement. It doesn't seem like HN has direct messages, sadly, otherwise I'd happily offer you or anyone else to reach out in private any time.
I responded below to another commenter, not on your behalf of course. I hope I didn’t misrepresent your point. Thanks for posting.