DBSA Target Zero - Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance

I came across of this.

It sounds great at first glance, but there are few problems with it:

1) despite trying to pose hope, the whole article sounds fear mongering and can actually cause harm. Apparently, if you have symptoms you can DIE. Isn't it kinda conterproductive to tell that to people.

2) Zero symptoms strategy rely on medication only. And seriously, are the side effects worth not having even mild symptoms? In a way it sounds as eastern european medicine (aka: feeling sick or in pain? Take this. You will still feel sick but you will be as high as kite/zonked out you will not CARE you feel sick).

3) So let's say you have a med combo that works relativelly well, but do get sometimes depressed or bit manicky. Nothing serious. But according to target zero.... this puts you at risk. But... isn't it more risky to meddle with existing med coctail that works and allows you to live and risk upsetting it?

4) Many people will mistake feelings and quirks for symptoms. We see lot of posts here about "I do this <insert perfectly normal behavior that many people do> does it mean I am manic, should I see my doctor about it?". Seriously, we live in society where losing keys became symptom of illness instead unfortunate fact of life.

5) It pushes the "you can't do anything for yourself to the extreme".

6)

• more likely to have life‐threatening co‐occurring conditions, such as heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes—a huge factor in why individuals with mental health conditions die, on average, 25 years younger than those without mental health conditions

Does it even occur to those people diabetes and 25 years off lifespan can be actually... due to the drugs used to treat this condition? Bipolar doesn't cause diabetes. Bad eating can contribute to it. And certain class of drugs comes with warnings they can cause it.






So they instill fear in people that having any symptom means they will relapse and kill themselves and raise hypervigilance.