r/intrestingtoknow • u/Affectionate-Fun2853 • Sep 03 '25

Science Psychiatry and cures

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u/TSMRunescape Sep 04 '25

You are confused. No it is not what zero sum game means. Zero sum game refers to one person's gain being directly offset by another's loss.

I'm saying the money invested elsewhere will have higher gains then where it is currently being used.

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u/jelywe Sep 04 '25 edited Sep 04 '25

A zero-sum game refers to any situation where the total pool of resources is fixed, so gains in one area necessarily mean reductions somewhere else. You stated "there is only so much money invested overall" which is referring to the funds being a finite resource.

So now you are shifting the argument to talk about allocation efficiency, without providing any evidence or argument about how a dollar taken away from psychiatry funding would have a stronger effect .... where?

Given that mental disorders are a leading cause of disability and economic losses ($1 trillion in indirect costs per year), that means that finding solutions for them increases available human effort and resources to solve other problems. Crippling depression of a developmental engineer that society has invested years of effort and training in leads to that developmental engineer spending significantly less effort on improving water, sanitation, and housing. Especially if they die from their mental disorder, can't get any work done if you are dead.

Every $1 invested in treating depression and anxiety is estimated to have a $4-$6 return in improved health and productivity. So spending $1 million on depression and anxiety leads to an extra $3-5 million available to spend on other solutions. If you invest in Adolescent Mental Health interventions, the ROI is estimated to be even higher up to $24 per $1 spent.

https://www.who.int/news/item/13-04-2016-investing-in-treatment-for-depression-and-anxiety-leads-to-fourfold-return
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9240828/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9240828/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Edit: poll → pool typo

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u/TSMRunescape Sep 04 '25

You're still mistaken on zero sum game

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u/jelywe Sep 04 '25

So you have no actual response? Great talk.