> The term ‘give-up-itis’ describes people who respond to traumatic stress by developing extreme apathy, give up hope, relinquish the will to live and die, despite no obvious organic cause. This paper discusses the nature of give-up-itis, with progressive demotivation and executive dysfunction that have clinical analogues suggesting frontal-subcortical circuit dysfunction particularly within the dorsolateral prefrontal and anterior cingulate circuits. It is hypothesised that progressive give-up-itis is consequent upon dopamine disequilibrium in these circuits, and a general theory for the cause and progression of give-up-itis is presented in which it is proposed that give-up-itis is the clinical expression of mental defeat; in particular, it is a pathology of a normal, passive coping response.
"It is hypothesized" is the closest it gets to evidence. This level of research seems to be that journal's specialty:
I am actually personally acquainted with Dr. Charlton, former editor of MH. He has some legit concerns about the epistemic effects of peer review (as well as the "business" of science---obtaining grants, etc.).
I'm torn, because on the one hand I wish everything from MH came with a giant "UNPROVEN AND DOES NOT FIT YOUR SCHEMA OF AN ACADEMIC PAPER" disclaimer, and that that would pass through when adapted to other media (like, say, this press release). On the other hand I basically share concerns about the peer review process and the stranglehold it can have on research.
As an aside, reading the wikipedia link, it seems like that journal does fulfil a very useful function. Not that it's a publisher of accurate articles, but that it can help the medical field escape local maxima.
"There are ideas that may seem implausible but which are very important if true. This is the only place you can get them published."
> The term ‘give-up-itis’ describes people who respond to traumatic stress by developing extreme apathy, give up hope, relinquish the will to live and die, despite no obvious organic cause. This paper discusses the nature of give-up-itis, with progressive demotivation and executive dysfunction that have clinical analogues suggesting frontal-subcortical circuit dysfunction particularly within the dorsolateral prefrontal and anterior cingulate circuits. It is hypothesised that progressive give-up-itis is consequent upon dopamine disequilibrium in these circuits, and a general theory for the cause and progression of give-up-itis is presented in which it is proposed that give-up-itis is the clinical expression of mental defeat; in particular, it is a pathology of a normal, passive coping response.
"It is hypothesized" is the closest it gets to evidence. This level of research seems to be that journal's specialty:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_Hypotheses#Peer_review...
This article is a press release that drastically overstates the already weak claims of the paper itself.