Alex Millner

There are huge gaps in the general public's understanding of mental health. What is Mental Health? has a clear and simple perspective, but also nuanced and science-informed. Here's a brief preview youtube.com/watch?v=cB4WbM… The full presentation youtube.com/watch?v=dkQTyE…

@GolinoHudson It's one of many reasons I'm leaving research to do clinical practice. I'll collect tons of ideographic data but I won't have to pretend to make generalizations. Not trying to be a bummer here but trying to look at our science objectively, proceed in my career based on that.

@GolinoHudson Nice! I really appreciate your reflection and passion about our science and your own growth in the field. For me, the ergodicity issue is very disheartening.

We are finishing a revised (and much improved) version of our paper "Towards a psychology of individuals: The ergodicity information index and a bottom-up approach for finding generalizations". Here's our final comment to the reviewers: Final remarks: "Working on this paper has been a mixture of emotional states. The topic is significantly difficult, and although we believe our new methods are a step forward, we acknowledge that it might be just a small piece in the direction of “addressing” the issue of ergodicity. While revising the paper, and responding to the thoughtful commentaries by the Reviewers, we could not stop thinking about one of the favorite books of the first author: “Musashi”, by Eiji Yoshikawa. This is a historical novel that tells the life story of Miyamoto Musashi, a legendary Japanese swordsman and philosopher. The book follows Musashi's journey from a reckless youth to a master swordsman and his quest for self-realization. In the book, Musashi encounters a formidable spear master in the garden of his dojo. He realizes the master’s skill and artistry by observing how he meticulously tends to the garden plants, demonstrating precise and fluid movements. This glimpse into the master’s gardening skills makes Musashi realize how much growing he had ahead of him in the search for the true way of the warrior, and his never-ending endeavor to improve himself mentally, spiritually, physically, and philosophically. The first author finds himself in this exact position right now after reading the detailed, thoughtful, and insightful reviews. We cannot thank the reviewers enough for sharing their time and knowledge, and for not just pointing to important directions to improve our manuscript, but for nudging us to think in a deeper way about the issue at hand. We express our profound gratitude to the reviewers for their time, knowledge, and their role in fostering this moment of enlightenment." I typically have reservations about the peer-review process for various reasons, but I've never encountered more insightful reviewers than the two anonymous individuals who generously dedicated their time to provide a wealth of valuable insights, encouraging us to consider the issue more comprehensively. Reviewer 2, in particular, delivered an impressive and exceptionally sophisticated set of comments without adopting an authoritarian or confrontational tone. Reviewer 2 exhibited a remarkable combination of calmness, kindness, and profound insight, offering invaluable feedback that extends beyond the scope of this paper. Such a high level of expertise in a peer-review is a rare find in my academic experience. To Reviewer 2 (and also Reviewer 1), whoever you are, I hold you in the highest regard. I aspire to enhance my technical and scientific skills, with the hope that one day I may reach the same level of knowledge, eloquence, and elegance that you've demonstrated in your feedback.

@GolinoHudson Really interesting. Looking forward to reading both the updated version of the pre-print and the emotion dynamics paper.

Hi Alex. The pre-print available online is the first version of the paper. We have a much improved one, with a very interesting new simulation. And the answer to your question is: no. But we found some ergodicity in emotion dynamics captured in video (a new paper we are writing). As soon as we finish the new version of the ergodicity information index paper here I'll write a detailed thread. Keep tuned!

This article is a good overview of some of the issues in mental health treatment and research. Turns out mental health and mental illness is really complicated. time.com/6308096/therap…

Mental health is complicated. Our 3-part article series, What is Mental Health? is a simple explanation of *how mental health works* that aims to give everyone a better understanding. It’s also consistent with scientific understanding (but simplified). 🧵of an outline of Part I.

@EikoFried This is part of a larger pattern of psychology skipping over measurement and description of basic phenomena in favor of causal inference. It's obviously ridiculous as any inference is undermined by crappy measurement or having a poor understanding of phenomena but sexy > real

2 types of editor responses when submitting measurement work to clinical journals: 1) If editor > 95 years: “Desk-reject. This is well known, see my PhD from 1931.” 2) Else: “Desk-reject. Measurement has no clinical relevance and should be published in specialized journals.”

Emotions partly define our day-to-day experience and our mental health. Other bodily signals, such as hunger or having to pee, have similarities with negative (ie unpleasant) emotions that can help us understand mental health. (1/10)🧵

From What is Mental Health? Part II @mentaldesigninstitute/what-is-mental-health-part-ii-358391cc8a73" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">medium.com/@mentaldesigni…

Just like hunger is a signal from our body that pushes us to eat...

When @NicoleEinbinder came to me with a tip several months ago about the prison healthcare company Corizon Health and its controversial bankruptcy, we knew the stakes were high. businessinsider.com/corizon-health…

Excited to send out our 3-part series What is Mental Health? where we aim to give a simple, jargon-free explanation of what mental health is and how it works. At mentaldesigninstitute.medium.com or read outlines of Parts I-III mentaldesigninstitute.medium.com/what-is-mental… w/ @JonathanJarvis and Merryn Daniel

An article containing quick-read outlines for each part is at mentaldesigninstitute.medium.com/what-is-mental…

Although people are talking a lot more mental health these days, it's not always clear exactly what it is or how it works. Excited to announce the completion of our 3-part series, What is Mental Health? mentaldesigninstitute.medium.com

@ddlcoppersmith @drkatebentley @ShirleyBWang @NockLabHarvard @MGH_MoodBxLab @mk_nock @ChristineChaPhD @KathrynFoxR @trulllab

In sum, that paper critiques Y/N items that broadly assess "suicidal thoughts" bc it's confusing and results in misclassification. It shouldn't be used to critique EMA single-items on a scale or with specific questions. Please RT to other suicide/clinical researchers. Thnx 7/7

People have been citing our 2015 paper "Single-Item Measurement of Suicidal Behaviors: Validity and Consequences of Misclassification" to critique single-item EMA measurement of suicidal urges, intent, etc. I'll explain why this is inappropriate use of that paper🧵1/7