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Kiki1256
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16 Oct 2014, 7:13 pm

It seems like things that were once "personality traits" are now illnesses. Do you WP members think labeling has gone too far or do you think that the fairly new labels are valid? I think that mental illnesses are not overdiagnosed--it's just that they used to be underdiagnosed. But some people would say that the labeling has gone too far.



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16 Oct 2014, 7:27 pm

I believe a lot of mental illness is overdiagnosed. Not so much that the person receiving a diagnosis isn't suffering with mental health, just that I think a lot of the time it is real problems they've been struggling with and not some mental disorder. I just think they are too quick to diagnose instead of attempting to deal with underlying problems and seeing if the problems persist. On topic, yes I think labeling has gone too far.



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16 Oct 2014, 9:06 pm

Kiki1256 wrote:
It seems like things that were once "personality traits" are now illnesses.

Yeah, I think so too. Everything is getting pathologized these days. I don't think this development is healthy at all.

Kiki1256 wrote:
Do you WP members think labeling has gone too far

Yes, I do.


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17 Oct 2014, 8:09 pm

yeah. this pathologization, treating traits and quirks that one were nothing more than just that, quirks, only serves to reinforce an increasingly narrow, cookie cutter standard that is "ideal". and those who don't fit it need to be "treated".
it seems to send a contrary message in a society that preaches equality and acceptance.

but labels are bad if they're treated as some illness, or seen as negative, to live in a completely label-less world is impossible.


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18 Oct 2014, 12:00 am

I blame shrinks and doctors, who are eager to get money but recommending meds.


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18 Oct 2014, 1:30 am

calstar2 wrote:
... Not so much that the person receiving a diagnosis isn't suffering with mental health, just that I think a lot of the time it is real problems they've been struggling with and not some mental disorder.


I'm not clear on what you mean here ... a mental disorder is a real problem.

Kiprobalhato wrote:
yeah. this pathologization, treating traits and quirks that one were nothing more than just that, quirks, only serves to reinforce an increasingly narrow, cookie cutter standard that is "ideal". and those who don't fit it need to be "treated".


But if things are cut up into more and more cookies doesn't that increase awareness of diversity and then acceptance?



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18 Oct 2014, 2:12 am

Quote:
treating traits and quirks that once were nothing more than just that, quirks,

i guess putting different groups into molds and giving then names exposes them, but often there's also the problem of those generalizing an entire group just because they have a shared name and it's convenient.

it's why i prefer not to wear labels other than the ones i absolutely cannot get rid of, i don't want to be compared or contrasted to others that are "also this" or "also that."


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18 Oct 2014, 2:25 am

Kiprobalhato wrote:
i guess putting different groups into molds and giving then names exposes them, but often there's also the problem of those generalizing an entire group just because they have a shared name and it's convenient.


True... some would take this course. But others might be enlightened to know that there are experiences other than their own. I don't know - I think it could go either way.



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18 Oct 2014, 3:15 am

androbot01 wrote:
calstar2 wrote:
... Not so much that the person receiving a diagnosis isn't suffering with mental health, just that I think a lot of the time it is real problems they've been struggling with and not some mental disorder.


I'm not clear on what you mean here ... a mental disorder is a real problem.


As in, an unresolved life issue. I don't know how to articulate it.



androbot01
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18 Oct 2014, 4:15 am

calstar2 wrote:
androbot01 wrote:
calstar2 wrote:
... Not so much that the person receiving a diagnosis isn't suffering with mental health, just that I think a lot of the time it is real problems they've been struggling with and not some mental disorder.


I'm not clear on what you mean here ... a mental disorder is a real problem.


As in, an unresolved life issue. I don't know how to articulate it.


Like unemployment, or an unresolved trauma? If so, I agree these are real problems too.



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18 Oct 2014, 4:31 am

androbot01 wrote:
calstar2 wrote:
androbot01 wrote:
calstar2 wrote:
... Not so much that the person receiving a diagnosis isn't suffering with mental health, just that I think a lot of the time it is real problems they've been struggling with and not some mental disorder.


I'm not clear on what you mean here ... a mental disorder is a real problem.


As in, an unresolved life issue. I don't know how to articulate it.


Like unemployment, or an unresolved trauma? If so, I agree these are real problems too.


Yeah, anything along those lines. Somebody could easily be dealing with long-term depression due to something like that and instead of making the priority be dealing with the unresolved issues to improve overall mental health, the priority seems toward be skewed to diagnosing it as a disorder and perpetuating it as a lifelong problem. Not in all situations, but I hope you can somewhat get what I'm trying to say.



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18 Oct 2014, 4:37 am

calstar2 wrote:
androbot01 wrote:
Like unemployment, or an unresolved trauma? If so, I agree these are real problems too.


Yeah, anything along those lines. Somebody could easily be dealing with long-term depression due to something like that and instead of making the priority be dealing with the unresolved issues to improve overall mental health, the priority seems toward be skewed to diagnosing it as a disorder and perpetuating it as a lifelong problem. Not in all situations, but I hope you can somewhat get what I'm trying to say.


For sure, but I would add that sometimes these life problems actually effect the chemicals in your brain. I remember back when I was 10 and first suffering from major depression that it felt like something was dying in my brain. Like I was losing something. Whatever I lost I have only been able to replace with medication. I wasn't born with depression, but it developed as a reaction to my environment and experience.



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19 Oct 2014, 6:48 am

Kiki1256 wrote:
It seems like things that were once "personality traits" are now illnesses. Do you WP members think labeling has gone too far or do you think that the fairly new labels are valid? I think that mental illnesses are not overdiagnosed--it's just that they used to be underdiagnosed. But some people would say that the labeling has gone too far.


I believe the incessant need of the medical establishment itself to put everything in the right box and label it accordingly verges on the edges of OCD itself.
And the round pegs that don't fit in the square holes get labelled for their inability to conform.
Most want to conform and belong so desperately the accept their labels with open arms.
They choose not to educate themselves and prop themselves up with the best defense mechanism their mind can offer.
And accept the label with gratitude as it means they bear no responsibility for their own state of being.

People on the whole don't want to reflect on how their own thoughts and actions affect their sense of being, a label helps them avoids them having to come face to face with their own ego and the possibility that it is their own thought patterns that are causing them to be as they are.



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19 Oct 2014, 7:01 am

guzzle wrote:
Kiki1256 wrote:
It seems like things that were once "personality traits" are now illnesses. Do you WP members think labeling has gone too far or do you think that the fairly new labels are valid? I think that mental illnesses are not overdiagnosed--it's just that they used to be underdiagnosed. But some people would say that the labeling has gone too far.


I believe the incessant need of the medical establishment itself to put everything in the right box and label it accordingly verges on the edges of OCD itself.
And the round pegs that don't fit in the square holes get labelled for their inability to conform.
Most want to conform and belong so desperately the accept their labels with open arms.
They choose not to educate themselves and prop themselves up with the best defense mechanism their mind can offer.
And accept the label with gratitude as it means they bear no responsibility for their own state of being.

People on the whole don't want to reflect on how their own thoughts and actions affect their sense of being, a label helps them avoids them having to come face to face with their own ego and the possibility that it is their own thought patterns that are causing them to be as they are.


I'm sure your post will offend somebody for some reason, but I must say that I agree and rather liked it.



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19 Oct 2014, 7:47 am

calstar2 wrote:
I'm sure your post will offend somebody for some reason, but I must say that I agree and rather liked it.


Thanks, it means a lot to me that someone confirms I am making sense. :D It's all so relative.
Personally I never had the luxury of avoiding my own shortcomings. I'm on an ASD testing waiting list but am definitly not NT.
I'll be 50 next year and I have lost count of the labels they have tried to stick on me. I say tried because me being me I always have an answer and a weird sense of rational logic that is very hard to find holes in for them.
So when I asked the psychiatrist one day if I would be comsidered bi-polar if it wasn't for my monthly hormonally induced mood changes. Then they tell me I am to clever for my own good :roll:

Edited to add that the last hormonally induced emotional torrent seems to have left my body with the last drop of pre-menopausal menstrual blood so that answers my question I suppose and goes into my arsenal of true empiric evidence ... 8O 8)

I really don't mean to offend. Antagonize at the best but problem with that is that there are fundamentalist thinkers just like there are fundamentalist religious nutters and whatever rational argument you put in front of them they will not listen to reason because it clashes with their fundamentalist beliefs.



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19 Oct 2014, 8:47 pm

guzzle wrote:
Kiki1256 wrote:
It seems like things that were once "personality traits" are now illnesses. Do you WP members think labeling has gone too far or do you think that the fairly new labels are valid? I think that mental illnesses are not overdiagnosed--it's just that they used to be underdiagnosed. But some people would say that the labeling has gone too far.


I believe the incessant need of the medical establishment itself to put everything in the right box and label it accordingly verges on the edges of OCD itself.
And the round pegs that don't fit in the square holes get labelled for their inability to conform.
Most want to conform and belong so desperately the accept their labels with open arms.
They choose not to educate themselves and prop themselves up with the best defense mechanism their mind can offer.
And accept the label with gratitude as it means they bear no responsibility for their own state of being.

People on the whole don't want to reflect on how their own thoughts and actions affect their sense of being, a label helps them avoids them having to come face to face with their own ego and the possibility that it is their own thought patterns that are causing them to be as they are.


Um, things like messed up thought patterns are part and parcel of mental illness. A whole area of psychology, cognitive-behavioral therapy, is set up to deal with and resolve such thought patterns.


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