The Myth of Mental Illness

[lostforgottensoul]

A mental health label like PTSD, dissociation, ADHD, BPD, etc really just means you will likely struggle, more than the average person in your lifetime.

You would have struggled without the lable. The lable just gives a name for a set of symptoms that are already happening.

What a lable does is provide CORRECT treatment. PTSD and BPD can comorid but they, indiviudally are very different. Can have many of the same symptoms and if self diagnosing one can mis-self diagnose one with the other. But they have very different treatment. If one with BPD self diagnoses with PTSD they will be up the wrong treatment tree and same the other way around.

Back before all of these "lables" people that were mentally ill were "mad", ended up in insane asylms [ETA: All mixed together. Those with things like PTSD and BPD and thing like psychosis and the criminally insane] with shock therpy and the like. Do we really wanna go back before there were lables for mental health disorders?

 

[TruthSeeker]

You would have struggled without the lable. The lable just gives a name for a set of symptoms that are already happening.

What a lable does is provide CORRECT treatment. PTSD and BPD can comorid but they, indiviudally are very different. Can have many of the same symptoms and if self diagnosing one can mis-self diagnose one with the other. But they have very different treatment. If one with BPD self diagnoses with PTSD they will be up the wrong treatment tree and same the other way around.

Back before all of these "lables" people that were mentally ill were "mad", ended up in insane asylms [ETA: All mixed together. Those with things like PTSD and BPD and thing like psychosis and the criminally insane] with shock therpy and the like. Do we really wanna go back before there were lables for mental health disorders?

I disagree. Years ago, PTSD was not acknowledged as a mental health disorder which has different treatment regimine today than other similar disorders. So, since PTSD wasn’t in existence, you got labeled whatever labels were at the time. You were correctly mislabeled and afforded the treatment of choice for the label you got.

Correct labels also are due to the skill and experience of the clinician as well as their philosophical background. Some docs today don’t believe in DID but it is a mental health disorder. If you were seen by a non- trauma informed clinician, you’d probably not likely get the correct diagnosis or treatment. Many people w DID have been misdiagnosed prior to their DID diagnosis. Regardless of label, (IMO)those w a mental illness will struggle- it is just a matter of degree- and maybe less so if they get the correct diagnosis sooner rather than later.

 

[DharmaGirl]

@Wilbur, I don't agree that there are more and more narcs. It is a personality disorder, not entitlement. Many, many people have some symptoms of all the personality disorders, that doesn't mean they have the disorder. Even Socrates said that each generation was getting more disrespectful. Diagnosing anyone with a personality disorder when you are not a professional is not a valid diagnosis. In my world, I don't watch TV, I find that there are some mean people, but there are many kind people who like to help others. Your world is what you focus on. I focus on the kind, caring people.

 

[TruthSeeker]

@Wilbur, I don't agree that there are more and more narcs. It is a personality disorder, not entitlement. Many, many people have some symptoms of all the personality disorders, that doesn't mean they have the disorder. Even Socrates said that each generation was getting more disrespectful. Diagnosing anyone with a personality disorder when you are not a professional is not a valid diagnosis. In my world, I don't watch TV, I find that there are some mean people, but there are many kind people who like to help others. Your world is what you focus on. I focus on the kind, caring people.

@DharmaGirl I smiled when you used the phrase””, “In my world”-w PTSD- we create our own safe world. I don’t watch the news and maybe watch tv once a week. I do art, teach music, write for a business, and make my world safer than the real world- the one w TV, violence, computers, entitlement attitude, and a lack of feeling, values, and spirituality.

and make every effort to live drama free- but there are many who enjoy making drama and controlling others. The population is growing, so are the number of narcissists!
I was referencing a general trend in the mental health population.

 

[EveHarrington]

I do art, teach music, write for a business, and make my world safer than the real world- the one w TV, violence, computers, entitlement attitude, and a lack of feeling, values, and spirituality.

But this doesn’t actually “make” your world safer, it just allows you to FEEL safer.

As someone who has the opposite reaction and feels safer out there IN the world, I totally get that this is a ptsd reaction.

I hate to point out the obvious, but you’re on the Internet, the world of computers.

 

[Fadeaway]

@Wilbur I respectfully disagree and side with @DharmaGirl on the issue of narcissism. In my personal experience, and it has been discussed to great leangths here, most victims or parental narcs tend to be more empathetic and sensitive.

While I fully believe my grandmother was NPD, there is no diagnosis. If I went on subjective reasoning, I would say the older generations had more narcs. Most likely there is probably little change in the percentage of people from one generation to the other.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

The population is growing, so are the number of narcissists!

I think it seems that way because there is more media, tv, and internet coverage of possible narcs or what seems are narcs but one isn't a narc unless diagnosed. So, your basing that off of your opinion that they are a narc but opinions aren't fact and they certianly aren't a mental health diagnosis. So, it seems like there are more narcs because of media coverage but the diagnosis isn't on the rise as, again, opinions aren't diagnosis.

 

[Gs172003]

It seems to me like the word "narc" gets thrown around alot like the words OCD and trigger. Sometimes they are just plain buzz words and nothing more.

 

[EveHarrington]

I think there is confusion between the adjective “narcissist” and the personality disorder, so that adds to the overuse of “narc”.

 

[Gs172003]

I think there is confusion between the adjective “narcissist” and the personality disorder, so that adds to the overuse of “narc”.

From what I've read the disorder is pretty rare but alot of people have traits.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

From what I've read the disorder is pretty rare but alot of people have traits.

"Narcissisic traits" would be a much better term.

adjective “narcissist”

Google doesn't seem to know what that is and is giving me a bunch of things that has the criteria. Can you define that for me?

 

[hithere]

I didn't read your whole post or the thread. Just gotta say I totally agree with this title and the parts of your post I did read. sorry. super tired. I'll come back and read later.