Something that has been on my mind for a while now. This whole narrative of mental health. We hear about it at least daily. It is permeating our conversations and our actions. I wonder if it isn't just becoming another excuse. Another convenient way to excuse a lack of motivation, a lack of responsibility and a lack of accountability. It reminds me of the most frequent reason for those actions by someone in the Navy, my back hurts. That excuse was usually chosen for a very simple reason. It is something that a doctor cannot refute. All the tests, x-rays and scans in the world are not sufficient proof to tell the patient, your back doesn't hurt. Now it seems like the mental health excuse is catching on. And it is being forwarded by this progressive thought process of there is nothing wrong with having a mental issue. Well duh, it is an issue that why we are calling it a mental health problem! It's not alright. You aren't cured of that condition by everyone agreeing you have the condition! That's the big issue however, how to tell what is real and what is not. Especially difficult now that we are also saying if you are a man biologically but feel like a woman, you are really a woman or vice-versa. That combined with legislation saying I have to acknowledge that or face criminal charges. If I point out the truth, I could be charged with a hate crime! So, how are we to determine what is a legitimate mental problem? What test are we going to use? Do we just keep rewriting the manual to suit current social attitudes?
The DSM is what is used by the professionals to diagnosis mental disorders It has undergone revision several times over the years. Really it is just changing our mind about certain behaviors. You know what is tolerated today is accepted tomorrow. What was once unusual, becomes accepted as the norm. Then we look back at the past and wonder how that was ever allowed in the first place. Today we dismiss a lot of that under the heading of choice. Everyone is allowed to choose. Yes, that sounds great and on a personal level I'm all for that. Had I been given my choice as a kid I wouldn't have gone to school, eaten breakfast or taken a bath. Fortunately, there was an authority that directed my choices in a more constructive manner. Did I suffer childhood trauma as a result? Some would say so today. Maybe I should receive compensation. Well, I should be consoled and included. I am after all, a survivor! "The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the DSM evolved from systems for collecting census and psychiatric hospital statistics, as well as from a United States Army manual. Revisions since its first publication in 1952 have incrementally added to the total number of mental disorders, while removing those no longer considered to be mental disorders." That quote from Wikipedia, not my own analysis. So, what was once a mental illness isn't any longer, while new disorders are being recognized every day.
I think that is most likely the case. The number of disorders is increasing while others are being removed. Those behaviors that were considered aberrant, (departing from an accepted standard) being removed. Things like gender dysphoria as one example. All the while adding disorders that aren't aberrant, like feeling sad. These days we call them disorders, but they are mental illness. Same thing, different nomenclature. There is no stigma with a disorder, mental illness however tends to be thought of in a different fashion. I remember when we called those folks lunatics. But it's a kinder gentler world today. Mental disorders are the norm. Well, at least we have to treat those folks claiming to have a disorder normal and be empathetic and sympathetic. I can feel sorry for them, but I can't empathize with them because I don't have the disorder. I can only claim to understand that disorder. My feeling is simply this, I can understand that feeling because I'm a human being. Sometimes I do feel sad, have dark thoughts, feel like others don't like me, feel stressed out and wish I were something other than what I am. Being a teenager again would be nice, but just as unattainable as becoming a woman, it's never going to happen. It's not a disorder though, it's called being alive and experiencing life and the world around you. It's depressing, maybe even disappointing, I get it, but the world does not revolve around me.
I can try to medicate that away; we call that substance abuse these days. Or I can get prescribed medications and receive support for my disorder. In that way I am not held responsible for my choices or actions. Not my fault, it's a disorder. It's interesting to note that physiatrists say they can treat a disorder, but they can't cure a disorder. That's the simple truth. When asked directly can a physiatrist cure a mental disorder this is the response. "According to mental health experts, the short answer to this question is no." If a person goes to a rehabilitation center for alcoholism or drug abuse and they fail to maintain sobriety the diagnosis is always "it's a relapse not a failure of treatment." In short, they admit they can't cure that either! You know why? Because it is your choice. And it seems to me we are now deciding that choosing to have a disorder is an acceptable choice. The only issue is: who decides? That is where the wheels fall off the wagon. That's where Mom says, eat your breakfast, go to school and take a bath! I don't care how you feel! Get over it. Lots of people these days need to be told exactly that. Get over it. Quit crying! Keep it up and you're going to get something to cry about.
Keep telling people that every negative emotion they experience is a disorder and that's what you will get. A population of people with mental disorders. All a part of this entitlement attitude being fostered today. I DESERVE this or that. How many times have you heard that? I deserve to be given compensation for my, fill in the blank. It isn't fair or equitable. What isn't fair or equitable? Life. Yeah, you are right about that, it isn't fair or equitable, but it is what it is. Into every life a little rain must fall.
A poet named Longfellow wrote that. Here's the complete poem:
The day is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
The vine still clings to the moldering wall,
But at every gust the dead leaves fall,
And the day is dark and dreary.
My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
My thoughts still cling to the moldering Past,
But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast
And the days are dark and dreary.
Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary.
It doesn't mean you have a mental disorder! Get over it.
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