who's playing this game?
Brynne:
My family has struggled with mental illness, as well, and I've also had my share of it. In 1990, while in college, I was having absolutely debilitating panic attacks. I became agoraphobic and it got to the point where all I could do was lie on the couch with ice packs all over my head. This went hand-in-hand with a major depression. At the time, not much was known about depression or anxiety, so I didn't really know what was happening to me. I just hit a brick wall. I was going to drop out of college, but I began medication and therapy and was well enough to change my mind at the last minute. My roommate, who was one of my best friends and a psychology major had the nerve to tell me that it was just a "convenient" illness. She was used to happy-go-lucky party-girl me, and was now seeing a more muted me. But she never saw me when I was at my lowest point.
Tom Cruise's idiotic comments really pissed me off. I have had to deal with people telling me to just "get over it" since my episode in '90, that I "don't need medication". Would those same people go up to a person with a broken leg in a cast and say, "you don't need that cast. Shake it off!" (shut up, JM ;)). It may be partly because my friends all kind of see me as a goofy clown and can't picture me being anything but that, so they don't take me seriously. That's the face I choose to show the world, though.
Kristalrose:
Again, I am impressed with the wisdom and the intelligence of the people here. :) Thank you, thank you for that. :D
I can see JMP's point that sometimes, some people do misuse lables, and even hide behind them or use them to their advantage. I work in the human services field (am trying to get out: anyone have a job in a nice museum or archive where I can bury myself in books and research files? :) ) and I see those people every day. "I can't work, I'm tryin' to get disability." "What's your disability?" "Ummmm, I am _________." (enter in the disorder-of-the-month). We also see a lot of those with "Anxiety" or "depression" that are really drug addicts. They may have, once upon a time, actually had a problem and needed therapy. They went to one of those HMO docs or medicaid clinic docs and instead of being given a mental health referral, they were given a prescription for valium or prozac or a whole "cocktail" of meds, and then asked to come back every month for monitoring. >:( They build up a tollerance for the drugs, they aren't really helped because what they need is therapy, not drugs, and then they get more and more drugs. And they self-medicate with street drugs of alcohol. This isn't a blanket assessment of everyone on those drugs, please do not get me wrong, because I know that medications can be helpful. But in the instances I'm talking about, it's just adding a new problem to an old problem. And, just like you said, veilchin, I think it's done for profit. I've always said that our country is rulled by the Oil Barrons, Drug Companies, and Insurance Companies. Insurance Companies even have the ablility to control life and death in some instances. If someone is poor and needs a certain treatment, if the insurance company denies the treatment and they cannot find an alternative, then the person dies.
Brynne: That's great Jamie has a Speical Needs School. We're in rural NC, so that is not available here. But our school district has a wonderful lady in Al's elementary school who specializes in teaching kids with Autistic Spectrum Disorder. She even traveled with Allen to middle school the 1st year and did a period of pull-out classes, and then worked with his teachers to help them understand Allen's needs and how to motivate him. I've only been called to school twice for problem behaviors. The 1st time he was in 1sr grade and he was picking his nose on the bus. Some children started teasing him and he ended up smacking a kid, with his dirty fingers no less! :P The second time, he was singing and laughing in class. This was in 7th grade. The school is great, they know me pretty well because I'm a fierce Momma Bear when it comes to any of my babies, and espeically my Allen. :) I think they are afraid not to be. I would have burnt down that A-hole's house, Brynne. Or went home, got my husband's shotgun, and shot him!!
I can compare Allen to certain charecters from TV and movies, and people "get it." My favorite one is Adam Sandler's charector on "The Waterboy." "Now, that's some premium H2O." Yeah, that's definately AS Obsessive behavior. LOL (And yes, I do go around yelling, "Allen, girls are THE DEVIL!' LOL) Another one is Data from Star Trek. Data is always trying to tell jokes and never quite makes it. Al's the same way. He tells this absolutely silly, makes no sense, statement, and then when the "victim" is sitting there, speechless, binking, Al asks, "Did you think my joke was funny?" My last one is Forrest Gump. Allen has that sweet, sensitive, side of him, and that simplistic way of looking at things that other people miss because they were "overthinking." A lot of people also know of Ausitm from the movie "Rain Man", and when Allen was 1st diagnosed, that was what I was told he would be like. Thank God, with therapy and hard work (and lots of love, I'd like to think!) he's much better now.
Brynne, I'd love to chat sometime about our boys. :) I just finished up Middle School, so I know exactly what you're going through. This December, Allen will be 15. In NC, kids take driver's ed the semsester before they turn 15 and then get their learner's permit. In a few weeks, my son will be driving!! :'( :'(
veilchen:
See what I mean with the 'few bad apples' remark Val? I hope that person did not pursue psychology on the masters or doctoral level, and your comparison to the broken leg is absolutely true. A psych-doc friend of mine is counseling an anorexia victim, and so far with little success. The girl is practically dying in front of his eyes, but the social support for the girl is practically non-existing. Her mother actually told him that she feels the disorder is just a way of 'begging for attention' and that her daughter should 'just get over it'. The mind boggles.
He wasn't giving away priviledged information, he never mentioned any identifying characteristics, by the way. Psychologists and counselors do operate under the 'priviledged information ethic'.
I wish with all my heart that mental illness will one day be thought of as just what it is, a legitimate illness, acknowledged and treated properly. It is unfortunate that it is still misunderstood and often misdiagnosed, but the scientific community is trying to correct that. Unfortunately, it is often as if we are trying to stem a tide with a toothpick.
Hypochondria and psychosomatic illnesses are both found in the medical and psychological field, and strangely enough, are disorders in and of themselves. When I went to my first 'abnormal psychology' class way back when (another one of my pet peeves...what exactly is abnormal, and who gets to decide what it is?), my professor warned us that in all likelyhood we would find some of the symptoms within ourselves. She said that whenever she lectured on a particular disorder, more than half of the students would discover symptoms of that disorder in themselves. And right she was.
We all have our little idiosyncracies, but when it comes to actual unipolar or bipolar depression or anxiety we should be glad we are spared that (I won't even get into the personality disorders or schizophrenia) It is hard to make people understand that real depression is far more and far deeper than the occasional 'blues' we all experience, and far more crippling than even the worst of the non-fatal physical illnesses. Especially when the afflicted have no idea what is happening to them and on top of all that have to deal with people who can't see that this is not something the afflicted have wished upon themselves. Clinical depression and anxiety disorders are very frightening indeed.
There are plenty of charlatans in any field, my one wish and hope is that those in desperate need will find a caring and competent health care provider.
Brynne:
I don't even want to think about Jamie getting behind the wheel of a car. He still wets the bed!
Before I found out Jamie had autism, my only reference to it was Rainman. Jamie's nothing like that. I was in serious denial about his autism because of that.
My father is bipolar with psychotic episodes, so I definitely know how tough that can be. I've never had a psychotic episode (knock on head), but I have been diagnosed with bipolar. Then rediagnosed with dysthymia with episodic severe depression. Then diagnosed bipolar again. It's still an inexact science. All I know is that the current cocktail of meds I take are now allowing me to lead a normal life.
Oh, Veilchen, my doctor called what you described as "Second-Year Psychology Student Syndrome", where you can identify with everything in the book.
veilchen:
Ah yes, Rainman.
Few people understand that the savant syndrome is actually a cognitive based function not limited to autism, but is also found in other major mental disabilities or intellectual handicaps.
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