Posted by Tomatheus on July 26, 2013, at 14:00:24
In reply to Re: Doing a fair bit better, posted by Lamdage22 on July 26, 2013, at 12:52:55
Hi Lamdage,
Thank you for getting back to me on the question I asked about Topamax. Yes, Topamax very well might make for an effective weight-loss aid, and I think that the medication is something that is well worth discussing with your doctors.
I think that I can see why you're frustrated with society and especially with psychiatry. Psychiatry, as you pointed out, has its flaws, and I don't think that it's the "end all, be all" in the management of mental illness. I personally think that psychiatry usually has a key role to play in the management of mental illness, but I think that clinical psychologists and other professionals may also play important roles. I think that mental illnesses definitely exist and that those of us with mental illness have a part of us that is ill, but I don't think that mental illnesses define us so much that everything that we do is ill and disordered. First and foremost, we are people. People who happen to have one or more illnesses. Sometimes the symptoms of our illnesses can be so severe that a lot of our focus gets devoted to fighting our illness or illnesses, but we are not our illnesses, and everything we do isn't necessarily disordered just because we have a psychiatric disorder.
I think that at times, patients in the mental health system get the message from the system that there's nothing that they can do that's right just because they have a mental illness. I think that this is perhaps the message of being "f*ck*d up, broken, and disordered" that you referred to. And while I think that mental illnesses can be disabling, I do think that sometimes the system seems to send the wrong message by making it seem like there's something wrong with everything that we do. I think that everybody with a mental illness has something about himself or herself that is worth celebrating, that is positive, and that can be beneficial for others. Those of us with mental illness may seem to be at the margins of society, but I think that we have a lot to offer to society, even though our ability to give may be highly impaired. Sometimes it can even be the "non-compliance with society" that you noted that can be most beneficial for others. I don't think that society itself is always sane.
The points that you've made here, I think, are valid, and I think that there's a lot of truth to the things that you're saying. I don't know if most mental health professionals would necessarily describe themselves as being all knowing, but a lot of the times, they come across that way, and I certainly think that the mindset of being all knowing can be damaging to those around individuals with such a mindset. Even the most knowledgeable individuals, in my opinion, know very little of what there is to know, and to fail to acknowledge this is something that I think is short sighted.
Well, I'll stop now before I make this message any longer. I hope that this message finds you doing at least reasonably well.
T.
Conditions:
* chronic fatigue, hypersomnia, and related symptoms
* schizoaffective disordertomatheus.blogspot.com
poster:Tomatheus
thread:1047402
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20130706/msgs/1047837.html