Question – Repeat after me:

purplechansey:

cynicallyjaded:

dionthesocialist:

• Mental disorders are medical conditions.
• Mental disorders are not personality quirks.

Repeat after me…

• Labels will give you mental disorders
• Labels will reinforce your submission to a condition 
• Labels will destroy you
• Labels will imprison you
• Labels are just that…labels

Now, let’s try again…

• Stop labelling your state of mind, it’s the same as stereotyping someone and expecting them to act differently
• The more we ‘recognise’ so-called mental disorders as valid medical conditions, the weaker society becomes in dealing holistically with social ills because every bad experience can suddenly be ‘fixed’ with a pill
• Neuroplasticity is proof that mental ‘disorders’ are merely a state of mind that can be altered based on experience and introspection
• Experience has confirmed that insecurity and fears of insignificance are the most common underlying causes of symptoms of a troubled mind (a.k.a. mental disorders) and not some chemical imbalance
• Chemical reactions are triggered by thoughts and stimuli, not the other way around. Simple proof of this is a smile. It’s confirmed to release feel-good hormones regardless of your ‘mental disorder’

Separate the symptoms from the root cause and never confuse the two. Far too often, especially in western medicine, symptoms are almost always the focus of treatment with a holistic view shunned as being a quack’s approach to good health. The mind and body work in tandem, and not independently. Abuse one, and you’ll automatically abuse the other. Treating a physical ailment without considering the psychological or emotional triggers that caused one to be predisposed to the ailment is like taking energy drinks when you know you’re not getting enough sleep. It really is that simple.

Give yourself a chance. You deserve to believe in yourself, because people are strange like that. They rarely believe in you unless you believe in yourself first. Think about it, and give yourself a break.

I definitely understand where you’re coming from, but there are a couple of points in which I take issue with.

“Neuroplasticity is proof that mental ‘disorders’ are merely a state of mind that can be altered based on experience and introspection.”

Not necessarily. Yes, neuroplasticity has shown that the brain changes through various stages of life (and through various personal experiences), but that does not necessarily imply that mental disorders are all of a sudden reduced to nothing but “bad thoughts that can altered.” There is no denying that some mental disorders (I will get to why I italicized mental disorders and some in a bit) are indeed a chemical imbalance in the brain. Hence, why some truly need medication, and why it works for them. Where I do agree with you (or at least agree with what I suppose you’re getting at) is that medications are far overused, over-perscribed, and that a lot of what we have going on as “mental disorders” aren’t really mental disorders.

Yes, many of them should be treated by psychotherapy instead of just popping a pill. Unfortunately, that takes much longer in the doctor’s office, so they just write them off a prescription (or four) and call it a day. Also, I agree with what you have to say when it comes to labels. Some of what is labeled under mental disorders by the DSM IV I wouldn’t necessarily want to call a mental disorder. Labels do suck, and indeed, they hold you back. Thing is, chemical imbalances do exist. They are very much a possible cause in the cases of some mental disorders. Schizophrenia being a fine example of that. And while yes, some chemical reactions are triggered by certain thoughts, experiences, and stimuli, do not forget the many that are genetically predisposed or more prone to developing such disorders. 

Thanks for sharing those views. I agree with you on most of what you say with just one qualifier. I mentioned in previous posts, under the link that I included previously, that medication is definitely warranted as an intervention strategy. I just get really concerned when I hear people saying that they’re predisposed to depression and have been told that they will have to take anti-depressants for the rest of their lives. 

That’s the level of abuse that we’ve come to because of the labelling of life’s struggles by suggesting that they’re in fact illnesses. They’re not. Like everything in life, there are exceptions, but the current trend is that anything that goes against the utopian ideal of a balanced life is somehow not the individual’s faults because they probably have a chemical imbalance causing them to behave irrationally, aggressively, or otherwise.