That's good to hear, that the clarification helps. When I was writing it, I actually rewrote the opening five or six paragraphs about, well, five or six times. Because I know the term is 'mental illness' and that's used as a catch-all for just about everything short of the really concrete (and not usually medically treatable, I think?) cognitive disorders like dyslexia and their ilk. I mean, dyslexia and speech disorders don't usually get the label of 'mental illness', while ADD/ADHD and just about all the rest do, yet ADD/ADHD in practical (work/school) application gets protected same as learning disabilities and other invisible disabilities... so how to make a distinction? So I guess I ended up getting one-half okay, and the other half mangled, judging from your reaction & laughingrat's.
What I do find odd, though (nothing to do with you, just mentioning) is that I've seen replies on some of the other posts about this, which reference my post, and remark that it's not okay to keep saying that medication for mental = medication for diabetes, because this makes it sound like medicine is the end-all, as it would be for many physical illnesses. Except that to my knowledge, there are behavioral and psychological facets of dealing with any illness, especially the life-long severe ones: what you can eat, how much sleep you get, managing your stress, dealing with changing self-image, that kind of thing. So to say diabetes, frex, is "medicine-only" is just as simplistic as saying the same for ADD/ADHD. I mean, how many words are required to make sure one hits every possible nuance, to prevent misinterpretation and misreading, especially intentional misreading (when one has a bone to pick, that is)?
Although maybe I find that odd because, frankly, modern medicine/psychiatry did not save my life, and in fact is at the root of almost every time I've come close to ending my life. (I'm not counting antibiotics and surgery, which have saved my life.) Way I see it, I'm still here in spite of some of the best efforts of several quacks... and maybe that's why I find it particularly amusing (at my own expense) that I still manage to believe that medicine can, when applied properly and with moderation and as part of an overall holistic regime, be one facet of a life-saving (or at least sanity-saving) treatment.
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Date: 11 Jun 2010 09:16 pm (UTC)What I do find odd, though (nothing to do with you, just mentioning) is that I've seen replies on some of the other posts about this, which reference my post, and remark that it's not okay to keep saying that medication for mental = medication for diabetes, because this makes it sound like medicine is the end-all, as it would be for many physical illnesses. Except that to my knowledge, there are behavioral and psychological facets of dealing with any illness, especially the life-long severe ones: what you can eat, how much sleep you get, managing your stress, dealing with changing self-image, that kind of thing. So to say diabetes, frex, is "medicine-only" is just as simplistic as saying the same for ADD/ADHD. I mean, how many words are required to make sure one hits every possible nuance, to prevent misinterpretation and misreading, especially intentional misreading (when one has a bone to pick, that is)?
Although maybe I find that odd because, frankly, modern medicine/psychiatry did not save my life, and in fact is at the root of almost every time I've come close to ending my life. (I'm not counting antibiotics and surgery, which have saved my life.) Way I see it, I'm still here in spite of some of the best efforts of several quacks... and maybe that's why I find it particularly amusing (at my own expense) that I still manage to believe that medicine can, when applied properly and with moderation and as part of an overall holistic regime, be one facet of a life-saving (or at least sanity-saving) treatment.