Redway |
02-09-2023 08:15 PM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by Soldier Boy
(Post 11324926)
Schizophrenia is widely misunderstood I find, possibly thanks to liberal use of the term in 80's/90's entertainment media ... to describe people who didn't fit the actual presentation of schizophrenia at all. Similar to people using the words "diagnosed psychopath" in the UK, when there is no such diagnosis.
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There’s an irritating over-exaggeration of the severity of schizophrenia and trivialisation of depression and bipolar disorder that’s definitely gotten worse in some circles over the last 30 years especially. It all started when they give it that silly, cuddly name bipolar. You wouldn’t get moody wannabe-celebrities claiming to have manic-depressive psychosis. To a lot of people schizophrenia is just a general word for insane (starting with hearing voices) and bipolar just means someone has intense mood swings and anger management problems, as if there isn’t more to it than that. When someone says “my boy George/auntie Mabel is schizophrenic” 8 times out of 10 I presume they mean more schizoaffective or misdiagnosed bipolar disorder. Man ain’t saying schizophrenia’s a total myth but it’s like you say, a lot of people just use the word without really understanding what it means and a lot of doctors misdiagnose severe mood disorders as it, enhancing the narrative that schizophrenia’s the most fitting catch-all label for most of the most severe mental health issues. It’s not even like that.
And then there are people who over-conflate depression with anxiety (yeah, low and anxious moods go hand-in-hand but on their own they’re very different and not just the one thing/disorder at that) and almost see it as the common cold of psychological problems. Anyone can roll up to their GP complaining about feeling a bit crap and lacking in energy and get put on a course or citalopram but severe depression is one of the worst types of illness there is. And a lot of people don’t know that. I feel like if the general public really understood how serious depression can be and how you definitely, definitely can’t just snap out of it, no-one would ever see it as a sign of weakness. The serotonin imbalance myth (it’s not that there isn’t a biological basis to it but it was never really about serotonin) doesn’t help. It just makes it sound like a much simpler, milder thing than it can be.
I guess the diagnosed psychopath thingy is just people referring to antisocial personality disorder. That’s the official name for sociopathy/psychopathy in the DSM, but then there’s a debate that personality disorders (except maybe borderline personality disorder, because it’s so distressing) aren’t really mental illnesses or things that should represent diagnoses more-so than just another way of saying someone’s going to be inherently entitled, superficial or criminal.
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