Posted by boBB on May 28, 2000, at 18:22:39
In reply to Re: Useless words, posted by juniper on May 28, 2000, at 16:50:45
I suspect many regulars on the board can anticipate the following perspective as soon as they see boBB spelled backwards, but biological and treatable are somewhat useless terms too. DuPont said "Without chemicals life itself would be impossible." The biologial and treatable poems recited in modern clinics serve to divert attention from sociocultural factors that contribute to these widespread "diseases." A society able to double atmospheric carbon dioxide levels then deny either culbability or adverse effect seems just as likely to deny the disruptive influences of overgrown ambition, and the corrisive effect on human relatioships of high-speed transportation and mass communication.
Were slaves depressed? Concentration camp jews depressed? Residents of the Soviet gulag? Would medications sufficiently "treat" their depression?
It amazes me how many of us are articulate at the neurochemistry and neurobiology associated with medication and mental pathology, but how few can articulate basic human needs in neurochemical and neurobiological terms. Has anyone here read any of the late 1990's text about the social and psychological impact of worldwide convergance of industrial capitalism?
> i agree, the clinical definitions have meshed with the everyday to create something stigmad and subdued. it is not easy to say to people that you are depressed, and it is even harder to explain what this means apart from the colloquial definition.
> how do you distinguish words from the ordinary while still integrating mental illness as a biological and treatable condition (without shame and stigma)?
>
> juniper
>
> > Depression: Wimpy, misleading word. It gives the impression that someone with depression simply has the blues. What did Styron in "Darkness Visible" suggest instead? Was it "Mental Storm?"
> >
> > Anxiety: Same thing. Too tied up in everyday language.
> >
> > Crazy: Ridiculous word, used as frequently, randomly and unhealthily as table salt.
> >
> > Any others floating out there?
poster:boBB
thread:34979
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000526/msgs/34996.html