Posted by Mitch on July 10, 2001, at 11:24:52
In reply to Re: Can Zyprexa stimulate Hypomania?, posted by MB on July 10, 2001, at 3:33:43
> > > Sometimes I wonder about these diagnoses. Do individual disorders fit so neatly into these boxes? That's what I wonder.
> >
> > I wonder too, in fact am downright skeptical. . .or a little in awe of people who have such distinct dxs. How do they *know*? I have been at this for 15 years, and the best use I can find for dx is knowing how to moderate, what to avoid. Bipolar - TLE - ADD - Creative - High IQ - CFS - abusive childhood - it's a SPECTRUM. . .or a hologram, one that depends on who's looking, and on their point of view.
> >
> > Zo
>
>
> Right, and where do you draw a line between "disorder" and just plain "eccentric"? I guess when it interferes with daily functioning, it becomes a disorder. I guess with "psychoses" it's more straightforward: if an individual's perception is not corroboratable via ordinary consensus, they're "crazy"...but what about personality "disorders" and neuroses? The same character trait that hinders functioning might actually be a character asset in lesser amounts (e.g. the fastidiousness of an obsessive-compulsive personality might make for a really good accountant if the aforementioned fastidiousness could be harnessed), so what's being done to the individuality of a psyche--its uniqueness--when certain traits are medicated into oblivion? Would those traits flourish in a different environment; a differnt society? Would a compulsive liar, for example, flailing in his job as a bank teller, thrive as a short story writer? In other words, am I really depressive and in need of medication, or am I just living the wrong life? That is, am I sick or just an eccentric personality for which this society has no place? To medicate or to run off into the woods to engage in some lifelong, makeshift tribal ritual, that is the question.Wow, this is a fascinating discussion. We have learned that our experiences "re-wire" our brain. Well what if the type of society that we live in now has re-wired our brains and made half of us ill that wouldn't have been ill otherwise?? I am thinking in the context of the "Third Wave" of technology (the information age). So now we have to use medications to correct the imbalances brought on by an "ill" environment. Sounds a lot like Soma in Huxley's 1984.....
poster:Mitch
thread:69417
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010708/msgs/69597.html