Posted by elanor roosevelt on December 27, 2015, at 16:08:11
In reply to Re: labels » elanor roosevelt, posted by SLS on December 25, 2015, at 16:40:26
> > for psychiatry to become an accepted science it was necessary to categorize and label the hell out of everything.
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> Labels have gotten a bad rap.
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> We all use labels and categorizations to organize thought and communicate ideas. It is at the heart of humanity. You might not like certain words and models for disease, so your continuing to push for change might yield results that you find more appealing. However, identifying a problem is only half the battle. Do you have any suggestions for how we may rid ourselves of labels completely, or is it simply a matter of the words being chosen?
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> Would it be okay with you to be labelled mentally ill if that term were completely understood and did not receive stigmatization in society? If not, why not?
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> At one time, "cancer" was a word to be left unsaid. One was stigmatized for having cancer. People were afraid of it and did not want to be around it. Would you wish to rid ourselves of that label? If not, why not?
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> Sometimes, people try to avoid self-stigmatization by rejecting labels that have been used to describe their situation in life. Although I acknowledge having a mental illness now, this was not always true. I am still reluctant to use the term in public. I am not ready to launch a crusade against the stigma attached to the label "mental illness" so that it may continue to be used as the accurate description of bipolar disorder that it is. People have grown up with a certain concept of what mental illness is. It often includes notions of weakness, strangeness, and danger. But I know better. So does science.
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> - ScottThe stigmatization is the problem. Being "mentally ill" is simply the reality. I'm mentally ill and, although I haven't had a drink in a quarter century, I'm an alcoholic. These are terms that don't have positive associations. This sort of terms define one as an "other."
poster:elanor roosevelt
thread:1084915
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20151225/msgs/1085010.html