Why I Never Call Anyone "Mentally Ill"
Clear Spring Bubbling Up
Going for Water, by Robert Frost
- Going for Water | Academy of American Poets
The Academy of American Poets is the largest membership-based nonprofit organization fostering an appreciation for contemporary poetry and supporting American poets. For over three generations, the Academy has connected millions of people to great po
They are Entitled to Reasonable Accommodation
It's a pejorative and dehumanizing term.
We don't call blind people "visually ill".
We don't call deaf people "auditorily ill."
We don't call people in wheelchairs "kinesthetically ill."
We don't call those who are unable to speak, "vocally ill".
We call all the above people "disabled." By calling them disabled, we recognize and acknowledge that society owes them reasonable accommodation.
But, for people with psych disabilities, we want to focus on the term "illness".
Why is that? Why do we do that?
It's scapegoating them, but why do we want to scapegoat them? We used to scapegoat many other groups ---- people with darker skin, women, gay people. We don't do that anymore.
Yet, we still scapegoat those with psych disabilities.
Why the Poem by Robert Frost?
It's purely personal.
Sometimes people with psych Dx's have a clearer insight than "normal" folks, I think.
Never Believe the Statements of a Person with a Psychiatic Diagnosis?
Most people with psych diagnoses are survivors of child abuse. When I said that to a psychiatrist friend, he replied, "They are ALL survivors of child abuse."
"How can you believe what this person says? She (he) has a diagnosis of _________ (bipolar disorder, schizoaffective disorder et al? --- fill in the blank). Therefore, she does not know what she is saying, and might just be imagining it. Her parents didn't really abuse her when she was a kid. Ha, ha, she's just crazy."
Beware of Easy Answers
A person with a psychiatric disability (diagnosis) might or might not be accurately reporting something. Just because it's unthinkable, that doesn't mean it didn't happen. Maybe it did happen, but nobody believes it because it's unbelievable.
Not only that, but maybe it's a great cover for abusers.
Maybe that's one of the reasons the "neurobiological brain disorder" theory is so popular. Nobody is responsible for anything. It's just random.
Allegedly.
Asylum Online - a Magazine for Democratic Psychiatry
- Asylum Magazine for Democratic Psychiatry, Psychology & Community Development - An International
Follow @asylumNW on Twitter.
Mindfreedom
- MindFreedom International: Mental Health Rights and Alternative Mental Health MFI Portal
A great website to get a true, grass-roots view of the damage done by psychiatry, and pharmaceutically-oriented groups who want to refer to us as "mentally ill".
Psych Rights
- Law Project for Psychiatric Rights
Do you know of someone who has been forced by court order to take dangerous drugs? If so, you may be aware of the corruption that frequently underpins these actions. Here are some resources that may be helpful. Please donate if possible.
More Links about Healing and Psychiatric Disabilities
- Dr. David Healy blog. Data based medicine to report adverse effects of prescription drugs.
Dr. Healy is a Scottish psychiatrist who has written about the dangers of psychotropic medication. - Psychiatric Drug Facts with Dr. Peter Breggin - HOME
Peter R. Breggin MD, psychiatrist, author and medical expert provides up to date information on psychiatric drugs, adverse drug effects, and recent criminal, malpractice, and product liability cases.
