It's like I've been saying all along: stop portraying mental illness as 'hip' and 'cool', and less people will have it. From the shiftless and lazy who want an excuse, to the perennially insecure who want to find vindication through any means, we're a society that wants to shift blame to the uncontrollable. If you have a mental illness, well then, whatever's wrong with you isn't your fault. And if it's not your fault, why, you shouldn't be obligated to DO anything about it or take responsibility, let chemicals do it! And let everyone else pay for it!
Having worked around insurance fraud investigators for most of my youth, I can attest to the statistics which show that as much as 30% of all worker's compensation insurance claims are fraudulent. How much more the claims of manic depression? OCD? The mythical 'split personality'? It's the brass ring of sympathy, because you can claim to have some horrible disorder that's not your fault, and you get off scot-free doing whatever you want to do.
This isn't to say that there aren't legitimately crazy people out there. And that's how we need to look at them. Crazy. Sick. Broken. In need of help and pity. See mental illness, the REAL stuff, for the horrible tragedy it is. We need to, as a society, work to halt the romanticizing and trivializing of the disease, and work on a cure, not just a band-aid for the symptoms.
"Suck it up" is often a more apt panacea than Ritalin or Prozac, and should be used far more often, in my opinion.
Wow. That's...um...so sweet of you. I've always wanted to be told I'm "crazy," "sick," and "broken" all on one day. You always say the sweetest things :)
Wait, I'm "shiftless" and "lazy" too. How cool is that?
Hey, if you've got a legitimate chemical imbalance that can be restored to normal only through chemicals, fine. That's no different than a one-legged guy using a prosthetic to get around.
But to try and pretend that a disease or disability is "cool" or to use it as a license to be one of the shiftless and lazy types - that's contemptible. I've had people try and claim "Well, I'm more creative because I'm manic-depressive," - it's shit like that perpetuates false claims and the easy way out for a good deal of folks who've been labeled (as opposed to diagnosed) with the Trendy Mental Disorder of the Month.
The question remains...how do you tell? Is there like a blood test or something?
"Whoops, your mental illness test came up negative. This means you're shiftless and lazy, as opposed to sick. Sorry!"
Unfortunately, mental illnesses are complex and often include both biological and psychological components.
And there are always going to be people trading on their perceived illnesses. D'you think that doesn't happen with physical illness as well? The fact that there are some annoying people with an illness, doesn't make the whole category invalid.
Y'ever read any of Shirley's fiction? The Eclipse Trilogy is classic proto-cyberpunk. Amazing insane visuals, an awareness of fetish culture that has only recently slipped into mainstream, Lou Reed-esque rockers fighting tanks with wailing guitars, and hot evil Chrisitan girls.
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no subject
Date: 2003-08-26 12:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-08-26 12:33 pm (UTC)Having worked around insurance fraud investigators for most of my youth, I can attest to the statistics which show that as much as 30% of all worker's compensation insurance claims are fraudulent. How much more the claims of manic depression? OCD? The mythical 'split personality'? It's the brass ring of sympathy, because you can claim to have some horrible disorder that's not your fault, and you get off scot-free doing whatever you want to do.
This isn't to say that there aren't legitimately crazy people out there. And that's how we need to look at them. Crazy. Sick. Broken. In need of help and pity. See mental illness, the REAL stuff, for the horrible tragedy it is. We need to, as a society, work to halt the romanticizing and trivializing of the disease, and work on a cure, not just a band-aid for the symptoms.
"Suck it up" is often a more apt panacea than Ritalin or Prozac, and should be used far more often, in my opinion.
~M.
no subject
Date: 2003-08-26 01:12 pm (UTC)Wait, I'm "shiftless" and "lazy" too. How cool is that?
no subject
Date: 2003-08-26 01:17 pm (UTC)But to try and pretend that a disease or disability is "cool" or to use it as a license to be one of the shiftless and lazy types - that's contemptible. I've had people try and claim "Well, I'm more creative because I'm manic-depressive," - it's shit like that perpetuates false claims and the easy way out for a good deal of folks who've been labeled (as opposed to diagnosed) with the Trendy Mental Disorder of the Month.
no subject
Date: 2003-08-26 01:28 pm (UTC)"Whoops, your mental illness test came up negative. This means you're shiftless and lazy, as opposed to sick. Sorry!"
Unfortunately, mental illnesses are complex and often include both biological and psychological components.
And there are always going to be people trading on their perceived illnesses. D'you think that doesn't happen with physical illness as well? The fact that there are some annoying people with an illness, doesn't make the whole category invalid.
no subject
Date: 2003-08-26 05:04 pm (UTC)