Being normal

I got to thinking about psychologists and the effort that is underway to update the Diagnostics Standards Manual, called DSM IV-TR in its latest iteration. I have no doubt that some of the conditions some people have and described, er. diagnosed, in the DSM are real and individuals need help if not intervention.

But I've slowly come to the conclusion those bunch of mostly white old guys are expressing more of their morality than a professional view of peoplef, and I say this for several reasons.

First, they call anything they think isn't normal abnormal. Ok, that's a word, but it's also a word that stigmatizes the individual that what life gave them and who they are isn't right and they're not like the rest of people, they're just not normal. They don't have a condition, but they have either a disorder or a diseaase, a mental health problem society wants them to at least treat if not cure them.

I find that repulsive.

People who are perfectly fine getting along and getting through life now have a label they're not one society thinks is normal, all because this crazy bunch of old white guys says so. Ok, that's a bad description of them, for today anyway, and there are a lot of good to excellent therapists and psychologists, but when you look back at the history of psychology up through the 1960's, it was established and dominated by a bunch of old white guys.

And they made it clear that their "opinion" was true and real about people, but in reality was just their opinion based on a set of observations they made with "patients" who they deemed mentally sick. And yes again, some were sick as some conditions are serious and require therapy, but some conditions in the DSM are simply made up ideas about being normal, meaning their morality of society.

I make no bones about the fact I have genetic (lifelong) Dysthymia. I was diagnosed in 1991 on Depression day (October) when I visited a clinic to see why have always had a mild depression since childhood with several episodes of severe depression. It turned out I was the only person that afternoon and had a near two hour conversation with a psychologist. I had a few followups with other psychologists, but mostly decided it wasn't worth the time.

Why?

Because psychologist have to first label you, meaning diagnose you using their interpretation of the DSM, and then they cure you, or they try. But the trick is this form of Dysthymia isn't curable, not with drugs, not with therapy, and not with a combination of both. These can help you deal with it and get through life better, but it doesn't do the one thing that is most important to you.

They don't inform and educate you about it. I've had some say I'm self-diagnosed, and that is partly true. After the session that day I read the DSM for a variety of conditions. I found and have a small collection of books dedicated to Dysthymia (since it's only given a passing glance in 99% of psychology books). And I listened to interviews with psychologists about depression and its various forms.

In short, a psychologist pointed me in the right direction seeing who and what I was and I followed the information trail. And I've followed the trail to understand it, to learn to live with it and to get through life. I'm a normal human being, as normal as everyone else. And that's my beef with the DSM.

Its used to punish people. And it's used by the medical profession to control people, to exercise power that you're abnormal and they're not, and they have the knowledge and tools to cure you if you go along with them, meaning don't fight the diagnosis and treatment, and certainly don't disagree with their view of you.

And this is where I part company with them and the DSM. I'm not sick. I'm just me. We all have our own quirks, maladies and demons, and we all have our childhoods that we bring into and carry through our life. But does any of these make us "sick" simply because a buch of old white guys wants to think and say we are?

I learned the ways to improve myself, both physically and mentally, through exercise, photography and my focus on what I want to express in the world to help others. That doesn't mean despression is gone, it's always in the background of my mind and only a step away from my consciousness to take over, and perhaps fall into an abyss, to find the total darkness of my existence for awhile, until I light a candle and climb back into life.

And I know all the drugs in the world won't help, and could actually hurt. For me, in a way, my Dysthymia keeps me sane and focused, and in a way a little angry. I may see the world a little negatively and have difficulty comprehending others' inability to see the whole of life and the world (people forget that ignoring things doesn't change things), but it's the world I see and live, which is fine with me.

And I don't have a problem telling a bunch of old white guys to go fuck themselves.

And all this isn't just about Dysthymia. The DSM has other conditions they've long labelled abnormal, some removed, like cross-dressing (now a fetish, which I wonder if some of them are and didn't like the label) and homosexuality (only because some of their own came out of the closet), and some deserving of removal, like transgenderism which is just the normal range of sex-gender expression and behavior (some of them are now, so there's hope for others). And I'm sure you have their peeves with some of the conditions.

Anyway, I roll on through life knowing the DSM is a good door stop, paper weight for flattening print (no, I don't really have a copy of it, God forbid, it's a waste of money when it's on the Internet), and other neat things for something big, boxy and heavy. But most of all I'd like to see the word abnormal abolished from the lexicon of psychology. You'd think a bunch of old white guys could find a better way to make people feel good about themselves?