The book I just startd reading asks a question that I have asked many times. How often do we label “differences” as “disabilities”? Why is it so easy to diagnose anyone and everyone with something from the DSM? My head knows that the difference lies in ability to function at home, work, school and community. My heart says that there is something wrong with not just acknowledging that we are all different. I see my personality and characteristics in all of my children. Sometimes it is funny and other times it is disturbing. I think that a large distinction in Tommy is that he takes personality traits which he has either inherited, learned or both and cranks them up to full volume. Instead of being a little ‘OCD’ he is hyper-focused and perseverant on things being the way he wants them. He has no volume control on his personality. It’s not just Tommy though. I see Noah twitching and I begining evaluating him for Tourette’s. Sarah refuses to change her place at the dinner table and I suspect OCD. Sitting in an Olive Garden restaurant one night I diagnosed another patron as Schizophrenic(“Please stop staring at that woman.”). I sound like a really awful person but in my own defense my harshest criticism is reserved for myself. Every action and thought is subject to self-analysis. “Why did you spend so much time making sure your underclothes matched your outfit?” “Other women don’t adjust their nipples so they are focused at the exact angle(I blame 4 years of breastfeeding for their elasticity – sorry Alice).” “You were too impatient. Perhaps an anti-anxiety med is needed.” It’s not just me doing this. Whenever I am at a support group meeting of any type (I used to attend several as one of my job duties) I hear people listing all the diagnosis of themselves and their family members. “Well I’m bi-polar and my husband has ADHD and we both think his father is bi-polar and. . .” If someone is a wealthy, successful genius they are “eccentric” but if they are poor or illiterate they are “delusional” or “ODD”. If I had never ended up in the mental health field would I see disorders everywhere?
Ah! Perfect example of using a trackback! If you have “trackback” setup on your blog you can enter this trackback id “http://haloscan.com/tb/cathymccaughan/108430096138798516” along with your permalink id and a short paragraph and the two entries become linked.
Alice, trying tuning your nipples. It helps with the Haloscan reception kinda like an old tv.
Cathy, you’ve got great nipples!
Everyone else, think paypal. I’ve got links to pictures!
And I always thought your nipples were just naturally symmetrical!
Dean you crack me up!
eh, well, I like the blogspot version of comments. for some reason, on my home computer, sometimes I can’t get haloscan comments to pop open. it’s annoying when I have to keep going to their homepage. anything to help my laziness, I will use.
Haloscan has been having problems for the last few days. Usually I have no problem with theirs. I don’t like having to ‘register’ to make comments and I don’t like losing sight of the whole blog.
Humans are and will always be a “labeling” and “categorizing” species. Putting things, including other people, into categories helps us wrap our brains around this huge world we live in. If we didn’t do this, our brains would overload.
i love people watching and playing the game of who are they and what the heck are they talking about. its so fun m,aking up stories about people.
you guys on this blog are an endless source of fun also!!!
cathy – keep providing amusement for us – you’re doing great
I try to avoid labeling conditions. Once you have labeled a condition (like labeling Doug a pervert), it sticks with you for life. People are way to eager to put a name on things and often times it is more hindering than helpful to name something. Once you give it a name, you have limited yourself to the established boundaries of that condition. I have witnessed too many dramatic results from people who have this or that where these results “can’t” happen because they have a certain condition.
But also, with knowledge cones the ability to identify trends, so you will notice tendencies in people for certain conditions. I see people’s gaits and posture everywhere I go.
See my response in my blog.