so I'm not bipolar afterall...

[susangail]

Grrr.....!!!! Second fucking misdiagnosis. Bleh!

*takes a deep breath*

I'm okay. I got a new doctor (fifth one) and a new therapist (third one), on a new med (fourth regiment), and have an "official" diagnosis (third one): Generalized Anxiety Disorder. My therapist and I sat at Denny's sipping coffee for two hours while skimming through the diagnostic bible (a big ass book of all the mental disorders). We both diagnosed me and I'm confident this is the right one (gee, where have I heard that before...)

So yeah. I've joined a youth group for mental teens called OutSpoken Young Minds (OSYM, pronounced "awesome"). It's amazing. I've even done some public speaking in my home town for mental health awareness.


Just had to vent for a bit. Good to be back here at HAF. Miss me? (jk...)

[Whitney]

Hey, welcome back.  I'm glad you have your disorder sorted out now and found a good group for support.

[Hat]

Welcome back and Hello!

You're the girl who wrote 'Dad, I'm an atheist' and 'Dad, I really am an atheist. I promise', yeah? Read your stories and my heart just went out to you. I'm happy to hear that you've found a support group and finally got the disorder pinned. Here's hoping things keep getting better as time goes on

[curiosityandthecat]

Well it's about time! We missed ya.

[rlrose328]

Welcome back Susan... loved reading your update blog article.  Glad to know you feel confident this is the right course.  I struggle with bi-polar as well, but mine is pretty mild... though I do have my moments.

Glad to have you backQ!  

[susangail]

Thanks everyone [/quote]

Yup that's me. And thank you

[susangail]

I occasionally thumb through the DSM-IV just for fun, looking at all the different conditions you could apply to anybody with enough imagination.

I know right?

[SallyMutant]

Love the acronm OSYM. And the group sounds truly helpful. All my best!

[susangail]

Love the acronm OSYM. And the group sounds truly helpful. All my best!

[PipeBox]

Woah, how'd I miss this?
Glad to hear you've got a concrete (as concrete as they ever are) diagnosis!  And I'm happy to meet the person who wrote an article well-known throughout the atheist net.  

[ProRealism]

What makes you think you have a mental disorder to start with?

I think the only mental disorder is.... stupidity.


Because anyone with anything else would see that's it's a disadvantage to behave in a "crazy" manner and thus, adjust their behavior.

Someone who doesn't learn from mistakes or inconveniences is nothing short of stupid.
After a while of sticking a fork in an outlet you should learn not to do it.

[SektionTen]

There's no actual specific conditin known as "stupidity", prorealism. Just abnormalities in brain function. Usually we call those "stupidity", but they vary widely in chemical analysis and some of them can be changed with medication.

I figure you can force someone to take medication, and then once their stabilized/felt the medications effect, they can determine whether they want to stay on it or not. Someone needs both sides of the experience before they can choose one.  

[ProRealism]

That might be true for some people.

I have been on medication before when I was a teenager because my father disliked my introverted  behavior and of any of the medications I've been on they really did nothing more than dull my senses and ability to react. I don't think it's everyone's job to please everyone else, but I do think people have a certain amount of responsibility for themselves and if you can take note that "behavior x leads to negative consequences" Then it should be consciously applied and if you are still trying to avoid negative consequences then, I don't think you have a mental disorder.

Other people MAY just be assuming she's "bipolar" or "General Anxiety Disorder" because they do not see things from her point of view and are trying to control her, the way my father tried to control me by making me and other people think I had a mental disorder simply because I enjoyed staying home and reading books instead of going out on dates and doing other social activities because I disliked most of the people I knew.


Just because a person has a variety of emotions that can range from extreme anger or sadness to extreme happiness doesn't mean they aren't triggered by something logical to that person. If someone I hate wears a baseball cap and condescendingly calls me "sweet cheeks" then I might come to associate those things with negative feelings even if he's not around. Other people might not understand that and think I'm being "bipolar" when I get ticked off and say "don't call me sweet cheeks" and even if I explain to them "it reminds me of that guy who always harasses me" They still wont listen to my request and think I'm being "bipolar" since they don't have the same feelings about the name.

I think calling things a "disorder" is not very appropriate sometimes.
If she is around people who harass her often I don't think it's unwarranted to have anxiety about it.
A "disorder" implies that the feelings are not appropriate (which is subjective)
or disorganized having no "lock and key system" of "factor y causes anxiety".
I think it's highly likely that there are specific triggers that cause her anxiety even if she does not notice what they are on a conscious level. Otherwise her emotions truly are being "random" which needs to be taken under her personal control for the sake of being functional towards anything so I would state that as a lack of self discipline or also very possibly an unstable environment to react to.

[VanReal]

So prorealism it's your opinion that people with mental illnesses/disorders are just not appropriately adjusting their behavior to avoid negative outcomes?

[ProRealism]

So prorealism it's your opinion that people with mental illnesses/disorders are just not appropriately adjusting their behavior to avoid negative outcomes?

In general yes or to gain more positive outcomes, which ever way you want to look at it.

I used to work with mentally handicapped children, some with down syndrome, some with cerebral palsy and even they could adjust their behavior (within their capabilities) to be civil and well behaved through something as simple as calmly working with them and trying to explain things in a manner they would understand. What it took was consistency of "action x leads to result y" and even if it took some time eventually they could learn, even with disabilities like that.

So I believe a person without more "obvious" problems should be able to adjust their behavior also. Even animals can adjust their behavior so that it suits their own favor so I think it's not only possible but likely that other people can do the same.

Of course there are always exceptions but from my experience I believe people have the power to change their actions if they think they need to.