Some notes on the DSM

 Psychology and psychiatry are founded on the theoretical information found in the DSM - Read Pathological by Sarah Fay.  She makes an extraordinarily good case that there is no hard science to even back up that these diseases exist, that we can P ROVE a single person is suffering say panic attacks or   bipolar disorder.  In  case of fact we have people (laymen) self-reporting symptoms and we DO know from hard science that our perceptions are often faulty.  Plus it is based on logic, argument, history, case studies but Zero actual proof ie: we have not devised a scientific experiment that can prove  any of it.  Now that wouldn't be so bad a thing if they told patients straight off the bat we THINK you are suffering this or that disease - I for one have been told that I DO definitely have bipolar disorder w/psychotic features by my many doctors.  Follow that up with the fact that they do not know how the medications actually work and that everyone reacts differently to different chemical concoctions and finally that it is more art or instinct or intuition that guides drs in deciding which meds should be given to which patient as there are many kinds for the different diseases and what you end up with is a patient who is given info as if it is written in stone when it is not .  Plus we are told we will not get better if we don't take them and that if we continue to not follow dr's advise they have come up with a means of blackballing you - they just diagnose you as noncompliant after which you can no longer receive help from those in that profession (that is if they even bother to look up your info which many do not - so one can still likely find a shrink or therapist to treat oneself but if they catch onto the fact that you are notorious for not taking your meds then they often will back away).  

I am NOT saying the entire profession and school of thought is necessarily wrong but that there is a distinct possibility that  a good bit of it IS wrong and why every  few years the DSM is upgraded to encompass new theories - that is what they are - theories and theories only - there is no science as in using the scientific method (systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses.) that  proves any of it.  Yet they  present it the way a doctor of medicine would - meaning they use the same amount of authority when handing out these diagnoses and medications as they do with heart disease which CAN be proven with tests with the result that too many are over diagnosed and over medicated.  

Being labeled mentally ill not only puts a negative stigma on the patient it also tends to become a self-fulfilling prophecy in that one is told the symptoms of the disease and side affects of the drugs and one often uses those as a measure for labeling their behavior ending up basically becoming just as the book theorizes not so much as a result of personal experience that led you there but due to the reverence we pay science in this country - it almost boils down to a religion because people tend to take scientific hypotheses as facts not theories - and indeed we have been mighty successful (but far from perfect) scientifically and the advancements made based on them successful as well - usually.  But the take away here should be that one should not identify as their diagnosis even if it seems to describe you now - people change - quite a lot over the years - our whole body replaced in about 7 years.  Bottom line is yes try the meds and listen to your psychiatrist and psychologist but with a huge grain of salt, be aware that you can make dramatic changes, you are the arbitor of your destiny not a diagnosis and you needn't take it as gospel or a part of your identity (which is hard to not do when we are trained to take drs advise as if it is handed down from above)

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Defining Mental Illness Terminology

 

Bipolar 2 is usually considered less of a problem than bipolar 1 and in the respect that less physical harm occurs to oneself and others due to a person having bipolar 2 that would be true.  However in my opinion it is the more difficult diagnosis to live with.  It involves mostly major depression with periods of more normal or happy moods and with some people some hypomania (hypomania is a feeling described as delusions of grandeur but in bipolar 2 it isn't so fancy.  While one's confidence goes waaaay up there are no psychotic features for people with bipolar 2 - also meaning that the hypomania is chemical in nature not due to circumstance and that it is a more happy more productive state of being.  With bipolar 1 sometimes hypomania includes delusions of grandeur sometimes just like with bipolar 2 one is more happy and productive).  The reason it is the more difficult to live with is that depression is hands down the worst state of being a person can experience in this lifetime.  Of course there are levels of depression but for many it runs so deep they see no reason to go on living and find nothing enjoyable, are in constant pain both mentally and physically and well there aren't enough words to describe just how awful depression is. Let me give an example that might help one understand just how bad:  I have a friend who had a very, very difficult pregnancy involving daily shots in the stomach and back, a feeling of itching everywhere but no ability to scratch it plus inability to eat anything besides peanut butter and frozen yogurt and had to force that down to get as many calories as the dr wanted plus she was bed-bound throughout.  She also had breast cancer that had metastasized to her lymph nodes and so had all sex organs removed, did the full on chemotherapy plus radiation, had only a 25% chance of making it but now is cancer free but living with many consequences brought on by chemo and radiation.  In her estimation it goes like this - cancer is the easiest to handle then the pregnancy but the worst out of the bunch and by quite a landslide (she could work pregnant and with cancer both but not with depression) is depression which is just 100% pain 100% of the time.  It truly is unlivable and disables people and many instead think these folks merely have character flaws - despite having previously been the polar opposite of lazy and not lacking in character and after the depression ends goes back to ambitious and productive - therefore those who think that way are merely ignorant of the facts.

Bipolar one is quite different in that there must have been at least one event of psychosis (full blown mania - the latin here is hypo - less hyper - more and thus when one says hypomania they mean just shy of mania) to qualify for that diagnosis and the moods tend to fluctuate more often and more wildly going from super extreme highs to super extreme lows.  The reason it is more dangerous is because more people who are diagnosed bipolar 1 cause themselves and others harm (not on purpose but when one is psychotic one loses all sense of who they are or what is actually going down and so mistakes in judgment occur that can have deadly or costly consequences - for example they are more likely to just up and leave town for parts unknown without telling anyone or more likely to waaaay overspend money or more likely to come on to strangers - just everything is amplified.  When you add psychotic features that doesn't mean all folks with bipolar 1 disorder have in fact at least once been psychotic but means that the person being described goes through psychotic episodes with much greater frequency than folks without that addendum to the diagnosis. 

Bipolar 1 disorder symptoms are the following:

extreme mood changes (not based on one's thoughts or circumstances but to brain chemicals gone haywire)

eating or sleeping too much or too little

lack of inhibitions

being overly sexualized

poor decision making skills

inability to do chores like house cleaning banking etc near as competently as a person without the diagnosis

tendency to be lacking in good hygene

at least one incidence of psychosis

tendency to overspend

unpredictable behavior

antidepressants can make things worse (unlike in bipolar 2) as it can bring on mania (psychosis) 

a tendancy to self medicate or give up on all their meds

It is a lifelong illness but one can learn how better to manage the disease with work, time, patience and perseverance.

PTSD - mostly means you become triggered when in similar situations of a trauma one has been unable to process and get past - for instance I have been misdiagnosed several times by doctors and treated unfairly even cruelly by doctors and now whenever I go to the dr I get anxiety so severe my BP goes up to tachychardic right there in the doctors office having been as high as 179 over 113 and forced to stay until I could calm myself enough to bring it down to where it is not dangerously high - therefore symptoms that occurerd in the first trauma/s still occurring even if the doctor has done nothing wrong - kinda like Pavlov's dogs one has been conditioned to react with panic in similar circumstances as well as paranoia and even avoidance (just plain skipping putting yourself in that position again - hard to live life avoiding such things that most consider normal experiences).  PTSD can also be marked by nightmares or night terrors (one wakes unable to move for several minutes but still experiencing great fear and a halfway dream-like state but remembered  well because no longer truly asleep).  Also one can have flashbacks that trick your mind into believing one is actually in the terrifying/traumatic circumstance yet again - sometimes many many times over.

DID - it used to be called MPD (multiple personality disorder) but it has been found one can disassociate without adding another personality but often forgetting large periods of time where they were frightened or stressed enough to remove oneself psychologically from the situation and in such a way it isn't really happening to that person and they generally don't remember what happened but to others the person has in no way actually manifested a different personality.  The problem with this diagnosis is that missing chunks of time one can forget whole people and certainly many encounters.  It is embarrassing to have to admit no I don't remember that (or say to someone I am sorry but I can't recall having met you) and some people take offense even when pointed out that memory problems are due to a disease and are not at all personal whatsoever.

People with bipolar 1 tend to experience just about every mental illness - complaints from panic attacks to social anxiety to paranoia to schizophrenic type hallucinations and delusions, major depression, bouts of mania and hypomania, etc.  Schizoaffective disorder is when one is suffering both schizophrenia and a mood disorder, commonly bipolar.

Panic attacks do feel like you are on the verge of death and can over time actually rob years from your life because of that much stress.  Marked by difficulty breathing, tunnel vision, increased BP, paranoia and chest pain.

Social anxiety is just like it sounds as is paranoia and rage - all this exaggerated in bipolar disorder.

Psychology primer over for the time being :)

Galactic - pertaining to the galaxy

 Hi,

I am writing to gather my thoughts with the goal of writing a book someday (goal of book to help others that are mentally ill).

I am diagnosed with bipolar 1 disorder w/psychotic features, DID and PTSD plus a host of physical ailments.  Some crosses to bear are significantly heavier than others.  Anyone who's parents have not explained to them that life is not fair (seemingly anyway to humans) please raise your hand as you are among a very small group.  In fact those parents mostly got that one right and have been about spreading the word from the beginning of time (it would seem)..  Why is it mostly right? and not flat out fact is that it is quite possible that buddhist beliefs such as karma actually DO balance the scale (Christianity does not for it will take in the folks who have done so much damage to me just upon them asking forgiveness whereas if I don't agree and become grateful and asking forgiveness from a god that would do the most horrible thing that can be done I am the one who will burn forever in hell for all time- oh ya as if that is even remotely fair, effective, logical , responsible, plausable NOT it has got to be nonsense or this god has such a huge ego complex that right and wrong don't mean anything to him only worship of him - nope don't buy it - I have heard and read Christian stuff from old and even present day that tell a different story - one that IS more sensical and fair so if you have a different understanding just consider this one a misread by me on what that religion is about plus I have a huge boulder on my shoulder having gone to Catholic private school so I know the theology fairly well and there ARE other takes like gnosticism which I tend to agree with them so I guess I DO still qualify as Christian - I like what Gandhi said "I am a Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Islamic Jew" or something very similar anyway).   I personally have an issue with karma as a belief (not that I don't believe it, I just don't like it) because to have the sheer amount of troubles and traumas I have experienced I had to have been a truly bad/evil person before this lifetime.  I have less trouble with the notion we chose our major life circumstances because we wanted to learn from them in order to help others.  But just because that makes it seem more honorable does not necessarily make it true - yet I think there is at least some bit of truth to both karma and choosing to come here to learn certain things. 

I think of the major religions as 5 blind men describing an elephant - consider the following:  one blind man is given a foot to feel, one a trunk to feel, one a tail to feel, one a back to feel and one a tusk.  When asked to describe what they have experienced with the elephant they argue one saying  it is round heavy wide and hard, one saying no it is curved and points upwards, another saying no it's skinny and hairy, one claiming it is supporting his body weight and smells quite ripe and one saying it is curvy, soft and moves.  What they are not aware of is all of them are correct as it is one elephant they are describing but the reason for the differences is merely these men have not the ability to perceive the whole.  I believe all the major religions small bits of truth of the whole/IT/ONE/UNIVERSE/GOD/DESS/however you conceive a higher power/creator.  I describe myself as a student and mystic of all the 5 major religions plus I believe Wicca a fantastic way to use ritual to heal others no matter how far away ( I will be discussing quantum physics among many other things) as well as finding and calling home lost pets among other things.  Ritual is merely prayer acted out.  My belief is the more feeling and effort goes into it the more effective it is at achieving your goal plus it is a very logical system, nature based, can be done anywhere with tools fashioned from anything.  Wiccans do not believe in prostelytizing so I will leave it there except to say they brook no issue with whom one believes is the creator such that there are Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist and Islam wiccans - they just tend to not speak of it.  Wicca is mostly about magic (any prayer is about magic as well however I mean more formally) which is the ability to alter reality to your bidding.  There is one hard rule but completely in accordance with all the other religions' dogma and that is as long as you cause no harm do what thee will (basically the golden rule plus an attitude of personal freedom).

I bring up spirituality in combination with mental illness because I think at least bipolar and schizophrenic patients actually do have a keener understanding/experience of the spiritual world - some of what are hallucinations or delusions have born out to be actually true but not very believable to many because we are discussing things outside normal human experience that many think just plain have no basis in fact.  But I have met many bipolar and schizophrenic people and they generally DO have a more advanced understanding of the spiritual world than your average Joe.  It is fact that the mentally ill are less violent than the general population - part of why is that they are more spiritually adept/aware (another part is anyone who has suffered so much generally have greater compassion towards others and their difficulties in life).  Also I do believe they tend to have higher IQ than your average Joe as well.  That last is too hard to prove due to how it would be tested but many of the people I have met who are mentally ill are downright genius (no I am no genius myself but I have a higher than average IQ).  It has been shown that people who are depressed or suicidal have a higher than average IQ.  How does that play in?  Because they actually see/perceive things with higher acuity than other folks and indeed the world can be blisteringly difficult to navigate but many live as if on remote control like robots not really perceiving much of what is actually going down.

To finish off this first post I would like to say welcome and I hope you enjoy reading about science, philosophy, spirituality and human behavior.