Fausty discusses sectioning and the complete breakdown of Habeas Corpus if one is diagnosed with a “personality disorder”. Looking at what is deemed to be a personality disorder, one could have some cause for concern…
Schizoid
- emotionally ‘cold’
- don’t like contact with other people, prefer your own company
- have a rich fantasy world
Oh, bugger.
Schizotypal
- eccentric behaviour
- odd ideas
- difficulties with thinking
- lack of emotion, or inappropriate emotional reactions
- can see or hear strange things
- related to schizophrenia, the mental illness
Well, now, it all depends on what is meant by such things as “odd ideas” and “eccentric behaviour” as I’ve been accused of both – along with my emotionally cold exterior and preference for my own company, being a somewhat extreme introvert, retreating into my rich fantasy world. I am also prone to an apparent lack of emotion.
That’s me done for.
“Oh, bugger.”
I second that!
.-= My last blog .."…I think we did a good job." =-.
As long ago as 1960, the Libertarian psychiatrist/philosopher Thomas Szasz wrote “The Myth of Mental Illness”, attacking the use of psychiatric labelling and compulsory treatment as a tool of social control against eccentrics and nonconformists. He followed this up with “Law, Liberty and Psychiatry” and a whole series of excellent books exposing the totalitarian mindset of much of the medical profession.
Unfortunately, this principled view has long gone out of the window, and the best thing for individualists to do – even troubled ones – is to avoid psychiatrists like the plague.
I say this as a trained counsellor who qualified in humanist therapies such as Transactional Analysis and Gestalt. Our own profession is currently being threatened with the dead hand of government regulation, and while I am in general against self-regulation, I think that in this instance it is the best option.
Although sectioning is not new, the room for abuse is deeply worrying. Before I met her, Mrs L was threatened with it, so I do have some concerns to say the least. Given the vague definitions of personality disorders, any one of us could be so judged. I merely picked out some that could apply to me.
I have been told recently to be quiet when out drinking because people don’t want to talk about anything. I’m quite badly depressed at the moment. The anti-depressants are only making me less suicidal but they still aren’t answering any of my questions. Depression is an entirely natural state and to attempt to treat it in this way reeks of social control. I can argue with people much better than they can themselves. So they dismiss me and say I’m nuts. They really, really don’t like it when I mention that political dissidents in the Soviet Union underwent the same fate.
I am deeply, deeply worried for myself, my family, my local environment and my country.
People are telling me to be myself but if I am myself I am dismissed, laughed at and generally marginalised. So which is it?
Honestly, Paul, you’d be more yourself if you threw away those anti-depressants and took responsibility for your own moods.
Almost everyone gets depressed at times. I certainly do. After all, there’s plenty to be depressed about in the ghastly times we are living though, isn’t there? But I long ago realised that all the pills do is to damp down the symptoms, in the same way that alcohol and tobacco do, without tackling the real issue, which is that at the end of the day we all have to take responsibility for ourselves, how we think, feel, and behave. Sorry for the sermon, but I do really feel strongly about this. Putting ourselves into the hands of the medical profession becuse of our moods isn’t the right answer.
As for other people, tell them to sod off. I’ve just returned from a deeply disappointing holiday where one “friend” became very annoyed when I didn’t agree with all his pontificating, and when I said “good morning, it’s a lovely day today” replied “I’m sorry, but I DO prefer a quiet breakfast!”. Really – one can do without such folk.
in N.Ireland the proceedure is slightly different, in that “personality disorders” are not considered to be mental illnesses and so people with such disorders cannot be detained under the mental health act. they may be grade 1 mentalists, and we’ve all seen a few, but they aren’t “mad”.
Re: Paul – “The anti-depressants are only making me less suicidal but they still aren’t answering any of my questions. Depression is an entirely natural state and to attempt to treat it in this way reeks of social control.”
you have grasped the wrong end of the stick. anti-depressants are a medicine to do a job. sounds like they’re working, too, if you’re less suicidal. so let’s look at your comment, and substitute a different treatment.
“the penicillen has made my dick less sore, but it still isn’t answering any questions. the clap is an entirely natural state, and to attemt to treat it in this way reeks of social injustice.”
if you want to continue to improve, keep taking the treatment. depression (ie “clinical depression”, not just feeling naturally miserable for an identifiable cause, take note please anticant) is NOT a natural state at all, and results from chemical problems in the brain. (eg lack of serotonin) therefore a chemical treatment will fix it, in the same way that a panel-beater’s hammer can fix a dent. it’s a just tool, not a reason to go all philosophical. stick with it, Paul, you will get better.
i have every sympathy, since i’ve been there and it’s rough enough. but just concentrate on taking the medicine. you WILL get better – in about six months. and on NO ACCOUNT WHATSOEVER throw the medicine away!
Richard, I agree with that as long as the medicine is regarded by everyone concerned as just a tool or a temporary crutch. All too often, people think “If I take the pills, they will do all the work.” They won’t.
Seratoin imbalance can cause a number of problems – clinical depression being one, migraines being another. The migraine treatment I use is based on the same family of chemicals as prozac and works in much the same way.
Any prescription for such medicines will be for a limited period. Mrs L took them for a short while. She is fine now and has been for over a decade.
yep, serotonin is the boyo. shift-work for a decade, not much sunlight and disturbed sleep patterns. you slide into a world where you calculate breaking strains of rope and the possibility of rigging up a bow nailed to the side of the shed and a release cord…. but you are too depressed to bother. seroxat brought me back from a dead world. i’m glad mrs L. made the journey too. i wouldn’t say the medicine is a tool or temporary crutch, more like a patch on a badly-leaking rubber dinghy. now you can commence inflation with measurable results. 11 years afloat in sunlight, back from the abyss, like Elstead.