WordPress Post - On Psychosis
Since the general poll consensus was "yes" (except for a few of you 42 dissenters... I'm looking at you mr_x_indeed and nera-fiore), I'll post anything I put on my WP here, under cuts. Everything will be verbatim from the WP post, so you won't miss a thing =P
(Oh snap! I'm making an entry here and attempting this blogging thing. And I can never think of good titles for posts. Forgive me for that.)
"Oh, look how crazy that is"
"The prolife movement is just psychotic"
"Why listen to a bunch of psychos like them?"
Why must we refer to things that we fear, or don't like, or find against the norm, or find really annoying as psychotic? Or crazy? Why is that word not considered offensive? Why do people use this as an insult or as any form of adjective? Especially around me? Especially if you know me? Especially if you don't?
Newsflash: I'm psychotic. I've been diagnosed as (according to the DSM-IV) 296.34: Major Depressive Disorder, Recurrent, Severe, With Psychotic Features. I hear people telling me to do things that I would never imagine doing on my own. My hand writes on its own words that I've never seen before. I spent about three months locked away in my room, absolutely convinced that the living room furniture was plotting against me.
This is severe depression on top of several other mental illnesses that I've been living with for ten years.
Couldn't tell I'm psychotic? Thank my medication.
I'm on a cocktail that I admittedly don't take as frequently as I should, simply because the monetary costs are so high. These medications are meant to keep my symptoms at bay, my depression at a decent level (one where I can function with day-to-day tasks), and the coffee table from eating me. They're meant to keep me on the right side of the road, out of the hospitals, and everyone else around me alive.
And even though you may not realize it, calling someone or something "psychotic" is ableist and ignorant. When you use psychotic as an insult, you are insulting me and every other person with psychosis. When describing, for the example, the pro-life movement or the tea partiers as psychotic, you are equating me and every other person with psychosis to those principles.
True, some people with psychosis may be pro-life or tea partiers. But there are many of us that aren't. I, for one, don't want to be compared to those movements. I find the pro-life movement to be outdated and oppressive. Tea partiers are just that: tea partiers. Those are two groups that I do not agree with and do not want to be associated with.
And frankly, the only time I will ever accept being called a psycho is in reference to one of my favorite shows. Because, yes, in that way, I am a Psych-O.
This was originally posted at my WordPress. Feel free to comment here or there.
(Oh snap! I'm making an entry here and attempting this blogging thing. And I can never think of good titles for posts. Forgive me for that.)
"Oh, look how crazy that is"
"The prolife movement is just psychotic"
"Why listen to a bunch of psychos like them?"
Why must we refer to things that we fear, or don't like, or find against the norm, or find really annoying as psychotic? Or crazy? Why is that word not considered offensive? Why do people use this as an insult or as any form of adjective? Especially around me? Especially if you know me? Especially if you don't?
Newsflash: I'm psychotic. I've been diagnosed as (according to the DSM-IV) 296.34: Major Depressive Disorder, Recurrent, Severe, With Psychotic Features. I hear people telling me to do things that I would never imagine doing on my own. My hand writes on its own words that I've never seen before. I spent about three months locked away in my room, absolutely convinced that the living room furniture was plotting against me.
This is severe depression on top of several other mental illnesses that I've been living with for ten years.
Couldn't tell I'm psychotic? Thank my medication.
I'm on a cocktail that I admittedly don't take as frequently as I should, simply because the monetary costs are so high. These medications are meant to keep my symptoms at bay, my depression at a decent level (one where I can function with day-to-day tasks), and the coffee table from eating me. They're meant to keep me on the right side of the road, out of the hospitals, and everyone else around me alive.
And even though you may not realize it, calling someone or something "psychotic" is ableist and ignorant. When you use psychotic as an insult, you are insulting me and every other person with psychosis. When describing, for the example, the pro-life movement or the tea partiers as psychotic, you are equating me and every other person with psychosis to those principles.
True, some people with psychosis may be pro-life or tea partiers. But there are many of us that aren't. I, for one, don't want to be compared to those movements. I find the pro-life movement to be outdated and oppressive. Tea partiers are just that: tea partiers. Those are two groups that I do not agree with and do not want to be associated with.
And frankly, the only time I will ever accept being called a psycho is in reference to one of my favorite shows. Because, yes, in that way, I am a Psych-O.
This was originally posted at my WordPress. Feel free to comment here or there.