#psychiatric dx

[midwestgender]

sometimes i feel like when i criticize people on the internet who over generalize autism/adhd symptoms and lead to mass self-dxing among teenagers i look like such a massive hypocrite bc i am a self-dxed autistic and so are all my close friends. but idk i feel like actually the main culprit is the adults who post misinformation and act like very innocuous symptoms are 'red flags' for needing clinical evaluation. understanding myself as autistic is just how i navigate the world and tbh because of the sense of shame over not having a clinical dx i don't tell anyone im autistic besides other autistics that i know well.

#like idk i just know im autistic LOL #my sister was early diagnosed and there are sooo many stories among my family of adults who work w/ autistic children #saying that i have autistic traits + symptoms #and essentially i think my autism just got overshadowed because my sister had more significant behavioral issues/struggled academically as #a child #like i've pretty much considered myself autistic since i was eleven years old and that was in like 2012 LOL #also i've decided against a clinical dx because it would not be helpful to me and i am currently at a point where #i dont really need or want psychiatric or behavioral interventions #like ive been referred for it and i just think it would be an arduous and stressful process for me and for what... so i feel more validated #Lol #idk my thoughts on it arent concrete tbh

[gec2unow]

"im against self diagnosis" aka "i trust that the medical and psychiatric fields are free from misinformation and prejudice and providers will have the time and energy to always give the patient the attention and care they need to reach an accurate diagnosis. also insurance will cooperate and everybody can afford this. i trust this so wholy that i believe it should be the only way to access any community or help surrounding health issues."

i hope when i put it that way you realize how fucking stupid you sound !

#look i get it you saw a 13 year old self dx'd with 4 personality disorders on tiktok #theyre trying to make sense of whats going on w their bodies and minds. #theyre not trying to fucking hurt anyone my god. they saw something they related to and thought it would help #to identify with it in some capacity #self dx for me opened the door to professional dx #it got me researching and talking to ppl and eventually drs #just like. fuck off if you dont belive self diagnosis is a valuable tool. #as IF the medical and psychiatric fields arent fucking evil #personal

[mousey-toy]

ive said this before but like i think autism as a psychiatric diagnosis and as a facet of identity is like categorically unhelpful

#i dont just mean like diagnoses validated by the psychiatric establishment i mean like self dx too #neurodivergent is helpful to an extent sure but like most ppl are in some capacity neurodivergent like ppls brains are all weird and #different #like it is also a question of essentialism #bc ppl w similar neurotypes end up very differently given their social expectations their priorities their desires #i think most helpful is to do away w these categories as social institutions and build empathy lol

[thelunarforest]

Hi! This is going to be a short talk about self diagnosis (specifically about general mental health diagnoses), feel free to ask questions, add your opinions, etc.

So: to get a few things out of the way, 1: Not everyone can get professionally diagnosed, whether it be due to lack of resources or lack of viable doctors, or lack of people willing listen in the first place, plus loads of other reasons. I'm sure you all know this by now, and if not, well now you do. 2: If you believe that people should self diagnose, then you probably also believe that adequate research should be put in before self diagnosis, though of course, how you might define "adequate research" varies from person to person.

So, I personally think that self diagnosis is good and a useful tool when used properly. But I'm kind of caught up on what "used properly" means. As mentioned before, you need to do research. But who's to say what "enough" research or doing the "right kind" of research means?

And what's the difference between self diagnosing and seeing a problem that you deal with and working towards accommodating yourself and helping yourself? But also, if the label fits, why not use it to describe yourself?

I personally feel like diagnosis in general is...

1: A way of explaining what's going on with you to yourself (in which professional diagnoses can be useful if you want to know, or need medication, but why shouldn't you notice a problem and deal with it as you see fit, regardless of a (self or professional) diagnosis? Why should someone need a diagnosis of depression in order to get therapy or ask others for help? I understand needing a professional diagnosis for medication, but if you aren't looking to get medication, then why not just deal with the problem? I think people are scared of asking for help when they feel like others have it worse than them, and getting a diagnosis is a way for them to prove to themselves that they deserve help, at least partially. Of course, there are other reasons to pursue a diagnosis, and not everyone feels the same way as what I just rambled about here.)

2: A way of explaining what's going on with you to other people, it makes things faster, and (sometimes) makes people be more understanding. (Though it's also important to note that a lot of people will not be understanding if you are not professionally diagnosed, which I think is sad.)

3: To get needed accommodations from workplaces or schools, or other places. (this one you might need a professional diagnosis for.)

4: To find resources of how you should help yourself, or how others should help you. Though, as mentioned before, in some situations you could probably look for help with specific problems, though in other situations how you treat the problem depends entirely on the diagnosis, which also makes getting a diagnosis, whether it be professional or personal a bit scary, as if you/they get it wrong, then you might be treating it the wrong way. At that point though, just changing the course of treatment would probably work.

Diagnosis in general is a tricky thing, because a diagnosis is just a categorization of complex tendencies that occur in people. You might get it wrong. Professionals might get it wrong. As long as what you're doing works, that's what matters. (at least to me)

Anyway, just felt like ranting about this a bit, but yeah, I'd like to hear other people's thoughts. (of course though, please don't hate on me or others. Sharing a different opinion is NOT the same as hating on someone, sharing your opinion is fine.)

#self diagnosis #self dx #professional diagnosis #psychiatric diagnosis #diagnosis

[transmutationisms]

serious question but do you personally believe there is a way to approach psychiatry in a way that uplifts and upholds patient autonomy and wellness or is the entire trade essentially fucked haha. Btw this is an ask coming from a 3rd year med student—with a background of severe mental illness—who is considering a residency in psychiatry after receiving life-saving care in high school pertaining to said conditions. (I have peers who have been involuntarily hospitalized and treated horribly in psych wards, with approaches i patently disagree with, but was lucky not to experience. I don’t like modern american medicine’s approach to mental illness; “throw pills” at it to “make it go away” ie. a problem of overprescribing, inadequate and non-holistic approach to mental health, and i feel a lot of that can be attributed to the capitalistic framework. I also def agree with you that so much of what can be considered normal human responses to traumatic events/normal human suffering can be unnecessarily pathologized—a great example being the whole “chemical imbalances in the brain is the ONLY reason why im like this” argument that ive unfortunately fallen hard for when i was younger and am still currently dismantling within myself…and like dont even get me started on this field’s history of demonizing POC, women, LGBT, etc). Like i deeply love my psych rotations so far, and i utterly feel in my gut that this is the manner in which i would like to help people—a lot of whom are just like me—but im wondering if there is a way to reconcile these aspects in a way that one can feel morally okay participating within such an imperfect system, in ur opinion… ngghhhhhh i just want to be a good doctor to my patients…

(ps i love all ur writing and analysis on succession!! big fan mwah <333)

i don't mean to sound unduly pissy at you, specifically, but i do have to say: every single time i've talked about antipsych or broader criticism of medicine on this website, i immediately get a wave of responses like this, from doctors/nurses/psychs/students of the above, asking me to, like, reassure them that they're not doing something immoral or un-communist or whatever by having or pursuing these jobs. and it's honestly frustrating. why is it that these conversations get re-framed around this particular line of inquiry and medical ego-soothing? why is it that when i say "the medical encounter is not structured to protect patient autonomy or well-being," so many people hear something more along the lines of "doctors are mean and i wish they were nicer"? why is it that it's impossible to discuss the philosophical and structural violence of academic and clinical medicine without it becoming a referendum on the individual morality of doctors?

i'm choosing to read you in good faith because i think it's possible to re-re-frame this line of questioning to demonstrate to you the sorts of critiques and inquiries i find more interesting and more conducive to patient autonomy and liberation. so, let me pick apart a few lines of this ask.

"is the entire trade essentially fucked?"

if you're thinking of trying to 'reform' the project of medical psychology within existing infrastructures and institutions, then yeah, it's fucked. if you're still assuming that affective distress can only be 'treated' within this medical apparatus (despite, again, no psychiatric dx satisfying any pathologist's understanding of a 'disease' ie an aberration from 'normal' physiological functioning) then you're not challenging the things that actually make psychiatry violent. you're simply fantasising about making the violence nicer.

"I don’t like modern american medicine’s approach to mental illness; “throw pills” at it to “make it go away” ie. a problem of overprescribing, inadequate and non-holistic approach to mental health, and i feel a lot of that can be attributed to the capitalistic framework."

i hate when i talk about psychotropic drugs being marketed to patients using lies like the chemical imbalance myth, and then pushed on patients—including through outright force—by psychiatrists, and the discussion gets re-framed as one about 'overprescribing'. my problem is not with people taking drugs. i am, in fact, so pro-drugs that i think even the ones administered in a clinical setting sometimes have value. my issue is with, again, the provision of misleading or outright false information, the use of force and coercion to put patients on such drugs in order to force social conformity and employability, and the general model of medicine and medical psychology that assumes patients ought to be passive recipients of medical enlightenment rather than active participants in their own treatment who are given the agency to decide when and how to engage with any form of curative or meliorative intervention.

'holistic' medicine and psychiatry do not solve this problem! they are not a paradigm shift because they continue to locate expertise and epistemological authority with the credentialed physician, and to position patients as too sick, stupid, or helpless to do anything but receive and comply with the medical interventions. there are certainly psychotropic drugs that are demonstrably more harmful than others (antipsychotics, for example), and some that are demonstrably prescribed to patients who do not benefit from them and are even harmed by them. conversely, there are certainly forms of intervention besides pharmaceuticals that people may find helpful. but my general critique here is aimed less at haggling over specific methods of intervention, and more at the ideological and philosophical tenets of medicine that cause any interventions to be imposed by force or coercion on patients, then framed as being 'for their own good'. were suffering people given the information and autonomy to actually choose whether and how to engage in any kind of intervention, some might still choose drugs! my position here is not one of moralising drugs, but making the act of taking them one that is freely chosen and available as an option without relying on physician determination of a patient's interests over their own assessment of their needs and wants.

"so much of what can be considered normal human responses to traumatic events/normal human suffering can be unnecessarily pathologized"

true, but don't misunderstand me as saying that drugs or any other form of intervention should be forcibly withheld from those who do want them and are made fully aware of what risks and harms seeking them could entail. again, this would still be an authoritarian model; my critique is aimed at increasing patient autonomy, not at creating equally authoritarian and empowered doctors who just have slightly different treatment philosophies.

"dont even get me started on this field’s history of demonizing POC, women, LGBT, etc"

ok, framing this as "demonisation" tells me that you're not understanding that, again, this is a systemic and structural critique. it is certainly true that a great many doctors currently are, and have historically have been, outright racist, trans/misogynist, ableist, and so on. framing this as a problem of a well-intentioned discipline being corrupted by some assholes is getting it backwards. medicine attracts prejudiced people, not to mention strengthens and promotes these prejudices in its entire training and practice infrastructures, because of its underlying philosophical orientation toward enforcing 'normality' as defined by 18th-century statistics and 19th-century human sciences that explicitly place white, cis, able-bodied european men as the normal ideal that everyone else is inferior to or failing to live up to. doctors who really nicely tell you that you're too fat are still using bmi charts that come from the statistical anthropometry of adolphe quételet and the flawed actuarial calculations of metlife insurance. doctors who really nicely deny you access to transition surgery are still operating under a paradigm that gives the practitioner authority over expressions and embodiments of gender. the issue isn't 'demonisation', it's that medicine and psychiatry explicitly attempt to render judgments about who and what is 'normal' and therefore socially 'healthy', and enforce those standards on patients. this is not a promotion of patient well-being, but of social conformity.

"i deeply love my psych rotations so far, and i utterly feel in my gut that this is the manner in which i would like to help people"

let me ask you a few questions. you say that you like your psych rotations... but how do your patients feel about them? is their autonomy protected? are they in treatment by free choice, and free to leave any time they wish? are they treated as human beings with full self-determination? if you witnessed a situation in which a patient was coerced or forced into a certain treatment, or in which you were not sure whether they were consenting with full knowledge or freedom, would you feel empowered to intervene? or would doing so threaten your career by exposing you to anger and retaliation from your higher-ups? what higher-ups will you be exposed to as a resident, and then as a practicing physician? could you practice in a way that committed fully, 100%, to patient autonomy if you were working at someone else's practice, or in a hospital or clinic? could you, according to current medical guidelines, even if you had your own practice?

when you say "this is the manner in which i would like to help people", what do you mean by "this"? can you define your philosophy of treatment, and the relationship and power dynamic you want to have with any future patients? is it one in which you hold authority over them and see yourself as determining what's in their 'best interests', even over their own expressed wishes? have you connected with patient advocates, psych survivors (other than your friends), and radical psychiatrists and anti-psychiatrists who may espouse heterodox treatment philosophies that you could consider? do you think such philosophies are sufficient for protecting patient autonomy and well-being, or are they still models that position the physician's judgment and authority over that of the patient?

"im wondering if there is a way to reconcile these aspects in a way that one can feel morally okay participating within such an imperfect system"

and here is the crux of the problem with this entire ask. you are wondering how to sleep at night, if you are participating in a career you find morally distasteful. where, though, do your patients enter into that equation? do you worry about how they sleep at night, after having interacted with a system of social violence that may very well have traumatised them under the guise of providing help? why does your own guilty conscience worry you more than violations of your patients' bodies, minds, and basic self-determination?

i can't tell you whether your career path is morally acceptable to you. i don't think this type of guilt or self-flagellation is fruitful and i don't think it helps protect patients. i don't, frankly, have a handy roadmap sitting around for creating a new system of medicine and health care that rests on patient autonomy. affective distress is real, and is not something we should have to bear alone or with the risk of having violence inflicted upon us. what you need to ask yourself is: how does the medical model and establishment serve people experiencing such distress? how does it perpetuate violence against them? and how do you see yourself countering, or perpetuating, such violence as someone operating within this discipline? what would it mean to be a 'good' actor within a violent system, if you do indeed believe that such a thing is ontologically possible?

#sorry for LONG ASS POST #psychiatry

[gamchawizzy]

❗️Mutual Aid Needed🦐

Hello hello, I am Woz, I am a trans guy from the global south, and outside of my day job in corporate, I am an artist. I am the breadwinner of my family, and I also get my younger sibling through school.

For a little more than half a decade I have been suffering with bad mental health and suicidal thoughts, on top of trying to keep my family afloat with what I can earn.

I work two jobs to earn money, on top of tabling at conventions to be able to earn extra on the side. I am the one who pays all the house bills, some groceries, often having to send money to my sibling for school and sometimes tuition. Due to the constant pressure from overworking and the abusive social environment I have been exposed to for the longest time, I am now experiencing bodily pains, shortness of breath, headaches, worsening eyesight, and worsened depression as I clock in 10-15 hours almost daily (including weekends and holidays) trying to make ends meet.

I’m humbly asking for your help so I can get proper healthcare, which has been out of my reach for the longest time due to poverty. I was hoping to be able to afford help a few years ago, as soon as I got a job, but ever since the pandemic, the local price hikes just kept going, and going, until the matter was off the table entirely. The biggest reason why I am trying to get this moving now and as urgently as possible is so I can still receive treatment while I am still mentally and physically able to take charge of my own health. 

While I’m still more or less able to function well enough to work, I recently escaped an abusive situation, which was one of the biggest causes of my misery. The fallout from this event brought on a severe impact on my mental health and I was subject to a cult-like shunning by my old community. This has caused me to develop suicidal thoughts again, which eventually led to several self-delete attempts, the latest of which almost succeeded had I not been caught at literally the last second.

At the moment I am stable again and in the hands of trusted loved ones, but I still do not have access to professional help and I don’t know how long this stability will last and the next thing might cause me to spiral again.

We already did some research on getting local help and have a plan in motion, all we need now is the funds to carry it out. The bulk of it will be for the initial consultations and possibly medication, and we’re hoping to have enough to get the ball rolling for a couple months’ worth of treatment as I get myself back on track.

The initial process will be the most expensive as I am suspecting to have an undiagnosed condition that I would like to have checked, as well as possible medication. I do not have a disability ID yet (but I plan on getting one once I get a dx on paper), so we may have to pay full price for initial treatments.

Currently, my primary goal for this would be to achieve psychiatric help, diagnosis, medication, and therapy.

If I’m able to save up for a few months of maintenance and still have extra left over, my secondary goal would be to finally get my knees checked, as I have chronic pain and the occasional kneecap dislocation in them. This has been left unchecked for more than 15 years due to both poverty as well as being outright denied healthcare by the adults around me due to them downplaying the problem. I am nearing my 30s soon. While I’m still able to walk and engage in physical activities without the use of mobility aids, I fear that the complications from this condition if left untreated will only take a turn for the worse as I age.

Direct ways to support me:

Paypal:

Ko-Fi:

I have prints! You can pick up some of my art here:

We do not have a set price goal in mind as it will be a months-long process of beginning treatment and maintaining it, but rest assured all funds received will be set aside for the purpose of my healthcare and well-being only.

I still cannot escape many factors of my life that continue to hurt me, but I am hoping that continuous treatment, therapy, and support will help keep me going so I can keep my family fed without me having to worry about my own health.

Any donation, big or small, helps me so much! Even just a dollar/peso helps, shares and reblogs too! PH Moots, feel free to ask for my GCash in private!

Thank you all for reading! I’m always grateful 😭🙏❤

#mutual aid #mutual assistance #reblogs appreciated!! anything helps 🥺 #No deadline on this - we are hoping to start as soon as March/April but happy to keep receiving donos 😭 #so sorry about all this but yeah it is a big reason why i haven't been drawing outside of work nowadays. so many Bad things added up

[bioethicists]

what are your thoughts on ocpd? i generally think these behaviors are harmless or at least not distressing and wouldn't benefit people much to have classified as a personality disorder.

hmmm i could post more nuance abt this at a later time so giving this response might be kicking a hornet's nest + leaving- please please please keep in mind that i believe all ppl's suffering is valid + in need of healing + i am questioning the history, purpose + impact of personality disorder dx, NOT the lived experiences of ppl diagnosed with them

while i think all psychiatric diagnosis is suspect, i find personality disorders in particular to be laughable, even by dsm standards. they are a hodgepodge of "types of ppl we think are bad". the words "unusual" + "dramatic" are used to describe supposedly objective pathologies. if anything, these disorders serve as a massive red flag that psychiatry is far less wedded to science than its proponents want to believe it is. i think our attempts to 'destigmatize' this absolutely dogshit collection of disorders instead of questioning their use or existence has been a horrible error within the mad community.

many of the criteria are absolutely seeping with moral judgements + christian ideology. several are blatant repurposings of hysteria. they are frequently diagnosed in ppl who have no desire to 'heal' from them (not viewing the behaviors as a problem is often part of the dx). things like disregarding the rights of others or exploiting others for your own gain are side by side with things like the desire to not be around ppl or intensely believing in aliens. most of them can be directly linked to traumatic experiences in childhood + yet they persist in portraying them as disorders of individual, unchangeable pathology. if ppl expanded their view of trauma, i'm willing to bet that basically all cluster b + c + a decent chunk of cluster a ppl would qualify as having experienced significant trauma.

fwiw, i definitely meet the ocpd criteria but i find the word ocd to be a more useful tool for me. my father also meets this criteria + i would say it has been a deeply destructive pattern of behavior in his life for himself + his loved ones. i can't say this is the case for everyone meeting this criteria, tho.

i just don't think the concept of diagnosing anyone with having a "disordered personality" is healing. some things classified as pds are extremely distressing experiences which ppl deserve support for, but i would like to see those placed in conversation with trauma, politics, + community. classifying intense trauma responses as permanent disorders of the self leaves a horrible taste of blood in my mouth. how many of us already believe that we are inherently broken because of what happened to us?

like u said, other things classified as pd diagnoses can be pretty harmless differences. i often see ppl in my communities responding to the widespread belief that ppl diagnosed with pds are immoral or evil (which is shitty!) by trying to 'destigmatize' them, but i propose, after a careful evaluation of the history + current usage of the diagnosis, that the concept of personality disorders was + is intended to classify ppl who are seen as morally corrupt or 'unusual' as being diseased. the original purpose of this diagnostic category was to stigmatize people. is this really the concept we want to seek liberation through, or can we find new ways of understanding any suffering that may come from the experiences currently labeled as personality disorders?

#anti psychiatry

[jewishfalin]

I think people who are against self dx for psychiatric disorders aren't exactly aware how fucked up and bullshit psychology is

[librarycards]

can you explain what transMad means to you using simpler words and shorter sentences please? im not phd i don't understand all these citations. thankyou

i can try!

first, I recommend starting with the easy read version of toward transMad epistemologies: a working text. It's not an exact 1:1 and i have many gripes with the obfuscating/inaccuracy-making work of plain language. But it's a start! I'm also v open to feedback on it.

I'm also going to try my hand at simplifying + summarizing the excerpts I included in the other post, in the rough order that I list them there. below is my attempt. it will be imperfect but I hope it helps!

transMadness, redux:

transMadness isn't just, or most importantly, an identity per se. It's a way of thinking, knowing, and being in the world. I got the idea for transMadness, in part, from words like "neuroqueer" and "queercrip," portmanteaus that also gesture at the links between different forms of bodymind noncompliance. Both are interested in norm-transgression, and both don't hold with artificial boundaries between types (gender, sexual, disability, etc.) non-normativity.

What transMadness does with this knowledge is to embrace unruliness and borderlessness as important to how we know what we know. If psychiatry/the DSM establish authority by creating borders and categories for pathologizing us, transMadness embraces intellectual interdependence and ambiguity, as well as willful refusal of "sane" approaches to organizing the world.

transMadness is also an embrace of failure -- failure to comply, failure to "live up to" cis/sane standards, failure to work without friction -- as something generative, not negative. This is something we can bring into our research/relationships/pedagogy. We can embrace it as a feature of our community, and use it to navigate challenging situations where access needs conflict - for example, when bodily autonomy creates risk for multiple marginalized groups of people.

Another way that I look at transMadness is through xeno/neogender identity and community. For me, an orientation toward coinage/invention is a deeply transMad one, which takes psychiatric/medical authority over language and legitimacy and turns it on its head. Xenocommunities/self-dx oriented communities reclaim and transform hitherto violent language to suit their needs and possibly even serve collective liberation. The communities that form around identificatory self-determination are vital to keeping us alive and loved, and to transMad antipsych resistance. In the face of diagnostic practices that demand individual rehabilitation rather than social transformation, this is deeply necessary.

#let me know if this is clear or if i need to define anything further! #transmad #ask #anonymous #antipsychiatry #epistemology #xenogender #madness

[insertsyscoursehere]

just took a look at Sophie's blog after seeing a post of urs about her on my dash and... holy hell she has gotten so much worse like- she's now saying disorders are a social construct???????

Oh joy, gotta love transID stuff…

Listen, if someone suspects they may have traits of a disorder, it’s not that someone is transdisordered. They are probably showing symptoms of a disorder and should seek treatment or at least alert a trusted person in their life that something is up.

Do I think the way we treat the disabled is a social construct? Sure, that’s why we have mad pride and disability pride— because it wasn’t a choice for those who struggle.

Disorders are a social construct like asthma or cerebral palsy is a social construct— that is to say, not at all. A disorder is, by definition, something that hinders the ability to function, such as holding down a job or mobility or ability to discern between a delusion and reality. There are people who have managed their disorders, but that doesn’t mean they never struggle ever again.

Tbh, I feel like in the case of the claim she’s making, she fails to understand that a psychiatric disorder is the brain being a very smart but very stupid organ. That like any organ it is capable of failure, and that there’s no stopping it, only managing the fallout.

I didn’t have a hard life and get depressed simply through cultural osmosis or nurture. I don’t look within myself and identify as autistic. I was tested, misdiagnosed, retested, properly diagnosed, and they concluded that not only does my autism present as ADHD, but my cortisol levels are staggeringly high and my serotonin levels are lower than a contortionist limbo competition.

I feel like the only reason “transdisordered” became a thing—and mind you I’m making an educated guess here— is because we make fun of everyone who self-dx’s as if they’re all bad actors.

Self-dx is what kept me out of the hospital when I was too far from home and family to be in their insurance network. And it turns out I was right in my assertion— I have BPD and CPTSD.

There’s nothing wrong with the self dx pool, the water’s fine! But my disorders are not an aesthetic— they’re hard to live with and full of breakdowns and delusions that worry my family. To say it’s a social construct is to deny the very real pain that is caused internally and only focus on outward appearances.

Thank you for the ask, I hope your dash clears up soon. This garbage fire discourse sucks but there’s a strange beauty in it.

Most of all, have a great weekend. You deserve it!

#syscourse #transdisordered #leveret speaks

[neuroticboyfriend]

sometimes i think maybe MH self diagnosis isn't that deep. and i don't mean that as in it doesn't matter or isn't significant. i mean psychiatric diagnoses are heavily biased towards ableism and disorder labels are really just a collection of experiences. it's not like they're diseases with a defined pathology. the causes and origins of the experiences are different for everyone.

so. if you've learned you share a lot of experiences with people with a certain diagnosis, and the resources and support given to people with that label help you... go ahead and use whatever language you want to describe your experiences. cause that's really all it is at the end of the day. even for professionally diagnosed people, their dx might not fit them 100%. so. who's to say it has to for you, too.

you don't even have to self diagnose yourself with something definitive. you can use symptom labels. you can just be neurodivergent or mentally ill and not specify further. whatever helps. it's your life, your brain. as long as you're not hurting yourself or anyone else, you're fine. and if you realize the words you're using didn't fit as well as you thought.. oh well. try again. understanding yourself is trial and error. it's nbd.

what matters is that you're supported and doing better. that's all.

#softspoonie #disabled #disability #self diagnosis #self dx #antipsych #antipsychiatry #anti psych #anti psychiatry #madpunk #mentally ill #mental illness #chronic illness #chronically ill #neurodivergent #self diagnosed #self diagnosed autism #self diagnosed adhd

[borderline-culture-is]

bpd-dx-at-18 is having your primary psychiatrist imply that you’re faking and refuse to put the dx in your medical records because “18 is too early for a pd to manifest” (I’ve had clinically significant symptoms since I was 12) despite five other psychiatric care providers (including a in-patient facility team) confirming the dx

.

#borderline culture is #borderline personality disorder #bpd culture is #bpd #bpd culture #bpd safe #actually bpd #actually borderline

[five-thousand-loaves-of-bread]

most recent announcement:

account got accidentally deleted by tumblr twice, back now, but glitch kicked at least 500 people off follower list - if you was follow before but not follow now and you didn’t do, that tumblr that not me soft block! feel free follow back

☁️.

about the bread loaf🍞!!

https://br-ead-loaf.carrd.co/

= bread

they/them/their/theirs/themself or themselves

nonverbal (not nonspeaking). all the time not lose speech or "go nonverbal"

full time AAC user

have language communication & cognitive disabilities

autistic catatonia with severe late autism regression / deterioration (* this why may see old post that describe self w more ability or different word, like medium support needs minimally speaking semiverbal etc)

high support needs.

multiply disabled, full-ish time wheelchair user. also have physical & neurological & psychiatric disabilities

important PSA!!!

most of my reblogs are queued meaning i put them on list and tumblr posts them automatically. if i reblog a post of yours that’s weeks old this is why!! not stalking i promise

appreciate all asks and messages!! but also have very very hard time respond to texts and messages and asks and stuff. not personal against sender, not mad, just have really hard time. hope understand 💛 please please don't hesitate to send nice asks n comment on posts and stuff, i read all of them even if don't respond on time!!

i do not soft block people this blog. if was follow before but now not follow and you didn’t do, it because recent tumblr glitch (june 2023). please come back!!

get the fuck out if you “transage” “transx” “transid” “transabled” “transautistic” “trans severity” “transrace” etc. AND those who call self “cisautistic” “cisdisabled” etc. AND supporter. you are not welcomed here i hate you hope you explode to million pieces. (this not about transgender disabled people or transracial adoptee btw)

some of my relevant posts:

ABA conversations have nuance: one, two: questions for non survivors before they start talking about ABA (TL;DR ABA can absolutely be abusive, but i don't agree with either "all aba is abuse" nor "no ABA is abusive")

various things about support needs: one, two, three, four?, five, six, seven, eight,

stop. saying. "going nonverbal" i STG: one, one and a half,

AAC resources or my personal review of AAC: resource one, review one, review two

visibly autistic: one

autism late regression: one

autsitic catatonia: one

why i feel complicated abt terms/communities like neurodivergent, actually autistic, etc: ND one, ND two

research bias by late dx LSN autistic researchers who can mask: one, two

functional communication: one

race & autism: one

idk how to catagorize these but important: one, two, three

specific posts

i as a autistic person am allowed to identify however i want: functioning labels, severity labels, etc

in response to "autism support needs label is divisive"

in response to "every autistic can self advocate (right this second)"

nonverbal autistic people is not as simple as "verbal autistic people but just can't talk"

visible disability is not limited to having visible external aids, sometimes people look visibly disabled without anything extra

so many things are intervention, stop saying "autistic people don't need intervention"

self dx (after research) is valid but here's more nuance

i support autistics who want their own autism cured

a breakdown of the medical TV show House S3E4 in regards to nonverbal nonspeaking autistics (, presuming competence, the nuance of autism parents, and functional communication

why are autistics without intellectual disability so quick to distance themselves from those who do?

there desperately needs to be more respite care and caregiver support

functioning labels vs support needs not the same

diagnosis disparity exist & not everyone can get a diagnosis bc don't have resources but early diagnosis is not a privilege, some people are forcibly diagnosed young and old

autism support needs is comparing to other autistics not to a neurotypical person

post lists last updated march 5, 2023

some of these posts are older & opinion have matured since then so there may be parts where i would rewrite but in general opinion still stand.

if want more detail please see carrd ☁️

#loaf screm #🍞.txt

[jazzikayz]

Neurodivergent self dx is and always has been incredibly valid for a lot of people. I think we also need to talk about what "lived experience" actually means, though.

When parents are trying to figure out if they should get their kid tested for autism, and autistic white women in or above their late 20s with degrees and full time jobs, who are late professional or self dx, start spitting off answers about how they wish they'd gotten tested or diagnosed as a child, that's no longer lived experience. That's not your experience, that's something that looking back you wish you could've changed about your life.

I experienced psychiatric trauma as a result of my early dx autism, I was in therapy before I was in kindergarten. I was isolated in school to the point of depression, then hospitalized, then put in a special program where I was being illegally restrained daily, then sent to a therapeutic school. I have been being conditioned like a dog longer than I've been able to count to 20. That's lived experience.

Just because you use a word to describe yourself doesn't mean we have the same lived experience qualifications.

#autism #actually autistic #mad activism #neurodivergent #lived experience #psychiatry #ABA #therapy #self diagnosis #self diagnosed autism #prodx

[illnessfaker]

has anyone else noticed how people on social media with psychiatric dx'es that aren't as heavily tied to sanist violence (barring certain factors like race bc black and brown people are more likely to be viewed as "insane" + therefore a justifiable target for sanist and psychiatric violence even if they have a dx that is not associated with "insanity") like to use aspects of dx labels that are more heavily tied to sanist violence as like...window dressing for their own issues or is that just me.

e.g. how "delusional" has become an internet meme and people are using to like refer to talking about their fucking...special interests or hyperfixations lol + other aspects of psychosis becoming memefied + "multiple personality" jokes have been a thing since forever but i'm talking abt in the context of people using that to refer to their own experiences with mental illness that have little to nothing to do with the experience of having complex dissociative disorders. actually this isn't even a dx label or symptom thing because i'm not every rando who makes grippy socks psych ward uwu jokes has actually been in a psych ward lol. especially not against their will whether in a legal sense or an otherwise coercive sense.

this isn't me feeling defensive over the arbitrary lines psychiatry has drawn or thinking we should interrogate people to make sure they're "allowed" to make these jokes (like i've only ever experienced transient delusions + stuff on the cusp of delusions but not quite there yet + me meeting the criteria for osdd-1 atp is debatable but that's why i've dropped most labels other than "dissociative" in that respect) but more pointing out that the broader "neurodivergent" community doesn't rly care that much abt those who are at most risk for sanist violence and doesn't take their experiences seriously.

#op #ableism #sanism #site culture

[transmutationisms]

what do you think about adhd? such as the rise in drug marketing, medicalization, and globalization

i mean in broad strokes it's basically the same analysis as any other psychiatric diagnostic label lol. people experience an impairment where there's a mismatch between them and what they're socially / academically / professionally expected to be capable of. with adhd specifically the expectations here come largely from employers wanting obedient and efficient workers, and from parents and other authority figures wanting obedient and docile children. because adhd (unlike some dxs) has a very specifically targeted class of drug treatments, a lot of this also gets perpetrated by pharma interests (see: funding conflicts in academic papers, additude mag, &c) trying to encourage more use of their product, which in the current medico-legal arrangement also means pushing for more diagnoses. this is also why there's so much investment in like, studies purporting to find immutable 'brain differences' in adhd-ers and whatnot. talking about this on this site is always instantly rancid and regrettable though because people fear that the only alternative to bio-psychiatry is getting told to suck it up and be crushed in the capitalist machine, so i understand why there's so much investment from patient groups in these types of neuropsychiatric discourses. anyway i personally love to be slightly high on amphetamines and like i always say, it's morally ok to do drugs even if they're prescribed. i like a lot of jesse meadows's writing on adhd btw—they're essentially trying to find ways to talk about and accommodate what's been dx'd as their adhd, without either dismissing the real difficulties they and others experience, or falling back on essentialist psychiatric explanations.

#psychiatry