5 ms·

The anti-diagnosis attitude is surprising on a site like this. Everyone could do better with a better understanding of their own mind, whether it meets the crit

The anti-diagnosis attitude is surprising on a site like this. Everyone could do better with a better understanding of their own mind, whether it meets the criteria of a disorder or not. And with any kind of better understanding we need more and better categorizations.

ModernMech 2y ago
A lot of people who post here meet the diagnostic criteria, and maybe they aren't ready to confront something new and scary about themselves. That's fine, it's something one needs to do when ready. Easier to say "That doesn't apply to me" if you're not ready to do the work; confronting an ASD diagnosis late in life is not an easy task.
- normie3000 2y ago
  What is "the work"?
  - joquarky 2y ago
    Carl Jung would suggest "shadow work" to integrate the parts of yourself that you have ignored / suppressed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_(psychology) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_(psychology)
  - ModernMech 2y ago
    Reframing your entire life. It’s like a book where the main character who thought he was a doctor in the asylum finds out he was actually a patient the whole time. A mental health diagnosis forces you to go back and relive every moment with a different perspective. Many people go through a prolonged period of skill loss/regression. I lost the ability to code for over a year. Took a long time to get to a mental place where that was possible again.
    - normie3000 2y ago
      Wow, this is fascinating! What stopped you coding? My assumption is that the reframing would mostly be positive. I can see how it would help to reframe some bad experiences with more understanding for both yourself and the other parties.
      - ModernMech 2y ago
        My ability to code is predicated on my ability to feel safe mentally and physically. What finding out I'm autistic did was kick out my legs from under me. Every time I sat down to code I couldn't. Like, I felt it was in me, but I couldn't get it out. I used to code and commit to Github almost every day. My commit log is almost all green since 2018 when I started using Github, but if you look at the last year or so you can see where I just stopped and it goes dark. Thankfully within the last 4 weeks or so I'm back to my normal self, so it was temporary, but I don't know what I would have done if my job had depended on my ability to code.
michaelt 2y ago
> The anti-diagnosis attitude is surprising on a site like this. Did you know, up until the 1970s, homosexuality was considered a mental disorder [1] by the psychiatric profession? Can you understand why many homosexuals felt that they were just being themselves, and that them being themselves didn't warrant inclusion in a diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders? With that thought in your mind, can you see how a happy and successful person who wasn't struggling in any way might feel similarly? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_the_DSM https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_the_DSM
- Forgeties79 2y ago
  I honestly do not think that’s a fair comparison to someone with something like depression. LGBT people had been persecuted from so many angles for a long time, the tools used against them are incredibly varied. Just because mental health diagnoses were (and still are) used as a cudgel against them doesn’t mean the entire exercise of diagnosing should be called into question any more than somebody using a knife to stab somebody should call into question all of us keeping cutlery in our home.
- banannaise 2y ago
  The good news is that we eventually decided (mostly) that the solution to that "disorder" was not to try to fix the individual, but to fix the society around them. Many autistic advocates are, in fact, advocating for improving society such that autism is no longer a major barrier to success. Until we have that, autistic people often require medical care. It is perhaps important to also note the recent pushback against autism's equivalence of conversion therapy (ABA).

ModernMech 2y ago

A lot of people who post here meet the diagnostic criteria, and maybe they aren't ready to confront something new and scary about themselves. That's fine, it's something one needs to do when ready. Easier to say "That doesn't apply to me" if you're not ready to do the work; confronting an ASD diagnosis late in life is not an easy task.

normie3000 2y ago
What is "the work"?
- joquarky 2y ago
  Carl Jung would suggest "shadow work" to integrate the parts of yourself that you have ignored / suppressed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_(psychology) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_(psychology)
- ModernMech 2y ago
  Reframing your entire life. It’s like a book where the main character who thought he was a doctor in the asylum finds out he was actually a patient the whole time. A mental health diagnosis forces you to go back and relive every moment with a different perspective. Many people go through a prolonged period of skill loss/regression. I lost the ability to code for over a year. Took a long time to get to a mental place where that was possible again.
  - normie3000 2y ago
    Wow, this is fascinating! What stopped you coding? My assumption is that the reframing would mostly be positive. I can see how it would help to reframe some bad experiences with more understanding for both yourself and the other parties.
    - ModernMech 2y ago
      My ability to code is predicated on my ability to feel safe mentally and physically. What finding out I'm autistic did was kick out my legs from under me. Every time I sat down to code I couldn't. Like, I felt it was in me, but I couldn't get it out. I used to code and commit to Github almost every day. My commit log is almost all green since 2018 when I started using Github, but if you look at the last year or so you can see where I just stopped and it goes dark. Thankfully within the last 4 weeks or so I'm back to my normal self, so it was temporary, but I don't know what I would have done if my job had depended on my ability to code.

michaelt 2y ago

> The anti-diagnosis attitude is surprising on a site like this. Did you know, up until the 1970s, homosexuality was considered a mental disorder [1] by the psychiatric profession? Can you understand why many homosexuals felt that they were just being themselves, and that them being themselves didn't warrant inclusion in a diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders? With that thought in your mind, can you see how a happy and successful person who wasn't struggling in any way might feel similarly? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_the_DSM https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_the_DSM

Forgeties79 2y ago
I honestly do not think that’s a fair comparison to someone with something like depression. LGBT people had been persecuted from so many angles for a long time, the tools used against them are incredibly varied. Just because mental health diagnoses were (and still are) used as a cudgel against them doesn’t mean the entire exercise of diagnosing should be called into question any more than somebody using a knife to stab somebody should call into question all of us keeping cutlery in our home.
banannaise 2y ago
The good news is that we eventually decided (mostly) that the solution to that "disorder" was not to try to fix the individual, but to fix the society around them. Many autistic advocates are, in fact, advocating for improving society such that autism is no longer a major barrier to success. Until we have that, autistic people often require medical care. It is perhaps important to also note the recent pushback against autism's equivalence of conversion therapy (ABA).