3 ms·

To be honest, I thought exactly like you for years. I still benefit from society choosing to label me with something, and that I do not choose to fight. For a w

To be honest, I thought exactly like you for years. I still benefit from society choosing to label me with something, and that I do not choose to fight. For a while my diagnoses provided so many explanations to my problems and I could live with new purpose. But a while later, I found it was not enough. I hadn't reached "true happiness" or at least whatever I can call my current state of being. I took a different path, shed all my labels, self-prescribed or otherwise, and am happier than I was before. I still think I am "different" and have quirks, etc. So in practice, not a whole lot different than before. I just don't use the labels to describe these differences that others might use instead. I think this only emphasizes that one approach does not necessarily apply when generalized to all people. In my case it only served as one step towards a greater solution, and hopefully even more effective solutions I can build on top of that later. The same goes for heightened awareness for ADHD. More knowledge can be a blessing (as in your case). At the same time, the population such awareness can serve is shaped like a very complex blob, the form of which nobody truly knows, but I believe some clinicians/promoters see the "blast radius" of promoting awareness as a perfectly round circle overlaid directly onto the population. My experience also made me realize what one can term "ADHD" may change with overarching cultural shifts or personal growth. I think ADHD should be seen closer to a symptom of a constellation of any number of potentially unrelated causes than a "disorder" to be focused on alone. Unfortunately the established terminology seems to have won out there. The way we see health conditions and the words we choose to describe them can have profound effects on our understanding of ourselves.

wnolens 2y ago
I was going to reply to the same post with similar. If just having a label to apply alleviates the negative emotion, isn't it a placebo? I think a far far greater number of people experience the exact same problems of focus and distress, and learn to cope effectively in their own deeply personal way. I identify strongly with all the symptoms stated. A label feels useless, or worse - constraining, as it becomes your identity. I still have to drag my ass out of bed, do enough good work everyday next to colleagues who figuratively lap me every day, make a to-do list to remember to buy soap, go without soap for a week, .. etc lol. I call it being me.
- LordDragonfang 2y ago
  > If just having a label to apply alleviates the negative emotion, isn't it a placebo? You could use the exact same line of reasoning to ask "if just talking about an issue with a professional alleviates an issue, isn't that a placebo?" And the answer is obviously, "No, talk therapy is an extremely well-known mental health intervention with an extremely high effect size on average" Anxiety and depression are disorders in the way you think about things. If you provide someone with a different and effective way of thinking about things, your are directly treating the disorder. The "maladaptive pattern" flowchart[1] might be a meme, but it's also a very real concept in psychology. From a more personal point of view: while a label can defining be used in a confining way where it serves as an excuse to not "have to" do a thing (and I certainly know people like that), I find it's very useful to have something concrete to point at and say "this method that other people claim works great won't work for me because my brain doesn't work like that, I need to find a way to alter the method to make myself successful". [1] https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/maladaptive-pattern https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/maladaptive-pattern
  - wnolens 2y ago
    Yea placebo is probably the wrong word here. And I agree with you. Often just recognizing something removes it's power. I'm glad the commenter experienced the change they did. Just makes me wonder in this case, the root of it seems like self acceptance - a major theme in (at least my own) therapy. Perhaps a label is a powerful shortcut.
- _carbyau_ 2y ago
  I'm not the author of the post you critique. I suspect if you just have a "label" it doesn't do much. But the label now makes information a keyword search away. Hence their commentary: instead I can learn from and lean on hundreds of thousands of other people who have to cope with the same thing. Which would lead to learning strategies to deal with the day to day rather than struggling to find your own way. Knowledge is power. But power still has to be used to mean anything. Once you've learned the strategies that work for you. Then I guess the label loses it's power.
NIL8 2y ago
Very well said.

wnolens 2y ago

I was going to reply to the same post with similar. If just having a label to apply alleviates the negative emotion, isn't it a placebo? I think a far far greater number of people experience the exact same problems of focus and distress, and learn to cope effectively in their own deeply personal way. I identify strongly with all the symptoms stated. A label feels useless, or worse - constraining, as it becomes your identity. I still have to drag my ass out of bed, do enough good work everyday next to colleagues who figuratively lap me every day, make a to-do list to remember to buy soap, go without soap for a week, .. etc lol. I call it being me.

LordDragonfang 2y ago
> If just having a label to apply alleviates the negative emotion, isn't it a placebo? You could use the exact same line of reasoning to ask "if just talking about an issue with a professional alleviates an issue, isn't that a placebo?" And the answer is obviously, "No, talk therapy is an extremely well-known mental health intervention with an extremely high effect size on average" Anxiety and depression are disorders in the way you think about things. If you provide someone with a different and effective way of thinking about things, your are directly treating the disorder. The "maladaptive pattern" flowchart[1] might be a meme, but it's also a very real concept in psychology. From a more personal point of view: while a label can defining be used in a confining way where it serves as an excuse to not "have to" do a thing (and I certainly know people like that), I find it's very useful to have something concrete to point at and say "this method that other people claim works great won't work for me because my brain doesn't work like that, I need to find a way to alter the method to make myself successful". [1] https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/maladaptive-pattern https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/maladaptive-pattern
- wnolens 2y ago
  Yea placebo is probably the wrong word here. And I agree with you. Often just recognizing something removes it's power. I'm glad the commenter experienced the change they did. Just makes me wonder in this case, the root of it seems like self acceptance - a major theme in (at least my own) therapy. Perhaps a label is a powerful shortcut.
_carbyau_ 2y ago
I'm not the author of the post you critique. I suspect if you just have a "label" it doesn't do much. But the label now makes information a keyword search away. Hence their commentary: instead I can learn from and lean on hundreds of thousands of other people who have to cope with the same thing. Which would lead to learning strategies to deal with the day to day rather than struggling to find your own way. Knowledge is power. But power still has to be used to mean anything. Once you've learned the strategies that work for you. Then I guess the label loses it's power.

NIL8 2y ago

Very well said.