Posted by Snoozy on May 28, 2003, at 0:55:36
In reply to Re: This American Life (NPR)-developmental disorders, posted by bookgurl99 on May 26, 2003, at 21:50:58
Hi -
Wow, that's really sad about that kid's mom. When I heard the show, I was wondering how they found this kid's story.
I've been thinking about what you said about people who just don't get it when it comes to mental illness. Can someone actually believe that if a social phobic had a choice, they would continue to be phobic? Or depressed, or anxious, or have panic attacks? That they "choose" to suffer?
I've got two theories going at the moment. I don't think you hear a lot of "get over it" directed at people with schizophrenia (I'm really hoping not anyway!) Most people will never experience the kind of symptoms that a schizophrenic has, but almost everyone has been sad, feeling down, a little anxious or shy maybe. And they associate their experience of these things with what depression, social phobia or panic attacks are like. They don't appreciate how different these things are from their experience.
An example I'm sure you can relate to: a migraine isn't "just" a headache. But sometimes people will think you just need to pop a couple of aspirin and "get over it".
I suppose the charitable way to look at it is that it's a subconscious response. People don't want to think that they could suffer these conditions, so it's easier to say "get over it" or "it's all in your head".
It's remarkable what a difference a medication that works can make. If there was an AD that worked as well as the triptans do on migraines, with no big side effects....uh-oh, I better not start thinking that - too depressing!
> > One of the subjects was a 7 year old boy who suffers from a genetic defect, leaving him with a faulty heart, deformed brain, and rapid cycling bipolar disorder.
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> I'm really glad that this kid Sam found help. What I'm not glad about, though, is that his mother -- who lives in my area -- is a total news hound who has had several articles done on her boy. His picture was on the front page of a local weekly paper here. I think it's unkind to publicly label your kid with a mental illness; he may not want it to be so known when he's out there applying for his first job in 9 years.
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> From what I've read here, I think that the mom likes to do media in order to assuage her own guilt for Sam's misbehavior She wants all the info to be out there so people that saw him as a terror when he was young will know that it was really not her fault. Part of me thinks that she feels that it really IS her fault.
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> > The segement after this was about a 37 year old retarded man who had been doing relatively well until a couple of years ago, when he suddenly withdrew from everyone (quit his job, stopped activities, didn't talk much). Still, when this sudden change happened, everyone was mystified as to why. "What made him do this? What was he thinking?" was the question brought up throughout the segment. "We've asked him dozens of times."
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> Actually, did you hear that Vincent was put on Prozac? It still didn't kick him out of the dumps, though I'd call that the result of SSRI apathy.
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> I think he was bored after doing the same things for 12 years. Who wouldn't?
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> It's true, though, that oftentimes our beliefs about our capacities to choose are exagerrated. Even a few days on Straterra, and I felt quite motivated. And, when I was hypothyroid, I had horrid ocd symptoms that were not cured by 'therapy' but by proper treatment and meds.
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> It makes me think that people who do _not_ experience any mental illness need to get off their high horses sometimes. For example, I have one friend who regularly puts down another guy with social phobia. The social phobia guy, normally a smart science lab type, is dopey and slow on Paxil. And he _still_ drinks when he tries to go out and meet dates. The other guy is constantly putting down his inability to 'face it.' I figure he's just on the wrong meds. Sometimes I wish the judgemental one would get a taste of mental illness just to see what it's like.
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> *sigh* I'm still crabby about that mom draggin' her kid all over the media. I gotta go to bed.
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poster:Snoozy
thread:227629
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20030517/msgs/229631.html