You are a brave woman and this is a good thing! It's about time that the "normal" world realizes that there are many ways a brain can function. Thank you for this post!
Thank you so much for saying that Jeannine! I am hoping I can do some more good in the world. I’m not just a storyteller. Sometimes I’m a lot of fun, but other times I have serious stuff to say.
And I shall continue to be brave - otherwise the monsters win, and we can’t have that!
I've got piecemeal diagnoses: ADHD, GAD (generalized anxiety disorder, or as my doctor at the time put it, "EVERYTHING makes you nervous!"), and depression. One therapist thought I might be bipolar, but both my psychiatrist and primary care doctor at the time disagreed. At any rate, my brain veers off the beaten path as well.
I'm no longer seeing a head doctor (not covered by my insurance, and I can't afford to throw any more money at the problem - the US health care system kind of sucks, especially where mental health is concerned, but that's a whole 'nother topic), but back when I was seeing one she told me that the ADHD brain was probably a "normal" variant, back when being hyper alert and hyperactive were actually advantageous to one's survival - it's just become less useful in the modern world. I strongly suspect that there's no such thing as normal; we think in different ways, but some of us are more willing to admit to the differences than others.
At any rate, I've come to like myself the way I am (it only took me more than half a century to do so! 😂). I think your attitude is great, and it's kind of cool to be able to carry your family with you. Then again, I talk to the (ghosts? spirits? souls?) of dead people I knew when they were alive, so I guess my friends and family never really leave me... I think learning to live with the way my head functions is better than trying to change myself into someone else.
I am looking forward to the rest of the thousands of words you've written on this subject. 😎
Thank you for sharing that. It's ironic because part of what I wrote earlier today was about how I get annoyed when they slap the word 'disorder' on to what is basically just a description of how someone's mind works. So that's a kind of gaslighting in the first place. Then 'therapy' is about making a person 'well adjusted' to the unhealthy social environment. Like the old adage 'it's not healthy to be well adjusted to a sick society'.
I can completely agree about ADHD being a beneficial survival advantage. Like a kind of hyper-vigilance. I have this too, although not ADHD, hypervigilance I mean - which for me has manifested in a heightened ability to read people, especially their intentions (i.e. for good or ill/friend or foe) - that's clearly a beneficial survival adaptation.
So, yes - it is in fact the 'modern world' which is unnatural. In the same way that if you put an animal in a cage it will develop a pathology, the same is true for humans. Unfortunately, the science/practice of psychology has never been able to fully accept this fact - it always seems to blame the individual, not the environment. This isn't surprising since it originated in the Victorian era, which was a dystopia if ever there was one, full of racism, misogyny, patriarchy and so on. So the intellectuals couldn't exactly say 'er, yes, our society is sick'. Freud is the epitome of this attitude.
As you can see I've got lots to say!
I like it that you talk to people and spirits and so on. I also think that people who live rurally and care for nature have this tendency - it's not anthropomorphism, so much as animism. Ali in particular is always talking to our plants! Seems to work, too!
In medieval times we'd be accused of witchery. Today, the equivalent is some kind of 'disorder'.
Wow. That puts a new perspective on it. Why try to hammer a square peg onto a round hole? So these so-called "disorders" may be healthier than so-called "sanity. " I do indeed talk to plants and animals, too. They are especially good listeners. 😉
Comme une visite chez le médecin, vous méritez tous un badge pour votre courage, Evie et les autres. Même le malicieux, qui n'a besoin d'aucun encouragement... 😛
❤️😇
You are a brave woman and this is a good thing! It's about time that the "normal" world realizes that there are many ways a brain can function. Thank you for this post!
Thank you so much for saying that Jeannine! I am hoping I can do some more good in the world. I’m not just a storyteller. Sometimes I’m a lot of fun, but other times I have serious stuff to say.
And I shall continue to be brave - otherwise the monsters win, and we can’t have that!
I've got piecemeal diagnoses: ADHD, GAD (generalized anxiety disorder, or as my doctor at the time put it, "EVERYTHING makes you nervous!"), and depression. One therapist thought I might be bipolar, but both my psychiatrist and primary care doctor at the time disagreed. At any rate, my brain veers off the beaten path as well.
I'm no longer seeing a head doctor (not covered by my insurance, and I can't afford to throw any more money at the problem - the US health care system kind of sucks, especially where mental health is concerned, but that's a whole 'nother topic), but back when I was seeing one she told me that the ADHD brain was probably a "normal" variant, back when being hyper alert and hyperactive were actually advantageous to one's survival - it's just become less useful in the modern world. I strongly suspect that there's no such thing as normal; we think in different ways, but some of us are more willing to admit to the differences than others.
At any rate, I've come to like myself the way I am (it only took me more than half a century to do so! 😂). I think your attitude is great, and it's kind of cool to be able to carry your family with you. Then again, I talk to the (ghosts? spirits? souls?) of dead people I knew when they were alive, so I guess my friends and family never really leave me... I think learning to live with the way my head functions is better than trying to change myself into someone else.
I am looking forward to the rest of the thousands of words you've written on this subject. 😎
Thank you for sharing that. It's ironic because part of what I wrote earlier today was about how I get annoyed when they slap the word 'disorder' on to what is basically just a description of how someone's mind works. So that's a kind of gaslighting in the first place. Then 'therapy' is about making a person 'well adjusted' to the unhealthy social environment. Like the old adage 'it's not healthy to be well adjusted to a sick society'.
I can completely agree about ADHD being a beneficial survival advantage. Like a kind of hyper-vigilance. I have this too, although not ADHD, hypervigilance I mean - which for me has manifested in a heightened ability to read people, especially their intentions (i.e. for good or ill/friend or foe) - that's clearly a beneficial survival adaptation.
So, yes - it is in fact the 'modern world' which is unnatural. In the same way that if you put an animal in a cage it will develop a pathology, the same is true for humans. Unfortunately, the science/practice of psychology has never been able to fully accept this fact - it always seems to blame the individual, not the environment. This isn't surprising since it originated in the Victorian era, which was a dystopia if ever there was one, full of racism, misogyny, patriarchy and so on. So the intellectuals couldn't exactly say 'er, yes, our society is sick'. Freud is the epitome of this attitude.
As you can see I've got lots to say!
I like it that you talk to people and spirits and so on. I also think that people who live rurally and care for nature have this tendency - it's not anthropomorphism, so much as animism. Ali in particular is always talking to our plants! Seems to work, too!
In medieval times we'd be accused of witchery. Today, the equivalent is some kind of 'disorder'.
But what do they know!
Wow. That puts a new perspective on it. Why try to hammer a square peg onto a round hole? So these so-called "disorders" may be healthier than so-called "sanity. " I do indeed talk to plants and animals, too. They are especially good listeners. 😉
Comme une visite chez le médecin, vous méritez tous un badge pour votre courage, Evie et les autres. Même le malicieux, qui n'a besoin d'aucun encouragement... 😛
Ayez du courage, tous mes amis dans une. 🤗