Psychiatry is in need of reform. But people need to stop targeting autism as the condition that gets over-diagnosed or misdiagnosed. All conditions are getting misdiagnosed and mistreated in certain cases. Focusing on just autism (and ADHD) is ignoring a huge part of the problem - which to your last point is that PSYCHIATRY needs reform - on all levels for all diagnoses and all the things you mention because there are so many issues.
It’s just “easy” to reduce it to autism and ADHD are being over-diagnosed because big pharma. It’s ignorant AF and peddling out the easy targeted rhetoric and misinformation only contributes to the issues that the whole health system has. It’s not a 2D picture, you got to look at every side to get any inkling of the full picture.
A lesson I learned recently is acceptance. Not everybody has the will or ability to see the full picture by themselves, and I certainly don’t believe I have the full picture as an outsider looking into to the system - with no medical training or formal education/experience working in mental health.
I believe that we have to all be compassionate and patient for the best outcome to emerge. Every moment can be a teaching moment for ourselves and others.
Of course, I recognize the harm in misinformation and the amount of effort it can take to challenge it. When we speak about topics we don’t know head from tail about, it does have the real potential to drown out the signal. I believe it has across our discussion forums and discourse as a whole.
It’s important to recognize that we live in a society though, and if more people calmly, succinctly (and with the best intentions) identified misinformation and gently corrected it - there would likely be a less chaos and confusion in our discourse. People have the potential to learn from our example and put the lessons we have learned into practice for themselves. This can scale up. Not everybody has to be 100% correct to be speaking to their truth or some truth. The commenter you are responding to is likely reacting to something and I believe it’s helpful to acknowledge their concern and direct it the best we can so they aren’t so confused.
I understand your frustration - I really, truly, do. Your feelings are valid. And to your other points, I am in agreement. Diagnosis is a complicated subject. There is a TON of nuance to explore in that topic. I’m a neurodiversity advocate and I am somebody who strongly believes in the benefits of diagnosis to those who willfully seek help and support.
I believe mental healthcare is a limited approach in the form that it is currently taking. It’s disconnected from society at large, it is disconnected from our communities, it has the potential to disconnect those treated from themselves. It is extremely costly to access in most cases - I don’t believe it’s healthy for society to put people in debt for wanting to heal and improve - to relieve their crisis. We need to approach it differently. We need to call upon those working in the field to acknowledge the collective trauma that very clearly exists in themselves, which most certainly affects the standard of care.
As I mentioned to another commenter who responded; please check out the Soteria House paradigm. They have done incredible work and I believe there are many lessons that we all can learn from that model of mental healthcare.
Appreciate this response and I’m 100% on the same page about what you said. Question for you - was my response to the other commenter argumentative? I was trying to agree with them and expand on the point so if it came off differently I’d actually like to know that!
I agree in terms of teaching moments and having productive discussions about all of this stuff. It can be hard to not let the emotions get in the way sometimes when you’re passionate (perhaps I did in my other comment? Definitely something I’m always working on!). I think that of all discussions, especially online it’s too easy to have arguments rather than discussions and part of that is also recognizing who is worth engaging with and who is really just not going to be receptive no matter how respectfully you communicate. That’s a hard part of these discussions online!
I absolutely agree about the disconnection - that’s all very true to my personal experience and definitely on a wider scale. I work in the disability industry (also studied mental health and the people I work with often have comorbidities in mental health as many with disabilities do).
It’s such a big conversation with so many moving parts; society, culture, financial, government, lived experience that ALL need to be involved in how we move forward if we want to see real change. Part of the struggle, I believe, is that there are a lot of people who may see change as an admittance of being wrong - which sometimes, yes it is. Sometimes it’s been just being wilfully ignorant, sometimes it’s been based on the available research, it’s a sliding scale of errors. That acknowledgement that professionals make errors (not just in individual cases, including research limitations and the wider systemic issues) seems to be a really big barrier I see.
I believe acceptance is important - and complicated. I think of this in terms of lived experience. Briefly, I am autistic and was misdiagnosed for a long time with mental health issues and on the “conveyor belt” of the system for over 20 years. I have definitely held a lot of anger around my experiences that has lessened (not gone, definitely not no anger!) but I think my situation is not unique. There are many people with similar experiences and I believe that it would be both healing for us (and help with the acceptance) and extremely beneficial for professionals in the system for us all to work together. Again, for acknowledgement and to truly be open to how do we change things so future generations are getting the support that they need and the industry of healthcare is adjusting and innovating.
Anyway, it is a huge conversation and I could go on lol. I have not heard of this Soteria Paradigm - I will look that up now, thanks for sharing!
Lastly, I’m not sure about you but I’m not American. I’m Australian. I think this discussion is very much global and nowhere (that I know of!) has mental health, or wider, healthcare “right”. There’s a lot of progress to be made everywhere.
Question for you - was my response to the other commenter argumentative? I was trying to agree with them and expand on the point so if it came off differently I’d actually like to know that!
I just checked. I don’t feel that you were argumentative, no. But even if you were perceivably, I think it’s reasonable and rational to feel big feelings about sensitive subjects like this - especially considering your lived experience. This is personal to you and it matters to you. You care about the truth and you want to clear things up. Even if you were angry writing that, I suggest not blaming yourself. Give yourself a pat on the back for all the progress you’ve made. I see it.
I feel that censoring our feelings is harmful - we have to respect them. I believe for true mental health, we have to elevate and honor our feelings. Numbing, suppressing, or blaming/shaming ourselves for feeling feelings is harming ourselves. Is anger your highest expression? Or is it causing you to hit a wall? I’ve been facing that wall a lot in my life, and I realize now that I was the one erecting the wall. I chose anger and frustration instead of all the things I actually wanted to feel, do, and express.
I think that of all discussions, especially online it’s too easy to have arguments rather than discussions and part of that is also recognizing who is worth engaging with and who is really just not going to be receptive no matter how respectfully you communicate. That’s a hard part of these discussions online!
Yes, I feel this difficulty. I have engaged with people who I believe have used AI to discredit my points and argue in bad faith. I have engaged with people who insult me in every way they can, while skirting rules on civility. It’s exhausting, but I knew what I was walking into each time. I chose to engage with them in debate and challenge their beliefs. My lesson was that you can’t change somebody who isn’t open to change, no matter how sound your argumentation is and how much good faith you have - especially in an impersonal space like the fediverse.
Even if you don’t want to engage directly with a commenter, you can feel free to chime in and respond to their comments when you see misinformation. By not pointing fingers, by not shaming them, by remaining neutral, by keeping it short and simple/condensed as much as possible - we can diffuse the confusion and minimize the effort spent. Passionate emotional exchanges carry charged energy and are hard to parse or engage with, from a bystander’s perspective. If we see a bot, or somebody acting in bad faith openly - in defiance to the rules, it’s likely best to move on if mods refuse to take action and maintain the space’s integrity.
It’s such a big conversation with so many moving parts; society, culture, financial, government, lived experience that ALL need to be involved in how we move forward if we want to see real change. Part of the struggle, I believe, is that there are a lot of people who may see change as an admittance of being wrong - which sometimes, yes it is. Sometimes it’s been just being wilfully ignorant, sometimes it’s been based on the available research, it’s a sliding scale of errors. That acknowledgement that professionals make errors (not just in individual cases, including research limitations and the wider systemic issues) seems to be a really big barrier I see.
💯
I have not heard of this Soteria Paradigm - I will look that up now, thanks for sharing!
It’s awesome stuff.
Lastly, I’m not sure about you but I’m not American. I’m Australian. I think this discussion is very much global and nowhere (that I know of!) has mental health, or wider, healthcare “right”. There’s a lot of progress to be made everywhere.
It definitely is global. There is a lot of progress to be made for sure. Take care and much love to you! Hope to see you around on the fediverse.
Psychiatry is in need of reform. But people need to stop targeting autism as the condition that gets over-diagnosed or misdiagnosed. All conditions are getting misdiagnosed and mistreated in certain cases. Focusing on just autism (and ADHD) is ignoring a huge part of the problem - which to your last point is that PSYCHIATRY needs reform - on all levels for all diagnoses and all the things you mention because there are so many issues.
It’s just “easy” to reduce it to autism and ADHD are being over-diagnosed because big pharma. It’s ignorant AF and peddling out the easy targeted rhetoric and misinformation only contributes to the issues that the whole health system has. It’s not a 2D picture, you got to look at every side to get any inkling of the full picture.
A lesson I learned recently is acceptance. Not everybody has the will or ability to see the full picture by themselves, and I certainly don’t believe I have the full picture as an outsider looking into to the system - with no medical training or formal education/experience working in mental health.
I believe that we have to all be compassionate and patient for the best outcome to emerge. Every moment can be a teaching moment for ourselves and others.
Of course, I recognize the harm in misinformation and the amount of effort it can take to challenge it. When we speak about topics we don’t know head from tail about, it does have the real potential to drown out the signal. I believe it has across our discussion forums and discourse as a whole.
It’s important to recognize that we live in a society though, and if more people calmly, succinctly (and with the best intentions) identified misinformation and gently corrected it - there would likely be a less chaos and confusion in our discourse. People have the potential to learn from our example and put the lessons we have learned into practice for themselves. This can scale up. Not everybody has to be 100% correct to be speaking to their truth or some truth. The commenter you are responding to is likely reacting to something and I believe it’s helpful to acknowledge their concern and direct it the best we can so they aren’t so confused.
I understand your frustration - I really, truly, do. Your feelings are valid. And to your other points, I am in agreement. Diagnosis is a complicated subject. There is a TON of nuance to explore in that topic. I’m a neurodiversity advocate and I am somebody who strongly believes in the benefits of diagnosis to those who willfully seek help and support.
I believe mental healthcare is a limited approach in the form that it is currently taking. It’s disconnected from society at large, it is disconnected from our communities, it has the potential to disconnect those treated from themselves. It is extremely costly to access in most cases - I don’t believe it’s healthy for society to put people in debt for wanting to heal and improve - to relieve their crisis. We need to approach it differently. We need to call upon those working in the field to acknowledge the collective trauma that very clearly exists in themselves, which most certainly affects the standard of care.
As I mentioned to another commenter who responded; please check out the Soteria House paradigm. They have done incredible work and I believe there are many lessons that we all can learn from that model of mental healthcare.
Thanks for engaging! I hope I was of service.
(sory this got really long 😅 )
Appreciate this response and I’m 100% on the same page about what you said. Question for you - was my response to the other commenter argumentative? I was trying to agree with them and expand on the point so if it came off differently I’d actually like to know that!
I agree in terms of teaching moments and having productive discussions about all of this stuff. It can be hard to not let the emotions get in the way sometimes when you’re passionate (perhaps I did in my other comment? Definitely something I’m always working on!). I think that of all discussions, especially online it’s too easy to have arguments rather than discussions and part of that is also recognizing who is worth engaging with and who is really just not going to be receptive no matter how respectfully you communicate. That’s a hard part of these discussions online!
I absolutely agree about the disconnection - that’s all very true to my personal experience and definitely on a wider scale. I work in the disability industry (also studied mental health and the people I work with often have comorbidities in mental health as many with disabilities do).
It’s such a big conversation with so many moving parts; society, culture, financial, government, lived experience that ALL need to be involved in how we move forward if we want to see real change. Part of the struggle, I believe, is that there are a lot of people who may see change as an admittance of being wrong - which sometimes, yes it is. Sometimes it’s been just being wilfully ignorant, sometimes it’s been based on the available research, it’s a sliding scale of errors. That acknowledgement that professionals make errors (not just in individual cases, including research limitations and the wider systemic issues) seems to be a really big barrier I see.
I believe acceptance is important - and complicated. I think of this in terms of lived experience. Briefly, I am autistic and was misdiagnosed for a long time with mental health issues and on the “conveyor belt” of the system for over 20 years. I have definitely held a lot of anger around my experiences that has lessened (not gone, definitely not no anger!) but I think my situation is not unique. There are many people with similar experiences and I believe that it would be both healing for us (and help with the acceptance) and extremely beneficial for professionals in the system for us all to work together. Again, for acknowledgement and to truly be open to how do we change things so future generations are getting the support that they need and the industry of healthcare is adjusting and innovating.
Anyway, it is a huge conversation and I could go on lol. I have not heard of this Soteria Paradigm - I will look that up now, thanks for sharing!
Lastly, I’m not sure about you but I’m not American. I’m Australian. I think this discussion is very much global and nowhere (that I know of!) has mental health, or wider, healthcare “right”. There’s a lot of progress to be made everywhere.
I just checked. I don’t feel that you were argumentative, no. But even if you were perceivably, I think it’s reasonable and rational to feel big feelings about sensitive subjects like this - especially considering your lived experience. This is personal to you and it matters to you. You care about the truth and you want to clear things up. Even if you were angry writing that, I suggest not blaming yourself. Give yourself a pat on the back for all the progress you’ve made. I see it.
I feel that censoring our feelings is harmful - we have to respect them. I believe for true mental health, we have to elevate and honor our feelings. Numbing, suppressing, or blaming/shaming ourselves for feeling feelings is harming ourselves. Is anger your highest expression? Or is it causing you to hit a wall? I’ve been facing that wall a lot in my life, and I realize now that I was the one erecting the wall. I chose anger and frustration instead of all the things I actually wanted to feel, do, and express.
Yes, I feel this difficulty. I have engaged with people who I believe have used AI to discredit my points and argue in bad faith. I have engaged with people who insult me in every way they can, while skirting rules on civility. It’s exhausting, but I knew what I was walking into each time. I chose to engage with them in debate and challenge their beliefs. My lesson was that you can’t change somebody who isn’t open to change, no matter how sound your argumentation is and how much good faith you have - especially in an impersonal space like the fediverse.
Even if you don’t want to engage directly with a commenter, you can feel free to chime in and respond to their comments when you see misinformation. By not pointing fingers, by not shaming them, by remaining neutral, by keeping it short and simple/condensed as much as possible - we can diffuse the confusion and minimize the effort spent. Passionate emotional exchanges carry charged energy and are hard to parse or engage with, from a bystander’s perspective. If we see a bot, or somebody acting in bad faith openly - in defiance to the rules, it’s likely best to move on if mods refuse to take action and maintain the space’s integrity.
💯
It’s awesome stuff.
It definitely is global. There is a lot of progress to be made for sure. Take care and much love to you! Hope to see you around on the fediverse.