A week or more ago, my brother and I were taking our dog for his (almost) daily walk when he called me OCD. I, of course argued that point thought not for the same reason I once would have. At one point, the very insinuation that I was "crazy" would have set me roiling into paroxysms of secret fear covered by indignation. Crazy was always the name which I resented perhaps more than any other. Maybe it was growing up loathing the psychiatrist mom used to say told her we hated her (and the profession with it). Maybe it was other secrets my family has kept through the years. Regardless, as recent as my post-undergraduate years, mental health (or lack thereof) was to me a very touchy subject.
This is not the reason, however why I argued with my brother that day (well not entirely at least). I've loosened up some through the years. This, in turn, may be partially due to what I jokingly term a prime example of God's sense of humor. Initially unwittingly, I received a graduate degree in counseling. (No one told me that nowadays many of society's counselors are social workers prior to my pursuit of my MSW.) This past December, I became licensed in it. Legally now, so long as I had supervision, I could open my own therapy practice, shingle and all.
Now this still isn't what I think I want to do with my life. I continue to maintain that I want to use that LSW in a different way. I can realize however the use of therapy now, though, as well as how beneficial those skills are for any of my work. It isn't that I can't do counseling, one of my professors once commented on how many of the questions I answered correctly for someone who "didn't want to do mental health". I'm even more open to the idea than I was, if I felt God wanted it from me and that He would look kindly upon my breaking that childhood promise.
The other thing that training, and some things I've undergone in my life has done however is to change my view on mental health. If I ever did feel called into mental health, I think it might be to advocate for this realization. Which brings me back to my conversation with my brother.
"You have to admit kid that you're obsessive."
"Yes, I'm OC. I won't argue with that. What I'll argue with is the D part. I'm not OCD."
When did we turn personality quirks, or even mental health peculiarities, into illnesses and disabilities?
Yes, I'm obsessive compulsive. The older I get, the more I can recognize this. Most people don't even realize how obsessive I can be. I do sometimes count or do things in rhythms to relax away from an intrusive fear. I turn casually away from fast food counters, because if I see them touch my food in an unhygienic way I won't be able to eat it. I handle the decorations at every youth group dinner, because if I am in the kitchen with the kids I will drive all of us crazy asking them to rewash their hands each time they touch their phones, shirts, hats, or pants. I think underwear are dirty, and will neither sit on my bed in them or wear a skirt without shorts under it.
I'm obsessive compulsive, but I wouldn't diagnose myself or anyone like me with obsessive compulsive disorder. In order to receive a diagnosis of a mental health condition you need to meet DSM criteria. In the criteria for basically every disorder is the requirement that the symptoms be "clinically significant". In other words, that they disrupt your daily functioning.
I would say [with God's help of course (thanks God)] that I function just fine.
I hold down two jobs. I'm a certified secondary English instructor and a licensed social worker. I have friends, and help out my family. I hold leadership roles in my church. While this isn't the case currently, I have had romantic interests in my life. I'm obsessive, I'm eccentric, I'm anxious, I'm me.
I'm not broken, so there's no need to fix me. God made me this way, and gives me the skills and abilities to live it. I'm using myself as an example, but I want to apply it to society. It's part of why I don't want anxiety medication, though it was even prescribed once. I think we have built up a society which tells people that if you aren't normal, if you have a mental "illness" you must be medicated to become normal. Why can't we instead just embrace them, and say "You're beautiful as you are. Now, if the anxiety ever gets to the point where it bothers you, what coping skills can we practice?"
I used to be part of an online support community, and troll one or two others for a separate matter. I remember reading a post about someone who said they had been put on medicine (maybe for bipolar disorder) but gone off it because they lost the ability to play the beautiful music they loved. This person felt numb or lost in a fog. He (or she), if I remember correctly, stopped the medicine and learned to deal with it.
You see it all over. We encourage kids to embrace who they are, unless they deviate mentally. If a child is hyper he's got ADHD and needs Ritalin. If she's thinks her life is awful she's depressed, give her Prozac. If she's worried about her friends she must have an anxiety disorder, prescribe Atavan. If he's depressed and anxious both, he must be bipolar and should be given Abilify. If your child has asthma, you show her how to live with asthma. You coach her in identifying triggers, and dealing with crises. If your child struggles with sadness you label her and medicate her. She becomes depression.
Now let me clarify one thing. This theory of mine is not absolute. I do realize that there are conditions which are clinically significant, which do interfere with daily functioning. I give mom Namenda twice a day for her mental (and physical) illness. When a beloved relative was so depressed he was borderline suicidal, I encouraged him to seek a doctor and maybe medication. If your child has uncontrollable manic episodes which cause her to endanger her safety, by all means look into Abilify. When mental illness is impairing your ability to function and therapy or medicine fills the gap between life and half-life, I fully advocate it.
This is just too overused, in my opinion. Let's, instead of telling people they are broken and prescribing a course of repair, help them embrace who they are and prescribe a dose of self-awareness and regulation. If you're oc, don't watch them prepare your food. If driving stress incites panic attacks, leave plenty of time and take the back way.
Let's un-disorder mental disorders. Let's empower the "sick" to embrace their "well". Let's be who God made us. Let's remember that He's the best medicine. Let's just be.
No comments:
Post a Comment