Does knowledge of mental health language distance us from how we feel?
Posted by kathryn in Uncategorized
Over the weekend an opinion piece in the SMH made me pause. It’s written by Tanveer Ahmed, a doctor working in the mental health system and he writes about mental health language. As people have become more and more aware of the language of psychiatry and the mind, he wonders if we are becoming distanced from the emotions we feel.
Clients no longer say they are “unhappy”, but are instead almost always “depressed”. It’s not uncommon for him to be told “I’m pretty sure I’m coming down with a depressive disorder” or “I think I’m developing a personality defect”. While he’s partly amazed at people’s command of the language of psychiatry, Tanveer also wonders if this is the best way to express and understand our distress?
Increasingly they no longer suggest they feel depressed, but that they are getting depression, in the same way we may catch a cold. The consultation then moves to the awkward dance modern therapists play. I become the healer attempting to cure their condition, pretending somehow their malaise is one of biology and not of meaning. The result is that it can blind them to the possibility their actions may have played a role in their problems.
It is Tanveer’s belief that the dominance of mental health language, particularly among the most disadvantaged, is detrimental to long-term health and recovery. This language encourages passivity, removing the individual’s sense of autonomay and personal responsibility.
To see the full article click here, it’s an interesting read.
19 September, 2007
Comments
i find this really interesting. it reminds me of the huge proliferation of diagnoses of ADHD etc in children… i do some volunteer work with kids at risk and they commonly use “but i have ADHD!” to explain/excuse their behaviour.
knowing and naming a condition is surely helpful for a lot of mental illness (i know it was for me a few years ago when i was not well), but i agree with Ahmed that it’s as though some people use that knowledge to “blind them to the possibility their actions may have played a role in their problems”.
It’s a fine balance isn’t it Lindsey? Having a diagnosis and knowing what’s wrong with you can be such a relief, both in physical and mental health areas. But the challenge is then getting people to control of what’s happening with them.
Most people seem to abrogate responsibility in many areas of their health. For example many cardiovascular disease clients are willing to take medication, but don’t make the dietary and lifestyle changes that are fundamental to them retaining good health.
Lindsay, I agree. Another example is if you make a big fuss of a childs minor illness. Sometimes they can play on this & learn to get more attention.
I am not sure a rich language vocabulary should be blamed, but how people are conditioned to use it.
Here is an interesting thought experiment along the same lines;
http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/09/18/real-mind-control-the-21-day-no-complaint-experiment/
And I thought reprogramming the heater timer was hard…
Thanks for including that link Andrew, it’s an interesting and useful read. He’s right, we do complain too much. I’m not saying life is necessarily easy, but most of our complaining doesn’t fix anything and just just brings us down. This is similar to the central CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) idea – where it’s our thoughts and reactions which dictate how we feel about things. There’s a great online CBT resource, called Moodgym which I’ve discussed before on Limes & Lycopene, that covers a lot of this ground.
Reprogramming our brains – yep super-tricky and can take while – but it’s definitely worth it!
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