The Damage of Labels: DSM-IV

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Am agree.

Without the autism label am have,am would not even have the same level of speech as am have now,am would have severe brain damage or be dead by now from headbanging due to not being diagnosed early enough [was assessed at aged two at hope hospital for autism but they said it wasn't autism as there wasn't any brain damage on the scan,and the head banging was part of intended bad behavior so was left alone with it] and helped to a less severe level with this and other meltdown induced problems [flesh biting,agression/violence etc] with medication.
It also meant getting a social worker,and twentyfour hour support in residential home [meaning getting away from an alcoholic abusive mum who stole everything that went into am bank account],it also gives others around am better understanding,it gets taxi drivers to turn their music off [well,not all of them as not even all know what autism is],it helped hair dresser to understand that am would not be able to come into the shop until all electronic equipment was off and the sensory problems with being touched and having hair cut.
There are a load of other reasons why having the autism label helps rather than makes things worse.

Even when the DSM didn't exist,autism did [albeit in behavior only,not in name],the same goes for aspergers,and all the other conditions.
People do not have to get diagnosed with anything if they do not want to-don't like the idea of a diagnosis? don't get assessed or ask for informal assessment so that it's not made official.
Just because some people do not want or need it,and just because it can affect some in a bad way,doesn't mean it is the same for everyone.

Wow.

You spelled it backwards - Didnt you mean wow?

Where on earth did I ever hear what? I never said he was a set of diagnostic criteria, that's your words.

See, this what bends me out of shape. You're applying your own beliefs and bias into my words and twisting and adding to what I say, then disagreeing with it. That's called a straw man argument.

If every child is unique, and I agree on that, then you can't say, "kids feel horrible being labeled". Because you don't know me, my son or my culture. You don't know. You may hate labels and feel insecure, put down, oppressed. That's you. That's not me.

I felt a heavy relief when I discovered Asperger's. I had been limited without the label. It's part of human nature to define everything. So, when people don't understand social awkwardness, limited language comprehension, social reciprocity they give other names to it. And they have nothing to do with understanding others. They are limiting, ostracizing, damning.

When my son was diagnosed, I was able to utilize tools to communicate with him. Before there was nothing. He couldn't ask for the basic things like juice or food. He couldn't eat a meal. I had to have an understanding as to how he could learn.

You're bringing all sorts of miscellaneous topics into this that don't really make sense. I would never assert that a dx could understand my "child's heart". That's absurd.

I might have to try that. Would psychiatrists/psychologists be truly willing to do such a thing? How would I go about doing such?

Ask them before they start assessing to make it informal,am not an expert in pyschs but they should understand the reasons why if they understand the spectrum.

Before I took welbutrin, I was riding through intersections hoping a car would hit me. (I would not tell my peers that I was this depressed and I'm only telling you because you don't know who I am.)

Obviously, I do have some faith in the pharmaceutical industry and the health care system in general.

Also, if there is a difference between schizophrenia and autism and all the other disorders, you would think that having names to tell them apart would be useful. Otherwise, we would just refer to them as mental illness and nothing else and forget about the subtle differences. Worse, we could say they (we) are possessed by the devil.

If you don't want to be labeled, don't tell people who don't need to know what you have!! !!

Sorry to hear that...I really am.



That would definitely not fall under unnecessary labels; the main problem would be misdiagnoses (incompetent specialists). Meds for schizophrenia aren't exactly a walk in the park...



I made that mistake this year, and regret it because things took a turn I neither predicted nor wanted. I got myself into a major mess (long story). Kicking myself for it now...

Unfortunatly until somebody builds a time machine, it isn't a mistake I can erase, along with others.

Yes, the DSM does label people. But then how is one Doctor going to learn how to treat this young man?

Looking over history, one looks at all the diffrent Great Writers, they all seem to of been depressed at one point in thier lives; if they were given Prozac, would they still be a Writer? let alone a great one?

I'm a fan of Deus Ex too.

I was referring to what you had said here:

Er - by assessment, investigation, intuition and experience?

The issue of depression and its regulation is one that scientists have managed to harness with seratonin uptake inhibitors and that they've managed to diversify with dozens of variants of medications - and while it helps greatly to alleviate the symptoms, the underlying issues are still there still waiting to be addressed and cured. This science has not been able to do. Why? Because they can only mask the symptoms with turning neurotransmitters on or off. They cannot connect them. Do you know why they can't? Because it requires an act of will on the part of the sufferer. Will-power. You have to muster up enough desire to get through the hell and the rings of fire. Impossible feat, eh? But that's what it takes. And no pill will ever be able to stimulate free-will or open the doors to curing any illness - mental or physical. To heal maladies of the mind - the entire body and states of consciousness need to be addressed - in a wholistic metaphysical, spiritual manner. This *modern-science* cannot ever do as they have deleted Creator from the equation. So what is there really to hope for from the Label Makers? Pain killers and DNA destroyers. Quick fixes for deep issues. Bandaids on tumors. Don't despair though. In the end, we all ~get~ wiser and with the wisdom comes the healing. So keep on doing what you can to maintain feeling ok.

I'm not gonna argue about the DSM. I like the DSM. It's my favorite paperback book on my shelf.

However, I will ask how you go from calling medical labels "damaging" to making a thread asking if anyone's a hypochondriac. Doesn't seem right to me.

There is way too much labeling going on. If the label is wrong, it does a lot of damage to the person. Even if it is correct, it limits people to a rigid category and can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. People can change over time and with the right kind of help.

Yes, I agree. If the diagnosis/es or labels are wrong, then it can be a lot more damaging than nothing at all.

However, if I hadn't learned about autism I would still be wondering why I couldn't be friends with anyone, study without help, etc, and everyone else around me could. I have been depressed for many years before because of this, and now I'm so happy I've found a reason for my "shortcomings" as my mother used to call them. I have only told those I am close to, and so if I ever have a meltdown in front of them, they wont run away or think me weird and never speak to me again - they know how to sort it out and help.

My stepson is autistic, and he has a badge with "I am autistic, please be patient" or something like that, and one time we took him to a playground without the badge. He was having so much fun, and playing with the other children. However, after a while things turned a little sour. He got overexcited and wouldn't leave this girl alone in the playground. He was pretending to be a dinosaur and roaring at her, and snapping. She got scared, and ran to her dad (who wasn't actually paying attention to anything but a cute lady next to him which is AWESOME parenting skills I should point out..) and told him he was being mean and chasing her. He came up to us and shouted at us for letting him get out of control. When we explained that he was autistic, and he didn't know what he was doing was wrong, the father calmed down. Maybe if he had the badge on his jumper, the father would've understood without shouting at us.

Sometimes an explanation/label is needed for someone to understand.