Are We Being Pyschotherapied to Death?

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Is there anyone else who feels the same way I do at the moment? Every single freaking quirk that someone may have has to be somehow metamorphosed into a psychiatric disorder and stuffed in the DSM manual which sends everybody and their grandmother running to a shrink for Prozac, Ritalin, and blah, blah, blah everytime stubs their big toe, gets in an argument with their boss, gets in a fight with their neighbor or breaks up with their girlfriend/boyfriend.

I totally agree, I feel everything is over complicated - maybe it just that the NTs can only deal with one thing at once, not like us aspies...

I have never taken any drugs and did try and speak to someone once, but ended up giving them advice, I think I'm to complex sometimes for people. Thats why I set up my own web site as self help and use forums like this, where at least feel can be understood.

Mind you after just doing the Depression test on this site, maybe I should see someone!

Isn't it obvious? Look at the demographics and stats nation-wide. How many cures are there?

That said - would be good to hear what kind of alternatives people have to offer to the current mode for taking the edge off what ails this society.

In 30 years of trying to figure out how to explain myself to other people I have been diagnosed with the following.

1. Depression - not a big deal everyone is sad sometimes. The fact that its depression and not because of a specific situation actually makes this easier to deal with. The sun will come out tommorow and all that jazz.

2. Anxiety disorder - OMG! I get scared sometimes! Again, doesnt everybody?

3. Social Phobia - The phobia part on the end makes me giggle. I'm not afraid of people, I just think that for the most part they are ignorant and prone to judgement. I dont like most of them and prefer to stay away from them. Apparently this is no way to live my life and I need "more". More what?

4. Masochistic/Self defeating personality disorder - My personal favorite It has since been removed from the DSM on the grounds that all its symptoms are covered by other disorders.

5. AS - this is a diagnosis in progress.

There has been reccomended treatment for all of the above. Aside from one brief stint on depression medication that left me numb and lethargic I have refused it all. We all have our crosses to bear and I accept these as mine (aside from the masochism bit which I rather enjoy). The first thing I tell every new Dr that I meet is to write resistant to the idea of medication at the top of thier page. The funniest treatment reccomendation was a self esteem workshop. I would have been kicked out the first day for being a narcissist.

Are we being over analyzed? I dont know. I think its kind of nice to have those words when I need to explain something to an outside party. I do wish they would stop trying to "fix me" though, these things help to make up my personality which I'm kind of attached to.

Agreed, and I wonder what they would make of a book of famous quotations.

Unto thine own self be true.

There is no accounting for taste.

Then they defend themselves as Science, Psychobabble is not Science, Astrology has more right to be called a Science.

Science has common terms, and predictable outcomes, the whole idea, Psychology does not.

It wishes to define everyone, except themselves. Astrologers will post their chart.

They are unable to grasp the fact that most people lie, to themselves, about themselves, and particularly to the guliable.

They feel that book knowledge is much more important than living in the world.

Based on a study of three people fifty years ago, the whole world is...

They try to define Cause/Effect.

As a writer I try to define, Cause X person X talents X context X which gives a range of Effect.

Psychology is applying Skinner's work on rats to humans. They do not see a problem with this.

Plenty of people. That doesn't make them right, though. While I think a rare few developmental issues are being over medicated and over-diagnosed, they're still genuine issues and because of the inherent difficulties in diagnosing psychiatric disorders, it's understandable that some disorders are over or under diagnosed. Honestly, I'm a lot happier about the fact that many people who in decades previous to ours would have been ignored or left to rot can now get treatment and hopefully live happier and more productive lives. I continue to find it amazing that people don't see an increased rate of diagnoses for psychiatric disorders and their successful treatment as an enormous positive.

Who's "we"? Are you speaking from personal experience? Did a shrink prescribe you Prozac for a stubbed toe? Or are you just annoyed that other people are getting help for problems that don't seem sufficiently problematic to you?

I speak from personal experience when I say: Depression is not a "quirk." For me it was constant misery and hopelessness, frequent crying jags, and occasional wistful daydreams about self-mutilation or suicide. And never a single moment of happiness, regardless of circumstances. After I started taking an antidepressant, I was amazed to actually feel happy again, from time to time. And, you know, not miserable for no reason, the rest of the time.

So no, I don't think "we" are being psychotherapied to death.

When I mean "we", I mean the US population as a whole.

The various conditions that I have struggled with (depression, anxiety, panic) are not something that was made up by pharmaceutical companies to sell pills. They are real problems that can limit a person's life, even end it. I haven't run to a doctor after stubbing my toe - like many people, I have lived with untreated conditions for years before seeking medical attention, and even then, didn't always do what the doctor thought best.

Bill Maher really irritates me when he goes on about how pharmaceutical companies are inventing diseases. He gives 'restless leg syndrome' as one example. The only problem is that RLS is real - they have even identified a gene that can cause it.

Yes, doctors who only have a hammer tend to see every problem as a nail. Pills are only only limited tool, and not enough is being done in terms of lifestyle (exercise, diet, cognitive therapy, etc).

Personal case study: my anxiety/panic was at it's worst when I didn't realize I had a fructose intolerance problem. The fructose didn't get absorbed but stayed in the gut where it fermented - which caused diarrhea and blocked tryptophan absorption (which lowers serotonin levels). So the doctor says IBS/anxiety, take this pill. Not the optimum solution.

The "IBS" dissappeared completely when I changed my diet (took me a few years to figure that out). But I still haven't fount the perfect diet to put an end to all my anxiety/panic. So sometimes medicine makes sense.

I think in the good ole days, people with anxiety/panic either self-medicated (and became alcoholics) or they ended trying to live with it, often becoming agorophobics and shut-ins. Or they died - people with untreated panic disorder are at higher risk of sudden heart failure. People with untreated depression are also at higher risk of heart disease and suicide.

Medicine is far from perfect. But so is the human body.

The use of the DSM is highly cautioned for pysch students. The reason, when people read the symptoms they are likely to say "Hey, I have this." to many of the disorders. It is because for many of the disorders, the symptoms are common to everyone. It just to what degree. A person may be sad and have low energy and don't feel like doing anything. Does it mean they have depression. Maybe. Maybe not. Many feel that these disorders are not disorders until they hamper people from living a normal life. What normal is, is just as vague as a disorder. Another view is only a disorder when it is disabling and a person cannot function independently.
So yes, I agree with you. Many diagnoses are not necessary. But how often do you say to yourself, this doesn't feel right. What is wrong with me? I'd think that most people think this way.

Yes, I do. I have thought that way since I was quite young, about junior high.

I avoid doctors at all costs. I have very negative views of them, and I am the first to dismiss all these new labels popping up. I would say my abhorrence of labels is what prevents me from true relief at discovering my AS. Oh well.

I also avoid antibiotics - the scourge of man.

I will never again seek psychotherapy or the assistance of a psychologist. They're the tools of the devil