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Pathologising

B

I'm just going to quote myself here from the Terminology thread:

" ... a lot of things I grew up believing were just a normal part of being human have names and are actually now labelled a 'condition' or 'disorder'.

I think I must now have about 20 conditions and disorders I wasn't aware of until recently.

It feels as though everything is being neatly put into boxes."

I read this article the other day

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-special-needs-racket-is-out-of-control/

(if a box comes up + it looks like you can't read the article, you can close the box down and read still).

I'm really undecided what I think about all this.

When I was younger I had 'anxiety' put on my medical records and I was very surprised as I thought everyone got anxious, although I'd been given meds to deal with it.

Anyway, I later heard about 'general anxiety disorder' and I still can't make my mind up about whether anxiety is just part of the human condition.

Do others have views on these thoughts?

Are too many things being pathologised and defined these days?

Parents

  • Another term is 'maladaptive daydreaming'.

    Like a lot of these 'disorders' etc the term was coined this century.

    I understand the basis of it ie that it's used if the daydreaming interfers with ordinary life but daydreaming I think is part of the normal human condition and is a great escape from 'ordinary' life.

  • in reply to B
    B said:
    maladaptive daydreaming

    I spend I lot of time in my head thinking things, and it was a coping method in school days. I don't think it needs to be pathologised.

    I think the danger of over pathologising is when, like you said, you get dozens of labels that don't bring benefit.

    If the person actively requires help with something, then having a label can potentially give them that help (if services exists or might highlight the need for a service). 

    Where it doesn't help is if you have greater issues, and the smaller ones aren't the things the person is worrying about. If you had a child with inattentive ADHD, saying they had maladaptive daydreaming would make it seem like it had to fixed, rather than the way they experience the world.

Reply
  • in reply to B
    B said:
    maladaptive daydreaming

    I spend I lot of time in my head thinking things, and it was a coping method in school days. I don't think it needs to be pathologised.

    I think the danger of over pathologising is when, like you said, you get dozens of labels that don't bring benefit.

    If the person actively requires help with something, then having a label can potentially give them that help (if services exists or might highlight the need for a service). 

    Where it doesn't help is if you have greater issues, and the smaller ones aren't the things the person is worrying about. If you had a child with inattentive ADHD, saying they had maladaptive daydreaming would make it seem like it had to fixed, rather than the way they experience the world.

Children