Pathologising

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.

  • I agree B, do I need to be fully present if I'm putting things through a till, or stacking shelves, folding laundry. I daydreamed my way through school, it was much more interesting than the lessons.

    I think if someone told me I had maladaptive daydreaming, I'd tell them to stop being so boring! If they were interesting I wouldn't need to daydream.

Reply
  • I agree B, do I need to be fully present if I'm putting things through a till, or stacking shelves, folding laundry. I daydreamed my way through school, it was much more interesting than the lessons.

    I think if someone told me I had maladaptive daydreaming, I'd tell them to stop being so boring! If they were interesting I wouldn't need to daydream.

Children
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