Disease labels

[- Femme -]

Does anyone notice the stup!d trend in labeling every personal issue as a disease or 'medical' problem inorder to take responsibilty for their actions and control away from themselves?

 

Everything nowadays is an addiction and they need 'professinal help' ex. sex addiction, gambling addiction, food addiction. It makes it sound so grand after putting addiction behind it doesnt it? Oh wow...poor them. Not because they're promiscious, stup!d, or lazy.

 

I forgot the other labels. But I'm sick of them. If I have to hear one more label....

[Castro]

^ Mental illness is real, atheer. And just because science has not come to fully understanding the working (or lack thereof) of the human brain does not make it quackery. Now, what do you have in support of your assertion that it is stup!dity and laziness as opposed to mental defects and malaise?

[Tahliil]

What the world needs more than anything else these days is: Empathy . Lots of it..It works well to understand what others endure and go through to overcome their low and shameful moments in life...for things that seem trivial and dismal and nothing to mortals who aren't addicted to anything... not even to compassion…and understanding…I am recovering from cynicism…pessimism and skepticism…and it feels, really, really good to b on this side of the fence with practically very, very few Nomads…from S O L

[Castro]

^ Atheer, compassion and empathy are traits unbecoming of Somalis. Now, Femme, I await your argument for the assertion!

[Jacpher]

Femme: Is it possible you're experiencing Net Addiction and you may want to see NetTherapist

 

Castro has been recommended by many of his colleagues.

[Castro]

^

 

Does anyone remember what the "mad house" was called in Muqdishu? I remember going there once with my dad many moons ago to visit a (distant, very distant) relative and even as a child, I was appalled by the conditions in that place. I mean the stigma placed on "crazy" people (as we referred to them) is astonishing. Funny thing is, no one questions when someone complains of a stomach ache, a headache or a foot ache, but you mention the mind and boom: isku filaanshuu gaadhay. Hebel wuu isla sheekeysta. Heblaayoo waa laga dhex hadlaa. And on and on. What ignorance. What cruelty. And what a disaster for a community that claims to watch out for its own.

 

Little has changed, even in the diaspora. When many expats are depressed simply because of the weather, being away from home or just going through growing pains, no sympathy or understanding let alone lending a helping hand. Bravo maryooley, bravo.

[Jacpher]

You mean Maanakoobiyo?

 

Such a lovely place for you to live

 

Just kidding.

[Legend of Zu]

Now that we are talking about mental Illness..I concluded that majority (note: no facts to back it up) of Somalis are either Insane or despressed. Once a crazy fella was told "Oo Masha Allah waad caafimaaday"..and he replied "ma caafimaadineh..idinkaa isoo gaaray!"

 

Now back to the topic... I agree with Castro, I remember a brotha who used to pray the same mosque as I, was somehow suffering of Obesssive compulsive disorder where he has to wash his legs and arms more than what is required for the wudu (perhaps he wanted to make sure as many times) or for example he could be trying to say Allahu Akbar few times! Gues what they used to say " wuu ku dhuftay miskiinka" and ppl used to look down on him...

 

Somalis have lil understading of Depression and any psychoneurotic disorders hence they take it lightly or ridicule it..no wonder the number of Buufis have gone up in the Diaspora.

 

PS: Did you know that "waa laga dhex hadlay" could be "Multiple personality disorder"

 

Cheers

[- Femme -]

Somalis have lil understading of Depression and any psychoneurotic disorders hence they take it lightly or ridicule it..

Yeah, and somalis tend to twist a person's words to suit them insted of asking for an explanation! :rolleyes: [not directed at zu]

 

FYI I'm talking about unnecessary labeling, such as classifying energic kids as having ADHD (attention defecit/hyperactivity disorder) and pumping them full of drugs so parents don't have to deal with them. Instant gratification culture...full of people wanting instant results instead of getting to the root of the problem. They'd rather diagnose themselves and go around pretending they have no control and its not their fault. Or drug, drugs, drugs. But hey! At least the pharmacutical companies & the government are benefitting.

 

I didnt say anything about true mental/psychological/emotional disorders/issues.

 

Tahliil & Castro,

 

I'm sorry my heart isn't bleeding. I tend to leave my sympathy for people who really need it.

[Cara.]

Femme,

 

Yeah, that's true. I can't count the number of fat people I know who say the fault is their "slow metabolism" while pigging out on junk. But perhaps it's a food addiction. Or low self-esteem. Or lack of impulse control.

 

Castro,

 

I remember our neighbor back in Xamar was this miskiin man who used to talk to himself and gesture wildly. Kids used to knock on his door and run away, or provoke him or otherwise torment him. Adults would just laugh it off. I was mostly afraid of him so thankfully I wasn't one of the tormentors. Truth is, I'm still afraid of "disturbed" individuals, a gut reaction I have a hard time rationalizing.

[Nephissa]

^ I was one of those kids! There used to be a mad man right outside my school (Yasin Osman) and every afternoon us (kids) would run after him, screaming: waas waalan yahay jiniyaas khabaa! No empathy whatsoever. Then he'd stop, drop his short little macawis, and flash his weenie. And we'd run back crying..

 

Back to the topic:

Eveyone falls under a label whether they realize it or not. There's even the "unlabelled" label. Humans need to place things into categories to betta understand them.

[Castro]

I'm sorry my heart isn't bleeding. I tend to leave my sympathy for people who really need it.

Like who?

[nafta]

Hi Femme,

 

The problem with labels is that it's usually mostly shells that contain a lot assumptions.When we are taken in by a label, we are taken in by opinions and beliefs. That is, we willingly accept statements without evidence of their validity. Thus labels become definitions of a situation, implying that if you define a situation as real, it is real only in its consequences.

 

What I'm trying to say that when people start labelling themselves or others, often times the individual takes the label as real and can therefore become whatever the label implied and not because they were already an "addict" or a "failure" (also known as the self-fulfilling prophecy).

 

Living in a society where the majority of the population lacks self-esteem to deal with personal issues can also be a factor. People generally put their trust in health professionals when it comes to their mental as well as physical well-being. Therefore the blame of diminished responsibility of personal issues can just as well be placed on society and its abundance on these professionals who promise to "sort you out" and at the same time have a nice name for your little problem.

 

Labels are judgemental and unfair and are most of the time unnecessary. It can be hurtful to the individual who is wrongfully labelled. There are so many labels that some people can have several imposed on them. It does not matter if they are derogatory, ‘neutral’, or even ‘politically correct’, they all impose limitations on the people they are directed to. However, we all have the need to label or, better yet, categorise others and ourselves. This is a learned pattern and is maintained through hegemony.

 

In a perfect world we should resist and forgo the use of labels, unlearn these terms and unlearn the way we see others and ourselves. However, the perfect world would also be free of war, poverty and diseases.

[- Femme -]

^Exactly. Bingo.

 

What I'm trying to say that when people start labelling themselves or others, often times the individual takes the label as real and can therefore become whatever the label implied and not because they were already an "addict" or a "failure" (also known as the self-fulfilling prophecy).

 

Living in a society where the majority of the population lacks self-esteem to deal with personal issues can also be a factor. People generally put their trust in health professionals when it comes to their mental as well as physical well-being. Therefore the blame of diminished responsibility of personal issues can just as well be placed on society and its abundance on these professionals who promise to "sort you out" and at the same time have a nice name for your little problem.

[Baluug]

I partially agree with Femme and partially with Castro. But the thing is that Femme is talking about North Americans and their obsession with illness(I'm sure they have a medical name for that kind of obsession ) and Castro is talking about Somalia. They are completely different in all regards. Somalia has suffered through a generation of war and will most likely leave lots of people a little skiddish, to say the least. There were mentally disabled people before the war as well, and were treated wrongly, as if they were worse than dogs. This is a world of difference compared to North America's obsession(maybe it's called mental disorderitis) with disease. If anything goes wrong and they get sad or angry, it must be a medical condition. Look at the thousands of children who are supposedly sick with "attention deficit disorder" and put on pills because their parents don't want to get involved with their children's homework. Or the millions of people "suffering" from "depression" and given Prozac. The problem is that people don't want to solve the problem from the root, maybe they don't want to face the truth or maybe they're just lazy and want a quick fix.

 

Pharmaceutical companies are having a heyday with this and are most likely aggravating the situation by pumping out pill after pill for the problem, not wanting to actually solve it and thereby reducing profit. But the most important thing to remember is that without religion, people are left with an unfillable void that pills cannot fix, and I'm sure most, if not all of you, will agree with me.