yeah fuck this, my soul crushing depression and ADHD are largely independent of my environment. I get that this is true for some people, but posts like these make me angry.
As someone who also has depression and ADHD. There is nothing wrong with us. It’s OK to take medication to survive in an environment that’s actively hostile to people like us, but it’s also OK to acknowledge that if our society actually valued people we could live the way we need with the community support we need and likely wouldn’t need to be medicated any more.
It’s like covid, catching covid doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you. It means our society isn’t structured in a way to prevent people from getting sick (masks, vaccines, etc) and values profits more than people’s wellbeing.
Right or wrong doesn’t factor for me. I do not make value judgements about my neurochemistry, I just care about how well I am able to exist. I do not believe I’d live a happy life if I was unmedicated, regardless of our society. You are free to believe that about yourself, but I know what my untreated depression feels like—an absolutely crushing nothingness where I starve myself because I’m too apathetic to eat. I know what my untreated ADHD feels like—a bottomless pit of unmotivation and a maddening lack of emotional mindfulness. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong or shameful with having a medical condition that requires medication to treat. People with physical conditions shouldn’t be told that they’d be fine if society just accepted them when the consequences of not treating their condition is misery or death. I have a physical condition that affects my neurochemistry to a degree that prevents me from being happy and living. Some people have depression and can deal with it by making concessions or exercising or meditating and I’m happy for them. Therapy helped me a lot with my depression, but the baseline miserable nothingness is still there. Some people have ADHD but have found coping strategies and don’t need meds, and I’m happy for them. The D in ADHD is too strong for me to deal with on my own in any conceivable circumstance, and that is fine. There’s nothing wrong or shameful about that, it is what it is, like how someone with a congenital issue might need a wheelchair. I am entitled to my own understanding of myself, the shit I’ve suffered through, and how I deal with it.
I absolutely agree that our society treats neurodiverse people like shit. I agree that we’re generally lonely and don’t support each other well. Nothing wrong at all with that premise. I categorically disagree with your statement that we “likely wouldn’t need to be medicated anymore” if things were to change. I am either not a part of your “we,” or you are attempting to invalidate the decades I’ve spent coming to grips with what I need to survive.
EDIT: I don’t like being this hostile, but as I said, I am very fucking touchy about this topic. I’ve had enough of people assuming they know how my head works.
Like, it kinda is aimed at people like me though? I’ve talked with my therapist about how fucked up the state of the world is over the decade or so I’ve been working with them. I had a psychiatrist try to increase my antidepressant dosage when I was struggling through some really terrible EMDR therapy (dealing with childhood trauma caused by how shitty our society is) because they thought it would make my life more bearable, which is exactly the meme. I pushed back on that because I knew what was causing that specific misery and I was solving it with therapy, not psychiatry. I don’t engage with my psychiatrists like they’re therapists, but I have otherwise been in this picture. Psychiatrists treat problems with pills, and sometimes they try to fix things that aren’t best addressed with medication.
I’ve also spent my life being told that I was stupid, weak, incompetent, or lazy because no matter what else is going on with my life, I have baseline physiological issues that prevent my brain from functioning. I am far from alone in this. I would have had a better life if my condition had been treated as soon as it was noticed. The stigma surrounding psychiatric medicine meant that I wasn’t and I suffered as a result. This post perpetuates the stigma that caused my suffering so I do not like it and will say something about it.
Do not assume you understand my mental state. You can be a “hunter in a society of farmers.” I’ll just continue being a person with an imbalanced neurochemistry that I use medication to balance. I just want be able to get out of bed on a Saturday and do things I love.
My life has been filled with enough invalidation and unsolicited “advice” about my mental health, so I’m a little fucking touchy about this shit sometimes.
ADHD is only considered an illness because it makes it more difficult to be forced into compliance. There is nothing inherently wrong with being neurodivergent, if society was structured better it wouldn’t be considered strange.
Think about it this way, if society was structured exclusively for ND people, then being NT would be considered an illness. But we happen to live in the exact opposite scenario.
Okay yes I agree we can debate the social concept of “illness” and how it implies something “negative” while things like ADHD and deafness might be better seen as diversity of the human condition.
But that doesn’t remove that there are biomedical factors underlying these states. So it is not purely psychosocial ie. there are physical reasons for the difference.
yeah fuck this, my soul crushing depression and ADHD are largely independent of my environment. I get that this is true for some people, but posts like these make me angry.
As someone who also has depression and ADHD. There is nothing wrong with us. It’s OK to take medication to survive in an environment that’s actively hostile to people like us, but it’s also OK to acknowledge that if our society actually valued people we could live the way we need with the community support we need and likely wouldn’t need to be medicated any more.
It’s like covid, catching covid doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you. It means our society isn’t structured in a way to prevent people from getting sick (masks, vaccines, etc) and values profits more than people’s wellbeing.
Right or wrong doesn’t factor for me. I do not make value judgements about my neurochemistry, I just care about how well I am able to exist. I do not believe I’d live a happy life if I was unmedicated, regardless of our society. You are free to believe that about yourself, but I know what my untreated depression feels like—an absolutely crushing nothingness where I starve myself because I’m too apathetic to eat. I know what my untreated ADHD feels like—a bottomless pit of unmotivation and a maddening lack of emotional mindfulness. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong or shameful with having a medical condition that requires medication to treat. People with physical conditions shouldn’t be told that they’d be fine if society just accepted them when the consequences of not treating their condition is misery or death. I have a physical condition that affects my neurochemistry to a degree that prevents me from being happy and living. Some people have depression and can deal with it by making concessions or exercising or meditating and I’m happy for them. Therapy helped me a lot with my depression, but the baseline miserable nothingness is still there. Some people have ADHD but have found coping strategies and don’t need meds, and I’m happy for them. The D in ADHD is too strong for me to deal with on my own in any conceivable circumstance, and that is fine. There’s nothing wrong or shameful about that, it is what it is, like how someone with a congenital issue might need a wheelchair. I am entitled to my own understanding of myself, the shit I’ve suffered through, and how I deal with it.
I absolutely agree that our society treats neurodiverse people like shit. I agree that we’re generally lonely and don’t support each other well. Nothing wrong at all with that premise. I categorically disagree with your statement that we “likely wouldn’t need to be medicated anymore” if things were to change. I am either not a part of your “we,” or you are attempting to invalidate the decades I’ve spent coming to grips with what I need to survive.
EDIT: I don’t like being this hostile, but as I said, I am very fucking touchy about this topic. I’ve had enough of people assuming they know how my head works.
yeah fuck this, another example of someone being mad at a meme that clearly wasnt aimed at them. Comments like these make me angry.
Like, it kinda is aimed at people like me though? I’ve talked with my therapist about how fucked up the state of the world is over the decade or so I’ve been working with them. I had a psychiatrist try to increase my antidepressant dosage when I was struggling through some really terrible EMDR therapy (dealing with childhood trauma caused by how shitty our society is) because they thought it would make my life more bearable, which is exactly the meme. I pushed back on that because I knew what was causing that specific misery and I was solving it with therapy, not psychiatry. I don’t engage with my psychiatrists like they’re therapists, but I have otherwise been in this picture. Psychiatrists treat problems with pills, and sometimes they try to fix things that aren’t best addressed with medication.
I’ve also spent my life being told that I was stupid, weak, incompetent, or lazy because no matter what else is going on with my life, I have baseline physiological issues that prevent my brain from functioning. I am far from alone in this. I would have had a better life if my condition had been treated as soon as it was noticed. The stigma surrounding psychiatric medicine meant that I wasn’t and I suffered as a result. This post perpetuates the stigma that caused my suffering so I do not like it and will say something about it.
Yeah, you’re right. This is aimed directly at you and definitely nobody else who doesn’t have the problems you have. My bad.
How does that work? Environment is everything
I don’t think your sick, I don’t think I am either… I think we’re hunters in a society of farmers
No.
Do not assume you understand my mental state. You can be a “hunter in a society of farmers.” I’ll just continue being a person with an imbalanced neurochemistry that I use medication to balance. I just want be able to get out of bed on a Saturday and do things I love.
My life has been filled with enough invalidation and unsolicited “advice” about my mental health, so I’m a little fucking touchy about this shit sometimes.
because both ADHD and MDD are illnesses with physical and genetic factors.
ADHD is only considered an illness because it makes it more difficult to be forced into compliance. There is nothing inherently wrong with being neurodivergent, if society was structured better it wouldn’t be considered strange.
Think about it this way, if society was structured exclusively for ND people, then being NT would be considered an illness. But we happen to live in the exact opposite scenario.
Okay yes I agree we can debate the social concept of “illness” and how it implies something “negative” while things like ADHD and deafness might be better seen as diversity of the human condition.
But that doesn’t remove that there are biomedical factors underlying these states. So it is not purely psychosocial ie. there are physical reasons for the difference.
Blatantly false. If someone has a broken leg, do you say “environment is everything, I don’t think your sick, you don’t need medical help”?
I agree, but if the shitty staircase you fell down and broke your leg on isn’t repaired, you’re gonna fall down and break your leg again.