Antipsychiatry - Tumblr Posts

a while ago i attended this lecture on autism. guy in the audience said he had many of the symptoms that were presented and asked what should he do to get treatment and possibly a diagnosis. instead of answering his question the psychologist went on a tangent about how “the clinic reigns all powerful over guesswork”, and how actually it has become a trend amongst little children on the internet to claim that they are autistic for cool points, and that this hurts real autistic people. no she didn’t tell him how to get his symptoms looked into, she just made it very clear that to her, aknowledging your own symptoms is bad and evil and hurts the poor real mentally ill people.

an ex-friend of mine, then a psychology major and by now probably a full psychologist, once lectured me on how horrible and bad it was that i told her “i probably have some sort of neurodivergency”, and that if i were her patient she would never give me a diagnosis because “you aren’t like this now, but i know that if you get a diagnosis you’ll use it as an excuse to start treating people badly. that’s just how mentally ill people are.”

same ex-friend was extremely disgusted when she found out that fans sometimes make neurodivergency headcanons for characters that have the same symptoms as they do, and that authors sometimes write books with neurodivergent protagonists in stories that don’t focus on that (ex: she seemed horrified that percy jackson has adhd?)

multiple psychologists i’ve seen on facebook agree that they should refuse to treat patients that say “i’m here because i have symptoms of a disorder and wonder if i have it”, and that a patient should arrive to a psychologist as a blank slate.

school psychologist asked me how i was feeling about my trauma situation and i told him i thought my friends would leave me. instead of addressing the issue he said that that no i didn’t, that i was lying, that i had searched “bpd symptoms” online and now i was faking symptoms because i wanted to have bpd, that he shouldn’t have told me he suspected i had a personality disorder because now look what was happening. no, i didn’t search bpd symptoms online. yes, my friends left me, it was a completely founded belief and not a symptom, let alone a faked symptom.

so the next time you hear someone saying they’re “anti self-diagnosis” i want you to understand what they’re saying. what they’re saying is:

- i don’t want people to be aware of their own symptoms

- i don’t think my patients should have access to any information that doesn’t come from me

- i don’t think neurodivergent people should learn how to cope with their symptoms and live “normal” lives

- i think neurodivergent people should be denied a diagnosis because the moment they get one they will become evil and dangerous

- i don’t think people who don’t look like a stereotype could possibly be neurodivergent, even if they have all the symptoms, so i think they are faking it for attention and should be denied treatment

so here's an particularly horrific microcosm of how things like transmisogyny, anti-effeminacy, homophobia against gay/bi manhood, and the pathologization of transness are just more ways the patriarchal status quo is violently reinforced.

( source )

as some1 who has cPTSD i definitely agree w/ this, i think it's also worth noting that this also effects how ppl who r not even weird ""professionals"" try 2 help but also just well meaning friends n stuff, i was talking w/ my friend [qpr buddy] abt this last night actually, but like, idk if any1 else who has PTSD or cPTSD relates but 4 me at least when im having a paranoia spike and some1 tries 2 help calm me down by focusing on the idea that there's nothing 4 me 2 b afraid of and that bc im at home im safe doesn't help me bc that just 2 me makes it feel like they don't get that that's not how that works like,,, my own experiences r proof that just bc ur in a "safe place" doesn't always mean ur actually safe and it doesn't mean that there's no possibility that anything bad will happen

4 those wondering, while i can't speak 4 every1 4 me at least what helps more is some1 reassuring me that if something bad does happen we can deal w/ it, or better yet them saying that they can watch my back and b the 1 keeping an eye out 4 a bit so i can take a break from being on high alert all the time, so ig like, 4 me the phrase "ur just at home, ur safe" as caring as the intentions may b will never b as helpful as the phrase "ik ur used 2 being on high alert all the time but i can protect u/keep u safe/watch ur back so u can take a break 4 a bit, u can just relax and let me worry abt that 4 now" the 1st 1 feels like some1 trying 2 convince me that the world is a safe place and we don't need any1 trying 2 keep an eye out when my experiences contradict that, the 2nd 1 feels like the job of keeping an eye out is being delegated 2 some1 else who i trust, also worth pointing out that ppl acting like protecting some1 is an inherently romantic act or like it's "cringe" 2 wanna feel protected or w/e tf kinda bs toxic thing ur trying 2 say it is this day of the week isn't helping and it just makes it even more difficult 4 ppl like me 2 talk abt what would actually help us feel safe 4 once in our goddamn lives

mainly posting this 2 c if any1 else can relate but if this furthers some1's understanding of mental health that'd b great 2

“Many of these so-called symptoms are, in fact, well-known and well-documented coping strategies commonly and purposively employed by people who are traumatized. It is reductionistic to ignore purposiveness and to assume that the behavior and orientations in question are the product of a disorder. […] What underpins this inadequate conceptualization of the response, the underlying assumption embedded in a PTSD diagnosis, and, indeed, in many other diagnoses, is that the world is essentially a safe and benign place. In this view, there is something wrong with people who see or respond to the world as if it were otherwise.”

— Bonnie Burstow, A Critique of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and the DSM

I have to say that it can be a bit hard sometimes to have a trauma about therapy&co in the OMORI fandom, because there’s a lot of positive mentions of it. (I’m doing okay by the way, just wanted to rant a bit about it)

I once mentioned in one of my fanfics that I dislike how people often say that the characters need therapy, and I know that what people often mean is “I want them to get support and help” but for me, therapy is synonym with trauma and dehumanization so it hit different.

And sometimes there’s an insinuation that it would be impossible for the characters to get better without therapy and...no. It is possible to get better even without therapy. (or else I would be dead by now)

I have nothing against people who had positive experiences with therapy (that’s great ! I’m genuinely glad for for you) and/or headcanon/write that the characters get therapy and it help them. I deal pretty well with my triggers, either avoiding or interacting with caution, but it can be a bit frustrating to see some people kinda placing therapy on a pedestal.

I can’t really talk more about that subject because...well, it’s quite triggering, obviously.

Also, I really don’t think that sending them to a psychiatric prison would help them. (and yes, I’m calling them that because that’s what they are, you basically have no right there)