#diagnoses or lack thereof

[halogalopaghost]

I just found out that a tilt table test isn't like, getting tilted back and forth for a while, you lay there for thirty minutes and then they tilt you upright REAL QUICK, im gonna fail that test so hard lmao

[tevinter-pariah]

In terms of how they write lyrics and music, the heavy utilization of references, and the vibes™️ I propose that Will Wood and Dave Malloy are the same sort of weird music dude just like a generation and genre apart, and if they for one ever collaborated it would unlock a whole new genre of music beyond our comprehension, which is also now the thing I want most in this life.

[embermc]

i open twitter, i see yet another “haha ranboo is autistic haha i know him better than they do haha” i close twitter and set it on fire

It’s so easy to just not speculate about random strangers’ medical history

[serana666]

Getting on my soapbox about something I think is REALLY important for chronically ill ppl to think about.

Being undiagnosed and disabled is a terrible experience. You’re screaming into the medical void for ANYONE to please SEE YOU and help. You start thinking “is it just me? Could it just be in my head? What’s wrong with ME?”

And I’m here to tell you, it’s 👏🏻NOT YOU👏🏻 it’s THEM. (The doctors)

I have been through the grueling process of becoming totally disabled by chronic illness, without knowing what it could be. I picked up diagnosis’ along the way: RA, then lupus, then fibro. And I am LUCKY that my blood worked with me to show those things, not everyone is so lucky.

I kept thinking (foolishly buying into the narrative doctors try and sell you) that if I could just get a *serious* diagnosis I would finally be given access to the care I needed, that ALL disabled people need. That was never the case at any step in the process.

When I was diagnosed with RA and began having symptoms outside of it, that were completely debilitating my rheumatologist told me I just needed more exercise and activity. I told them specifically I had fatigue so strong that I was loosing the ability for basic functioning.

When I found a new rheumatologist and was diagnosed with lupus I thought my troubles were over. Then she started saying weird shit like “do you have a boyfriend? You’re so pretty!”

She found out I was a lesbian when I brought my girlfriend to my appointment to be my advocate. Her whole demeanor changed to me and I spent 6-8 months with her receiving no treatment. They kept saying “oh it’s the insurance” nope they sent me letters telling me this office was not following up.

So I moved to a blue state literally out of fear that I would die waiting on these bigoted doctors. I got a rhum in a blue state. I was diagnosed with secondary fibro. Again, I foolishly believed I would finally be in the clear. No, she still minimizes and blinks at me when I describe my pain.

Doctors are not our allies, even though they should be above all else. They find ANY excuse to minimize us. So if you are someone who is undiagnosed or with a diagnosis that is misunderstood/not taken seriously , they will milk that for all it’s worth. 👏🏻ITS NOT YOU👏🏻

I’ve seen people in disabled communities minimized for their race, their weight, their gender, their sexuality/queerness, their age, their diagnosis or the lack thereof, ITS NOT YOU!

You know your body, and the pain you feel BETTER than any doctor that has been trained to systemically ignore you!

Don’t let them tell you what your reality is. It’s such a knee jerk reaction for minorities to do this to themselves.

You deserve medical care that isn’t contingent on your doctors bias’. We NEED more empathy. Don’t let their disregard for your life leak into the love you NEED to give yourself. 💕

[marticoresims]

Custom career - Psychologist!

I edited LientebollemeiS2I's Psychologist career, changing nearly everything about it. What stayed are links to uni majors, the icon (which is also a uni major) and some inspiration for chance cards. IMO this career has a strong Maxis vibe, with "start from nothing" first levels, NPC references and silly chance cards.

Each level title has a number added to it, like in this mod.

The 4 skills required for this job are: Logic, Charisma, Cleaning and Creativity.

IMPORTANT EDIT: With LientebollemeiS2I's guidance, I also edited the GUID of the career and changed PTO (paid time off) back to default. Now you can use both our careers at the same time! The GUID is: 0xC6A05A9D. In case you need to check if you have something that uses the same one (it was generated, so might repeat).

DOWNLOAD (SFS)

List of levels with descriptions:

Psychology Books Enjoyer Lvl 1 You'll take any book that has anything to do with the topic of psychology and devour it instantly, hoping this knowledge will be useful some day.

Internet Mental Health Advisor Lvl 2 You dive into web forums to find the most interesting psychological cases and comment on them. Your aspirations are high, but you don't have the skills or degrees yet to become a real therapist. One can dream, though!

Social Bunny Lvl 3 You've actually made it to a real mental health institution, and not as a patient, but as an assistant… sort of. Don't forget to be the fluffiest bunny out there because what you're doing here is really helping other Sims. And all you ever wanted was to help others, right?

Therapist in Training Lvl 4 It's been hard, but you've made it to an actual psychology path. Just stay strong and you'll definitely open your own private practice office one day.

Social Worker Lvl 5 Whether it's leaving children home alone for too long, starving them or not dressing them appropriately to the weather… you'll be there to collect them and find more responsible families for them. It's a tough job, but it's something you have to get through in your training.

Private Counselor Lvl 6 You've finally made it! You're officially a therapist and working in your private office. Now, your mission is to care for your clients in the best way that you can. So don't stop educating yourself!

Psychology Researcher Lvl 7 Your passion for psychology is never-ending. You've decided to take it to the next level and do important research to contribute to the science. Good job!

Personality Specialist Lvl 8 During your research, you've grown very interested in the depths of Sims' personality. What can change it? To what extent is it genetic? What's that thing about werewolves?

Clinical Psychologist Lvl 9 Regular therapy practice and deep research were not quite enough for you. Now it's time to make real diagnoses, assist psychiatrists in their work, and make the world a better place. Keep on learning and you might become the ultimate Therapist.

Therapist NPC Lvl 10 It's time to deal with the real Wretched Outcasts and Doddering Deadbeats. In order to do it, you needed to learn teleportation, hypnosis and partial invisibility. If someone is in crisis, you're the Sim they'll always turn to.

As for clothes and cars (or lack thereof 👀), you'll have to see for yourself in game 😎

DOWNLOAD (SFS)

Hope you like it! I've always wanted a therapist-like career in The Sims 2.

Made with Bidou's Career Editor (now part of SimPE).

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

WIBTA for using my status as an agender person to get a surgery I want although I do not want it for gender-related issues ?

TW : talk of uterus, menstrual cycles and menstrual blood

I'll start by saying this is not the US so please don't make your judgement based on that. I'll describe how things are in my country.

So I (X24) want my uterus removed. The main reason is that I want to be sterilised to stop having so much anxiety about becoming pregnant, which would be a nightmare for me, and I never ever want this to happen again.

But I can't get any other form of sterilisation as then I would keep my uterus, so I would keep my period, and without hormonal treatment it's just not liveable. To give you an idea, my natural cycles are 21 days instead of 28, I get my period for 7 days instead of 5 and it can be hemorrhagic for up to 4 days of these 7. (I used to get post-op medication because of the hemorrhagia before I was under contraception.) And of course I get through excruciating pain every time, beside having iron deficiency among other things. I'm currently trying another hormonal contraception, it's still not going well. There is always something wrong. My first pill just stopped working, the next ones made me gain 20kg, I'm currently trying hormonal IUD and although I don't bleed as much, I bleed for so long and there is so much pain that no available painkillers can block. I'm so tired. I can't imagine going through that for another 15 to 25 years.

In my country, it is written in law that you are allowed to be sterilised using various methods, all of which keep the uterus. Nothing is said for hysterectomy as a sterilisation method. And although many refuse to sterilise you at all, if you find the right surgeon you can be no matter your age. The procedure is also fully reimbursed. Nothing is said in law about hysterectomy.

This means that the vast majority of surgeons won't remove your uterus. Except if you have a pathology related to it or if you're trans (coming back to that later).

So what I described above does look like a uterus with a pathology, right? It certainly looks like endometriosis at least. I went to a surgeon known for doing the other kinds of sterilisation and tried to convince him to just remove my uterus. He refused, not without an asserted pathology. To his credit, he looked for it. He had me take an MRI. Well, they found nothing.

Which means that, although I have a pretty dysfunctional uterus that I never want to use and just keeps causing me problems, he won't remove it. Because they can't find the cause. Even though I feel completely alienated from my body because of that damn organ that keeps trying to make me bear children and will have me bleed out and in pain when I won't allow it.

Then there is the other solution. I said above you could get surgery if you are trans. It's actually a bit more complicated that that. In order to get HRT and gender affirming surgery, you first need to get diagnosed with body dysphoria by a psychiatrist. And then you get a special status in our health system that allows you to get free access to all kinds of things in the medical field (like surgery and HRT) and beyond (like laser depilation).

As I said, I'm agender. They give this status to nonbinary people so my specific flavour of gender (or lack thereof) is not the issue. But I don't have body dysphoria, only social dysphoria. People misgendering me to my face will make me feel horrible but I don't see my body as gendered. My breasts and specifically my uterus are not something that I see as gendered, so they're not something that causes me distress in terms of gender-related issues. Which means as psychiatrist is never going to diagnose me with gender dysphoria as is, and I won't have access to hysterectomy through trans care.

Except if I fake it.

Now, I have no idea if it could even work. If I could even fool someone. But I've been considering trying because I really, really want to get rid of that damn uterus. And technically, I wouldn't be faking my gender identity. Just expanding on my dysphoria. Still, it feels wrong. I wouldn't transition in any other way except removing the uterus. This path doesn't feel like it's mine to take. I feel it would be disrespectful towards actual, dysphoric trans people.

So, what do you say Tumblr ? WIBTA if I tried it anyway ?

What are these acronyms?

[interstellarsystem]

Endogenic Systems and Experiences in the Neurodivergent Community

We tend to stay mostly on the fringes of syscourse nowadays without directly interacting with it too often but I'm going to post this more broadly and less focused on our specific instance of this because community-wise I think it's important to talk about.

Endogenic and other non-traumagenic systems are so commonly excluded from so many neurodivergent-safe spaces where they would otherwise be able to gain knowledge about the disorders they might have, share experiences and coping strategies with peers, or at least have a sense of community that is so commonly valuable to disabled and/or neurodivergent people. In a lot of cases, even people who only support non-traumagenic systems get shoved out.

[Continued under the readmore as it's long.]

This obviously harms non-traumagenic systems, but I have to point out that when people sit there and say "we care about REAL disabled people!", I have to say.... Do you? Because if you did care about those with mental illness, physical disability or neurodivergence, you in my mind wouldn't exclude them based on something unrelated to the topic itself which might even be something as small as holding an opinion that other people get to be the judge of their own experiences. You can say that you care about "real" disabled people, but what about when a traumagenic DID system also has a tulpa that they consider just as valid and real as their alters? What about when a system labels themselves as quoigenic because in reality, you owe no one the knowledge that you are vulnerable and traumatised? What about when a system starts out as endogenic but gains so much trauma later on that they develop dissociative symptoms?

We're quoigenic because while yes we are diagnosed with DID:

DID does not have trauma in the diagnostic criteria so our diagnosis doesn't mean anything by way of origin. Nontraumagenic is not the same as nondisordered the same way that traumagenic isn't the same as disordered.

We cannot remember a time before we were plural so we cannot say with accuracy what our actual origin was.

We have headmates we consider to be from both traumagenic and endogenic origins and it feels unfair to pick one.

We don't owe anyone a quick little "hey, we have trauma!" flag on our pinned post which can easily paint us as a target. This is the exact reason we don't share our triggers online--it's not safe.

You don't owe anyone personal medical information including your diagnostic history, your trauma history or lack thereof, your current medications or how many times you've been in a hospital. That is your business and yours alone to decide who you share it with. It's downright dangerous to share some of it, especially so publically. So who is anyone online that clearly isn't your specific medical practitioner to decide whether your experiences are real enough to allow you into spaces meant for a usually completely unrelated thing? Why would someone holding the opinion that endogenic systems get to decide what labels they use be denied access to spaces just because they support people with differing beliefs and/or experiences?

If we as a system with multiple disabilities want to go into a space for people who are schizoaffective because we need others who won't immediately jump on the ableism train when discussing something we're diagnosed with that has so much stigma, should we be denied that just because we don't label our origin with a clear-cut "we are traumatized!!" label? Should we be denied access to spaces because we don't want to sit around and smile while parts of our system and other members of our community are called fake and evil and whatever else they come up with? It's so common in spaces for people with disabilities to be exclusive to traumagenic systems and people with an anti-endogenic mindset that people don't realise they're not only hurting the endogenic community, but literal chunks of their own community itself.

I can't even begin to understand the reason why.

Endogenic systems by just existing do not cause harm. They're not like a transphobe you would not be safe around by default of having a label. Not every nontraumagenic system is a saint but if you took any communtiy and called everyone in it the equivalent of an unproblematic holy angel, you'd be lying. People are bad in every community, some worse than others, but the nontraumagenic system community literally just wants to exist--and yes, sometimes a nontraumagenic system (or supporter of such) does have dissociative symptoms, or maybe they have autism, or maybe they're physically disabled. Should they be not allowed access just because of the way they chose to label their system, or their opinion of people picking their own labels for their personal identity?

What exactly is the reason they're so excluded everywhere? I'd try to assume that this level of exclusion (to the point of endos being on DNIs next to transphobes and racists) would mean there's some real harm being done on a community-wide scale, but even when looking for it there isn't any explanation we've been able to find. "They're fake" is all we seem to see which has no actual backing whatsoever. "They're harmful" is another but.. How? We might be looking in the wrong places, but we have never seen an actual explanation for how nontraumagenic systems cause harm as a community just by being themselves.

At this point, I have to wonder how many people who say "we care about real disabled people!" are just covering up their "we care about socially acceptable disabled people who I understand and/or do not find cringey" sentiment instead. Being neurodivergent should never be about fitting into tight little boxes--it's part of the whole point of having a community like this. You're not the majority, and that's okay. So why are we dividing the disabled community into boxes too?

Of course, this doesn't only apply to ND spaces. LGBT+ spaces are similar and even more divided from the concept of being a system that it makes even less sense to block nontraumagenic systems from entering the space. How does their system origin relate to their LGBT+ identity? Sometimes it can, but should a trans person be excluded from a trans space because they have a friend who is an endogenic system and they support them fully?

Overall, the main point is that it makes no sense whatsoever to be anti-endo in general, let alone so violently anti-endogenic system to the point where you hurt members of your own community due to it. Sometimes from something as simple as them supporting endogenics alone. Your safe spaces aren't actually safe if you exclude a nonharmful group who also belong in that space due to having a personal identity or opinion different to yours. If you want somewhere to be a safe, inclusive space, it should include everyone as long as letting those people in won't cause harm. People who are seeking to cause harm (racists, transphobes, etc) obviously do not belong in a safe space because they seek to harm others, thus making the space unsafe. But people who just want to be themselves without harming anyone should be included in your space if they fall under whatever it may be topic-wise. Even the "cringey" ones. Even the ones who don't quite make sense to you or have "contradicting" labels. Even the ones who use labels completely differently to the way you do. And even the ones who are uninformed or misinformed but trying their best to learn. Your safe space is not safe if it excludes those who do not follow your every single mindset and thought without any deviation.

[serial-unaliver]

I saw a post going around with a neurodivergence chart about how autism, ADHD, and gifted kids symptoms overlap, and I had to stop and stare at it for awhile because I couldn't believe people were pushing giftedness as a unique type of neurodivergence! And the gifted symptoms were things like liking smart people things too?? lmao

this is because people only know adhd and autism from pop psychology.

in reality what they're referring to, in autism, is accompanied by deficits in every other area of functioning. so you'll have a heightened ability to do something but need a lot of accommodation. ultimately "average intelligence" is much preferable.

the reason I only mentioned autism here is i'm not sure how the gifted kid thing relates to adhd. i've never heard of adhd on its own causing what I described above, but i'm not diagnosed with adhd so I don't have as much experience learning about symptoms.

also whether or not you make the gifted program is heavily biased by race and in the US the program itself has racist origins (article on this). so the whole thing is really kind of bullshit and doesn't prove any neurodivergence or lack thereof

[overdramaticpanromantic]

why do people think endogenic systems aren't real?

disclaimer: i am not a system nor am i part of one, and i am not able to speak for those who are. this is an opinion, and i would like constructive feedback on said opinion. i do not want hate mail or people screaming at me, i have had enough of that this week.

i do not get why people think endogenic systems aren't real. the argument i see most is that if it's not based on trauma (i.e. traumagenic) then it's not real, but i disagree.

firstly, many mental conditions can arise from non-traumatic experiences, and trauma is not a necessary catalyst for these things. i'm autistic, though i can't speak for others (because my support needs are very low) as a result of how i was raised, but not in a traumatic way. i've asked around a bit about this, and it seems that part can be agreed upon, in that mental conditions do not have to result from trauma.

secondly, i have not noticed any differences, aside from trauma or lack thereof, when speaking to those who are a system or part of a system. i cannot know what is going on in other people's heads, but i can look at how people generally act, and i do not notice any difference, though the sample size is low (about 5) so this could be coincidence. i might ask in passing conversation, "how does being a system work?" out of curiosity. they explain, and the explanations from traumagenic and endogenic systems, or members of said systems, are fairly uniform and don't seem to contrast very much, aside from individual mannerisms such as how it may present itself, which is bound to be subjective for any mental condition.

thirdly, i don't like the logic the argument as a whole operates on. if non-traumagenic systems aren't real, isn't that similar to the argument wherein people say non-dysphoric trans people aren't real, or that self-diagnosed neurodivergencies (e.g. autism, adhd, bpd, tourette's, dyslexia, and others as well, but i can't list a ton of them off the top of my head) aren't real. this is medical essentialist, or medicalist, logic, and it doesn't hold up very well under pressure. it frequently takes the form of when someone doesn't want to acknowledge that not everyone is like them, and most commonly presents itself in those who are bigoted in other ways, such as racism.

fourthly, when conversing about it, the reactions i get from either type of person are very different (sample size of about 40 here, so again, it's not entirely conclusive) if i ask someone who's anti-endogenic about it (what the point of the argument is, for instance), i am met with hostility and yelling, whilst if i ask someone who is pro-endogenic about it, i am met with straightforward explanations and my questions being answered. ultimately, it isn't one's duty to answer questions for others, but if one side of a debate refuses to answer questions and another is able to answer questions, then typically, the side refusing to answer questions is wrong. for example, flat-earthers will refuse to argue a lot of the time, and other times, they will mention various buzzphrases such as "water finds its level," and "density and buoyancy," which is a phenomenon i have noticed coming from some (but few) anti-endogenics.

that's what i've gathered from my observations, and i wanted to share this for the reason that i want to understand more, and particularly why some people think the things they do - in that they don't believe a particular group of people exists. to cap it off, i'll attach a poll below, asking what people think regarding this.

if you want to help the poll get more entries, then you can reblog this post or share it with friends. thank you for reading!

[xxskyethetiredemoxx]

Intro Post

Name: Skye

Age: 16

Pronouns: he/him

Gender: male

Sexuality: pansexual

Member of @cherry-medicine-hate-group

Hobbies and interests:

Music (I sing and play guitar, and I love listening to music constantly)

Drawing

Writing

Reading (I'm currently reading The Shining, by Stephen King)

Doctor Who (best show in existence)

DIY clothes

Things I want to get into doing:

Filmmaking and media production

Languages (I'm wanting to learn French, Spanish, and Polish, but I'm procrastinating)

Learning new instruments

Bands and artists I like:

My Chemical Romance

Bring Me The Horizon

NOAHFINNCE

Destroy Boys

YUNGBLUD

Evanescence

Palaye Royale

Pierce The Veil

Green Day

Black Flag

Paramore

The Misfits

Against Me!

GHØSTKID

The Used

TX2

Sex Pistols

Citizen Soldier

Icon for Hire

St Terrible

Madina Lake

Slipknot

And a lot of others, but those are some of my favourites

More info (DNI, tags, some things I post about, more info about me) under the cut

DNI: racists, homophobes, transphobes, TERFs, Israel supporters, sexists, anyone who hates other people for their religion or lack thereof, basically any bigots.

This is a pro Palestine blog, and I post fundraisers for Palestinians who need help due to their situations, so if you have money to donate, please check the fundraisers on my page.

DMs and asks are open, I will block anyone who sends weird or hateful messages. I do not send pictures of myself, and will most likely block anyone who asks me for pictures or says anything that makes me uncomfortable.

I sometimes post vents, but I always put tws and tag them in case people don't wanna see them.

My tagging system:

#skye talks about stuff is my generic tag for any original posts or when I add to reblogs

#skye talks about emo shit & #skye is emo af are for emo related stuff

#skye needs therapy & #skye vents are for vent posts

#asks is for asks (obviously)

#i love my mutuals is anything related to my mutuals

#skye talk about politics is for political posts

#skye is gay af is for lgbtq+ posts

#music is life is for anything music related

#skye talks about punk shit is for punk related stuff

#diy is life is for my diy projects

#skye reblogs is for when I reblog posts

#skye does art is for my art

I haven't always had this tagging system, so any posts before (and a lot on) 12th October 2024 don't have this

I live in the UK, but I was born in Spain, and I'm half Polish. I was home schooled until I was 14, when I started my GCSEs.

I have been told by everyone I know that I most likely have ADHD and autism, but I haven't been able to get diagnosed. I struggle a lot with my mental health and trauma.

I have a little sister, she's two years younger than me. She's starting her GCSEs now. I live with her, my parents, and my amazing cat

I'm doing a levels, my subjects are Psychology, Biology, and Criminology. I'm somehow really good at making friends, but I'm also really good at getting people to hate me. And usually it's for no real reason.

In case you couldn't tell, I'm like really emo.

Credit for dividers used @fawndollie

[adamofingolstadt]

I'm not saying Julia Drawfee has ADHD, it's really not my place to say and I'm not qualified to diagnose anyone, let alone someone I don't know irl...

I'M JUST SAYING as a person with ADHD, whenever she gets way too into the details of a project, or gets cut off/tries to talk over the others, or tries to reference something very esoteric, or inexplicably vanishes for 15 minutes during a stream I feel so represented.

It's like how regardless of how Jacob identifies, the sheer volume of hot nonbinary characters he's given us, and how normally he treats their gender(or lack thereof) has earned him a place of honor to so many enby fans

[yuri-puppies]

realized the post i replied to wasnt urs LOL this is what i said regarding otta feeling like a real butch: she feels very nonjudgmental of her characters… im not one to go diagnosing people but it makes me understand why some people are sure shes autistic, the way she writes feels very removed and analytical of all aspects of society. of course everyone has biases (dm is great at portraying that too) but it doesnt feel like the characters are Judged based on how other they are i guess? idk how to phrase it lol. point being that makes her characters feel very real and not stereotypical

no, i get what you're trying to say, i think

there's this underlying assumption in a lot of fandom that you must love something in order to portray it with care and authenticity, and that just doesn't seem to be how Kui-sensei operates. the impression i get from her interviews (doing my best not to put words in her mouth) is that she finds most of everything and everyone weird and uncomfortable. this has the effect of putting Otherness on an even playing field because, as you say, there is no judgement attached to their normativity or lack thereof

i really admire this about her, her commitment to portraying everything as accurately and with as much understanding as she can. like how we thought she was really into bears and then it turned out she didn't even know senshi was a sex symbol, let alone draw him that way purposefully. it really makes me rethink these concepts of "care" and "authenticity". her portrayals come from keen and thoughtful observation, but the real communities that would recognize themselves in those portrayals are just not part of the equation

the disconnect between "care (diligence/attentiveness)" and "care (affection/regard)" is what gives me such cognitive dissonance when it comes to otta, i think. there is so much attention to authentic detail paid to the portrayal of a two-dimensional stereotype. the fuckboy dyke whose two character traits are hating her job and pursuing femmes has impeccably accurate masc aesthetics and a recognizable relationship to her gender identity and performance. what the fuck.

[compassionatereminders]

My mom constantly insists my ex that abused me is a sociopath. I shut her down every single time because no matter how much I hate my ex...

She was not a diagnosed sociopath

Being a sociopath does not make you a bad person

Abusing someone does not make you a sociopath

I think #3 is the part that gets glossed over too much, in my opinion. When you blame abuse on a mental illness you're basically saying "you weren't abused because they were a terrible person who wanted to hurt you, you were abused because something was innately wrong with them" which feels like excusing the abuser for what they did.

I'm not trying to minimize how harmful it is to people who have those disorders, I'm just trying to say it's also harmful to blame abuse on a mental illness. If you were treated badly, your ex is a bad person. Full stop.

Mental illness is mental illness. Abuse is abuse. People need to stop pretending they're the same thing. What you went through wasn't "narc abuse", it was emotional abuse done to you by an emotional abuser. Weather they are a narcissist or not has nothing to do with the fact that you were abused, and is frankly none of your business.

Weather she's a sociopath or not is none of my business. What my ex is, is an abuser. No mental health label, or lack thereof, will change that.

Exactly. Like when I say "your ex probably wasn't a narcissist" I'm not saying "your ex didn't actually abuse you". I'm sure they did and I'm sorry. I'm just saying that there's no clear, automatic correlation between the two and that you're kicking down if you are blaming all abuse on mental illness

[larjb3]

So for anyone who believes the medical system is relatively simple to navigate, here is how my afternoon has gone so far:

Called my insurance for help answering 5 questions. The first question took about maybe 50ish minutes to only sort of get an answer? And that was after the agent repeated back to me, several times, saying "As I previously explained" followed by an explanation that did not answer my current question. So that took a while. Then I went on to my next questions. Two of them apparently did not make sense to the agent either (in addition to me), based on the claims, and so they had to go talk to another department while also transferring me to another different department. They also were confused by another one of my previously appealed claims, and so they had to do their own digging as to what was going on. This entire call lasted just over 1 hour 40 minutes.

THEN I got to call ANOTHER number for a different hospital service because my account online wasn't showing a balance, but the letters I have received said I do have a balance. The agent who answered the phone for this call also didn't know why my balance was not showing online. This question got squared away pretty quickly, running just over 11 minutes in call time.

So now think of this: I am a (reasonably) well-educated person, with a PsyD in Clinical Psychology, and have been closely intertwined with the medical system since 2017 when I finally got one of my diagnoses. I have, in recent years, been even more intertwined with the medical system, with applying for Medicaid at one point, managing which doctors I see due to them actually being in-network with my various insurance providers through the years (not sure any of you notice, but finding an in-network provider, ESPECIALLY when on Medicaid, is extremely difficult), managing various prescription costs, talking to insurance as to why certain medications are suddenly no longer covered, advocating for myself when meeting with different providers (which they absolutely do not like but it 100% is necessary), calling insurance when something doesn't make sense on a claim (e.g., why a service, that was not specified, is suddenly not covered under an in-network provider), finding the right department to contact for insurance, trying to send messages with insurance and getting answers that pretty much say nothing with regard to answering my actual question (which then results in having to call insurance, which is not really all that fun), and there's probably more that I'm missing.

I'm also a relatively privileged individual, with a (mostly) stable wi-fi connection, a phone that can be easily charged and is currently connected, and a way to jot down notes both before and after calls (before: what questions I have; after: what the agent(s) said regarding my questions).

Now think about those in poverty. Do I have the most money? No, but I have a stable place to live, food, and water, and I have support from others (including you all!) who have helped me tremendously through financial support. But do those in poverty often have those things? Not always. Then put on top of trying to fend for basic survival necessities (which should probably be a pretty high priority) the medical system. This includes insurance (or lack thereof) and, if someone has it, paying consistently for it. This includes paying out-of-pocket costs with probably minimal money. This includes somehow getting to appointments on time with methods of transportation that may not be the most reliable, or they may cost a lot of money. This includes picking up and paying for prescriptions on time. This includes (if at all possible) communicating with one's insurance regarding claims that may not make sense. THEN we add on possible kids and have all the same barriers previously mentioned. THEN we have the possibility of someone having a job (if they're lucky enough to hold one), while managing medical things for both themselves, and if they have them, their kids. If they don't have a job, then we're looking at figuring out how to get on disability or SSI (both of which are TREMENDOUSLY difficult and tedious to get on and takes months to years to actually successfully do it). Now we're looking at if this person even has an advocate or case worker to help them. If they don't, or don't know how to get set up with one (because actually knowing what services you're entitled to, especially with different insurances, is exceedingly confusing), then they're on their own trying to navigate this vast landscape of things to manage. Oh, and we also have to consider that if someone IS on Medicaid or disability, they can only work a certain amount and take in a certain amount or else they lose their coverage. I'm not entirely sure the number of hours one is allowed to work on disability, but I want to say maybe around 15/week? (If someone actually knows this number please reach out to me and let me know!)

So we have all this mess. And think, I spent just under 2 hours on the phone with various insurance and medical providers today, but someone who is super struggling and under-privileged likely doesn't have the 2 hours needed to whatever questions they may have. Which can unfortunately result in frustration, hang-ups, and not getting an answer that can be understood in layman's terms which can result in more frustration and potentially just giving up on advocating for oneself.

It's a mess, and there are so many layers that are not discussed or even thought about by so many different people. I feel as though this needs to be said and at least somewhat recognized by others, potentially to help provide compassion to those so closely intertwined in the medical system.

[neuroticboyfriend]

i want to stop seeing generalizations about diagnosis (or lack thereof) being a privilege. either situation can result in privileges as well as discrimination. for example, i have substance use disorder, but i do not want it anywhere on my records out of fear of being denied treatments i need, having my suffering dismissed, etc. etc. my psychosis/schizophrenia dx has also had me disbelieved - and thus abused - over my own life experiences. i am also diagnosed with various other conditions, and this (combined with poverty) has allowed me to get all my college costs covered by the state, and to at least apply for SSI.

when talking about diagnosis, we need to be cognizant experiences both similar and different from ours. diagnosis is not universally a privilege, not being diagnosed isn't universally a privilege. whether you obtain privileges or not, or what privileges you obtain, is highly dependent. it's dependent on what the diagnosis is, where you're getting care, what other intersections (or lack thereof) you have. you cannot decide whether someone is overall privileged for being diagnosed unless they literally tell you they are.

also? do not take this post as me dismissing the pain and struggle of not being diagnosed. i have been there. i am still there. it is a very tough experience for many, myself included. i just thought we all knew better than to assume our experiences are universal... because diagnosis can be just as painful and dangerous. especially when it's misdiagnosis or used to call you too insane to have autonomy.

[schizosupport]

Not asking for medical advice, just commiseration really I guess? Yesterday I came out of my 4th ever psychiatrist appointment having been taken off my meds (which I did ask for) and then summarily dismissed because he'd decided, since our last appointment was in february, that everything I'd experienced was not persistent/consistent and therefore not worth digging into or attempting further diagnosis. He didn't ask me any questions about any of my delusions or psychotic episodes before coming to that conclusion and referring to everything in the past tense, and i even brought up that me and my psychologist, who I employ privately, have been going through the ease scale and I flag up sooooo maaaaany red flags for disorganised thought relating specifically to the prodrome of schizophrenia, and I'm finding it so hard to even think in a straight line, could you please ask me more questions interview-style so we can dig more into it because it's not past tense but I don't know what to tell you about because its getting harder and harder to tell what's normal and what's just normal for me. And he just didn't want to know. I said I really really need some kind of psychotic feature on my notes because every time I go into a+e actively having an episode, I get bounced because they think im overreacting or just having "emotional dysregulation" because during covid an unqualified physician put "borderline traits" on my sheet and now that's all anyone ever looks at, despite it being inaccurate. And he got very frustrated with me for insisting because he considers his office to be totally separate from all the other hospital features, which I get, but why not do me a bloody favour and just make it that much easier to get proper care when I need it? But he doesn't think I have been having psychotic episodes, I think because I was calm and collected in the appt rather than dishevelled and visibly frightened. He considers everything to fall under obsessions and excessive rumination when it's just not the case. I feel so immensely let down and scared for the future. I'm really worried about whatll happen if I get really bad again. I've lost my job again because I was so paranoid and afraid I just stopped going in, and he doesn't consider that fear or paranoia to be disabling enough to even call out of his office and get support for a fit note so I can stay out of work. I hate hate hate the country I live in.

Man, I'm so sorry you were dismissed like that, especially when it has material bad consequences for you, like not getting the right care in other sectors. I despise when psychiatrista refuse to accept that their diagnoses or lack thereof inevitably WILL have consequences on people's lives outside their office.

Also the idea that one can accurately assess anyone without following some kind of semi structured interview to avoid interviewer bias is so arrogant. He's not special. That's not a recommendation because other psychs just suck and can't be "objective like him"... How frustrating. I'm sorry you're dealing with this.