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obleke-yoonique-otherkin · 2 years ago

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I once had the thought while watching anthropomorphic media . . .

You simply can't make a human face evoke the same level of emotion as baring teeth or ears moving.

Now, that's not to say that live action and animated human faces can't be very expressive, and exaggeratedly so depending on style.

That's also not to say that real human faces have a subtlety to them that we've evolved to notice, that can be very arresting in that it holds our whole, undivided attention and can be of paramount importance. Nonverbal cues make up more communication than verbal, some researchers say.

(autism cry in the corner)

But. you can't get the same basal ganglion reaction as a wolf snarling, or intense curiosity of a cat swiveling its ears forward to focus, nor can you create the contrast of previous placidity, the same degree of whoa freaky as a real horse rolling its eyes back so your can suddenly see the whites.

In the cartoon realm, if a chameleon, after its eyes have been wandering the entire conversation, then converge them both on you, that signifies far more this is important, hey emphasis than a human exchange where everyone's used to keeping eye contact the whole time.

The animal kingdom simply has more hit you in the head potential for emotions than a typical human quirk of an eyebrow, or tightened grimace.

And that's ironic, given that humans are (supposedly, who knows about elephants) the most emotionally aware animals. Visually, compared to animals, we are almost detached from strong, turbulent displays. We can't puff out a tail, or raise or lower one, we can't even raise or lower our own body hair in a visually noticeable way (unless an eagle was watching you from at least 18 feet away maybe, and had the sapience to note the significance of it)

Perhaps, at some level, this actually allows us to gain distance from emotions. Perhaps, as we vaguely take note of whether someone is acting defensive or anticipatory, we are able to focus more on language, as new as it is, this abstract form of communication, on the evolutionary front. Of course this distancing ourselves, even though it may keep us from acting on every impulse that occurs to us, isn't always a good thing- repression is the pits, and not being in tune with emotions can, in other patterns, also wreak havoc with being able to have self-control of our words or behavior. I think most everyone envisions a future where we are more and more logical- but I think not only do most humans not act logically 51%+ of the time (despite assuring yourself you do) I think losing a bit of this ability to both express and read body language on each other and other species is either a culturally developed trait we should look at ameliorating, or an evolved trait we should look at ameliorating the same way we moderate our violent tendencies. (as an extreme example- probably shoulda picked something different there)

I don't know if media can help us recapture this exactly- but as media does not contain the same social pressure of reading cues correctly and consequences of failure, it may be a good testing ground, especially for ND folks. May already be that. Serving that purpose.

Maybe that's why hyperfixation happens, to parse small meanings with no stakes.

We've had entirely silent series and silent movies (and I'm talking about recently, not 'silent movies' or 'move-ies' as the derivation goes). So what happens when we fill half of a scene with silence, as someone or an anthro someone tries to read the other. What happens when anthros and humans interact, and humans comment on the difficulty of reading cats, while solitude-oriented cats think other species entirely annoying at the level of emoting they do on a regular basis. A cat character raised by a human family tries to detangle how much they simply can't read due to missing the development window and how much is instinctual. A human character raised by dogs is astounded by how much other humans miss. A human character who goes to converse and study mice and learn their language has to be incredibly mindful of any even vaguely threatening tone or behavior on their part. And meanwhile, the audience has discourse among itself . . . did that mysterious character we don't know much about mean this or that by all those different head tilts? Because none of the main cast can figure it out and it's never resolved.

Then you go back to your IRL existence and find yourself starting to pay more attention to the subtleties of your own friends and enemies.

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vulnerablepoet · 1 month ago

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Let’s talk about self-diagnosis. Is it valid ? . Not everyone is privileged enough to get access to professional diagnosis, and there is also a lot of stigma surrounding mental health still to this day, which prevents people from seeking therapy. However, in order to make an accurate diagnosis, extensive research must be done thoroughly. But how exactly? checking off the symptoms from a list,scoring high on an online quiz, or relating to a 15-second TikTok is not enough to make an accurate diagnosis or self-diagnose. And why exactly is that? The answer lies in the overlap of symptoms in various mental disorders.

The first step is to, of course, learn more about the disorder that you suspect you might have. You can read articles on it, which you can find on the internet, and learn about subtypes if it consists of any. You can read books on it (if you prefer reading online with PDFs, oceanofpdf would be my recommendation), you can learn more about it on YouTube, you can follow content creators with the disorder, learn more about the experiences of people with it, and most importantly, check out the DSM-5 (you can find PDFs of it on the internet). From there, you’ll be able to learn about the [Diagnostic Criteria: Specific symptoms required for diagnosing each mental disorder], [Descriptive Text: Information about symptoms, prevalence, development, risk factors, and functional impact], [Cultural Formulation: Guidelines for assessing the cultural context of symptoms], [Environmental Factors: Consideration of external factors affecting mental health], [Emerging Measures and Models: Tools and models for assessing symptom severity and impact], and [Differential Diagnosis: The process of distinguishing a particular condition from others that present similar clinical features].

This brings me to my next point—researching mental disorders that consist of similar symptoms to yours. This is very crucial in order to prevent misdiagnosis and to find out whether another mental health condition better explains your symptoms and experiences, or to determine whether it’s a case of comorbidity.What exactly is comorbidity? [Comorbidity is when more than one disorder is present in an individual].Now, let’s say you’ve gathered enough information about the disorder and similar ones. What’s next? You can keep a journal, either physical or digital, where you record your symptoms and your experiences with them, the severity of those symptoms, and the areas of your life they are impacting. This will not only help you understand your condition better, but also serve as a healthy coping mechanism.

Previously, I had mentioned that checking off the symptoms from a list, scoring high on an online quiz, or relating to a 15-second TikTok does not always mean you have the disorder, and let me explain further. To be diagnosed with a disorder, symptoms must persist over time, cause significant distress or impair daily functioning, be severe enough to warrant clinical attention, not be better explained by other medical conditions or substance use, and meet the specific criteria outlined in diagnostic manuals like the [DSM-5] or [ICD-11]. Symptoms seen in people with a disorder can also be present in people without the disorder because human emotions and behaviors are complex and influenced by various factors such as stress, hormones, life events, or situational changes, which can temporarily trigger similar responses without indicating a chronic or diagnosable condition. Hence, without further research, do not start saying, “Oh, looks like I have this disorder,” because this can be extremely disrespectful to those who have it and know how debilitating it can be. Regardless of whether you have the disorder or not, if you relate to the symptoms, it may be a good idea to look further into it as well as find coping mechanisms to deal with it.

Now, while it’s true that nobody knows you better than you do, and even with the extensive knowledge you gather on the disorder, you cannot undermine the years of training and education a professional has, which they use to diagnose you. If you have access to a professional or can afford one, you can discuss your concerns regarding the disorder with them. I’m not saying to just go up and tell them that you have XYZ condition, but rather share your experiences that are causing significant distress in your day-to-day life and wait for their insights. If you trust them to be open to your thoughts on self-diagnosis, you can, of course, share why you think you have XYZ and ask them if they think it’s the case and if they could further evaluate you for it.Regardless, mental health professionals are human too and are capable of making mistakes, such as a misdiagnosis. However, it’s still a good idea to get checked by a professional if you suspect something. Also, if you’re not fully sure, or when it comes to complex disorders such as PDs, please use the term “suspect” rather than directly implying you have it. It’s not an obligation, just a suggestion.

To conclude, yes, I think, self-diagnosis can be valid if you take these factors into consideration, but there’s no guarantee of its accuracy. Therefore, it must be approached with great sensitivity and careful evaluation.

#self diagnosis #self diagnosers #self dx #mental health #mentally insane #actually mentally ill #mentally unstable #suspected bpd culture is

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aspd-culture · 7 months ago

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Aspd culture is wondering if a diagnosis is even worth it. Like, what are the pros and what are the cons? Are there even any pros? (Anyone who sees this feel free to drop your experiences/opinions)

I hope I can give some insight on this, because I came into this question myself in a place where there were effects on one side that people generally say don't exist.

Cons: So, a lot of people in the cluster b community claim that there is no effect on your ability to be hired if you are diagnosed with ASPD because of HIPAA. This is only mostly true. If you work in certain fields, such as care fields, that require you to be cleared psychologically then you *can* be refused a job on the basis of your ASPD. For me, this is preschool. Now, how it works is not as black and white as "do you have ASPD? Okay f*ck off then". Depending on the place you live, these will change but for my area this is how it works.

The preschool (I believe this would also apply to retirement and nursing homes) can choose one of two ways to get that clearance. They have to provide you access to a work clearance doctor that can perform the clearances, but they can choose, if they want, to allow you to use your own psychiatrist if you have one. That's not required, but some places will because it saves them money, or because they understand that there is nuance to mental health that a 15 minute consult can't give them. If you use your own, they don't have to have a clearance appointment, they just want their clearance paperwork filled out by your doctor indicating if you are cleared to work in the conditions you would be working in.

In your appointment if you go to a work-clearance doctor in my state, you don't have to declare your specific disorders in this time as they aren't allowed to be given to your potential employer anyways. They just get a P/F (pass or fail) for your physical and psychological clearance, potentially with a contingency on a pass. For example, I'm willing to bet that I would be given a contingency if I were to pass with a clearance doctor that I must not discontinue any of my medication without agreement from a doctor on the matter. That makes sense. Whilst I worked in a preschool unmedicated, there is good reason they would be concerned given that my medication list includes a mood stabilizer. I know I'm capable without it, my last job knows I'm capable without it, but *they* don't know I'm capable without it, and they wouldn't want to take that risk (so very reasonable/gen).

For most jobs though, HIPAA is fully protected as there is no reasonable explanation for them needing access to any medical information from you. I don't know the full list, but I'm willing to bet anything working with a weapon would also require this kind of clearance. However, no job that I'm aware of is allowed to discriminate based on your diagnosis which is why there is paperwork explaining the work conditions and asking if you could handle them rather than about your specific mental health details.

Outside of this, you may have issues adopting children or emigrating to another country on the basis of your diagnosis without the conditions that exist for jobs. These *can* but not always *will* deny you purely on the basis of a diagnosis. But, since ASPD is relatively stigmatized, be aware that you will have a greater chance of issues than with a less stigmatized diagnosis.

Expected cons you already likely knew about but warrant repeating is increased risk of ableism both from doctors, courts (if they find out, so mostly large crimes which we don't condone the act of committing here), and people in personal relationships. It won't be everyone - probably less than you'd think but more than you'd hope - but it is almost inevitable that there will be one person you interact with regularly who will be ableist.

Pros: The biggest one here, I won't lie to you, is going to be validation/understanding of yourself and possibly by the people around you if you choose to tell them. Don't underestimate the value of knowing what is going wrong and why, ditto with the value of supportive loved ones knowing that. It makes life easier to a degree you're wouldn't expect. Having care and understanding for yourself can alleviate some flares and soften the blow when you do things you're not proud of. It's not an excuse not to improve, but it makes it easier to give yourself credit where it's due.

The next biggest is going to be treatment, and this is a major step down from the pro above because finding a provider for this is going to be a bit of an undertaking if yours isn't already good about it or if you get diagnosed by a one-time professional (unlikely for any personality disorder). But, if you can find a good one, your professional being able to understand ASPD is going to be a very big deal as far as treatment goes because there are many techniques that simply *do not work* for most people with ASPD. DBT is vastly more effective for cluster b disorders than CBT, and CBT has frustrated many pwASPD out of ever trying treatment again. It will work for some pwASPD because we are not all the same, but it's best to try other things that work better first. Diagnosis also gives a lot of information to good professionals very quickly; rather than spending several expensive sessions for them to figure out "this person has severe trauma, a very irregular and insecure attachment style, a lack of trust in others to the point of paranoia, destructive tendencies for both themselves and their interactions with others, inability to perform normally in social situations, a lack of interest/ability in close relationships, and issues with impulses that need to be addressed as soon as possible", you can get that out all in one diagnostic code and start working on it much faster. This, to me, is a big thing. Therapy takes time, yes, but it can take much less with large, complex issues already mapped out. That's more or less what diagnoses are for, as far as I'm aware; they exist to communicate information quickly without you having to waste time and stress going into detail about it.

Lastly, there are a small number of reasonable accommodations that can be given for ASPD. The main ones you could reasonably ask for are probably going to be things like less rigidity on callouts, avoiding all front-facing interaction, and preference for work positions that operate with indirect management and more freedom vs direct oversight. For these, you are going to want to work with an informed disability advocate! Employers make enough issues about well-known disorders such as anxiety and ADHD without an advocate so please get one if you need accommodations.

The pros and cons are going to be weighed differently for everyone. As someone who is already too disabled to work at the moment, I put value on getting more efficient and personalized treatment above the cons since it would make everything simpler for me to potentially get back to work through treatment vs trying to avoid diagnosis for employability's sake. And I'm mostly unbothered by both personal and medical ableism; I'm happy to say a polite version of f*ck off to personal ableists and willing to report and move on from doctors who are ableist, but it's reasonable if you don't want to do that.

If anyone can think of more for either side, please add on!/gen

Plain text below the cut:

I hope I can give some insight on this, because I came into this question myself in a place where there were effects on one side that people generally say don't exist.

Cons: So, a lot of people in the cluster b community claim that there is no effect on your ability to be hired if you are diagnosed with ASPD because of HIPAA. This is only mostly true. If you work in certain fields, such as care fields, that require you to be cleared psychologically then you can be refused a job on the basis of your ASPD. For me, this is preschool. Now, how it works is not as black and white as "do you have ASPD? Okay f*ck off then". Depending on the place you live, these will change but for my area this is how it works.

In your appointment if you go to a work-clearance doctor in my state, you don't have to declare your specific disorders in this time as they aren't allowed to be given to your potential employer anyways. They just get a P/F (pass or fail) for your physical and psychological clearance, potentially with a contingency on a pass. For example, I'm willing to bet that I would be given a contingency if I were to pass with a clearance doctor that I must not discontinue any of my medication without agreement from a doctor on the matter. That makes sense. Whilst I worked in a preschool unmedicated, there is good reason they would be concerned given that my medication list includes a mood stabilizer. I know I'm capable without it, my last job knows I'm capable without it, but they don't know I'm capable without it, and they wouldn't want to take that risk (so very reasonable/gen).

Outside of this, you may have issues adopting children or emigrating to another country on the basis of your diagnosis without the conditions that exist for jobs. These can but not always will deny you purely on the basis of a diagnosis. But, since ASPD is relatively stigmatized, be aware that you will have a greater chance of issues than with a less stigmatized diagnosis.

The next biggest is going to be treatment, and this is a major step down from the pro above because finding a provider for this is going to be a bit of an undertaking if yours isn't already good about it or if you get diagnosed by a one-time professional (unlikely for any personality disorder). But, if you can find a good one, your professional being able to understand ASPD is going to be a very big deal as far as treatment goes because there are many techniques that simply do not work for most people with ASPD. DBT is vastly more effective for cluster b disorders than CBT, and CBT has frustrated many pwASPD out of ever trying treatment again. It will work for some pwASPD because we are not all the same, but it's best to try other things that work better first. Diagnosis also gives a lot of information to good professionals very quickly; rather than spending several expensive sessions for them to figure out "this person has severe trauma, a very irregular and insecure attachment style, a lack of trust in others to the point of paranoia, destructive tendencies for both themselves and their interactions with others, inability to perform normally in social situations, a lack of interest/ability in close relationships, and issues with impulses that need to be addressed as soon as possible", you can get that out all in one diagnostic code and start working on it much faster. This, to me, is a big thing. Therapy takes time, yes, but it can take much less with large, complex issues already mapped out. That's more or less what diagnoses are for, as far as I'm aware; they exist to communicate information quickly without you having to waste time and stress going into detail about it.

If anyone can think of more for either side, please add on!/gen

#aspd-culture-is #aspd culture is #aspd culture #actually aspd #aspd #aspd awareness #actually antisocial #antisocial personality disorder #aspd traits #diagnosis #self diagnosis is valid #self dx is valid #pro self dx #disability accommodations #anons welcome

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