Yesterday, I talked about the medical model, family/cultural dysfunction, and other things related. Today, I want to expand more on this, but also talk about the social model. What is the social model? Well, first, let’s talk about the medical model. Grossly simplified, it looks at the ‘problem’ and comes up with a way to fix it. For example, if someone has a broken leg, then they would put a cast on it as a way to make it better. Obviously, not everything is that cut and dry, but that’s the basic gist of the medical model. Something is wrong, so we have to find a way to fix it.
There are complications, of course. I mentioned in the last post that there are many biases that influence medical people. Fatphobia is a big one. Also, the fact that the patient is assumed to be a medium-sized white man with no discernible features.
Now. Mental health issues are different because they are not as easy to measure (well….ok. Not the point, Hong. Move on), but treatment follows the same path. Find the problem, say depression, then attempt to fix it. Through medicine or therapy, maybe both.
There has been an explosion of diferent kinds of therapy in the last decade or so. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) has become the darling of therapies, and my cynical side says that it’s in a large part because it’s the easiest to dispense/do.
Focusing on changing behavior is much easier than changing ideas, thoughts, trauma, etc. I have always disliked CBT because the premise is that there is something wrong with the person’s behavior/thoughts/ideas and those need to change. Basically, it ignores strucutural/systemic issues and focuses on the individual. Something is bothering you? It’s your fault or you’re perceiving it incorrectly. Racism? Sexism? Homophobia? Handwaved away.
It’s commonly known that people who are depressed are more broadly perceive the world realistically than people who are more optimistic. Therefore, someone telling a depressed person that it’s all in their head will gain no purchase beacuse the depressed person is more likely than not to be correct.
America is a hellscape right now for social justice rights. That’s my perception, and it depresses the hell out of me. Am I wrong? Nope. Therapy can help me find ways to cope with it, but it cannot change the reality that America is going in the wrong direction.
In additon, I had a shitty childhood. I have a very dysfunctional family. You can’t magic that away or pretend it’s not true. I cannot respect any therapist who won’t acknowledge this.
I’m not here to rant about CBT, however. But I will say that it’s an example of a simplistic model that is used as a one-size-fits-all solution.
When it comes to neurodiversity, well, that’s another thing all together. It was not a known thing until fairly recently. It’s funny because people complain that everyone is neurodivergent these days.
(Then again, the current generation always complains about the next generation. ALWAYS. Without fail. Death, taxes, and moaning about kids today.)
It’s not that more people are neurodivergent these days, but that we are more aware that it’s possible to BE neurodivergent.
Let me explain in my typical roundabout fashion. Back when I was in grade school through college (so the seventies through the nineties, basically), minorities were heavily prodded to blend in and not stick out. The whole melting pot bullshit. (In other words, the minorities were supposed to ‘melt’ into the majority).
It wasn’t until I was in college that Asian women/food suddenly became hot. Then, a decade or two later when it evened out and we were appreciated (and our food) but the Asian women thing chilled a bit. A bit. Not much, but a bit.
After the melting pot idea, we came into the ‘tossed salad’ era. Where elements of the minority cultures are added to the majority culture. In addition to ‘tossing a salad’ being a sex slang, again, the minority cultures were not encouraged to come forth at that time.
It wasn’t until a decade or so ago that DEI really became a thing. It’s still glossed over more often than not now, but it’s at least talked about out loud. And progressives try, bless their hearts. But it’s still very much in the nascent stage of truly accepting diversity. Let’s not even talk about gender identity because I don’t think we’ll get past the binary in my lifetime. Not in any meaningful way.
K and I have this discussion all the time. She thinks that ‘they’ as the default pronoun will happen in our lifetime. She also thinks gendered pronouns will fall by the wayside during her college-age kid’s lifetime. I think she’s way too optimistic. The former will probably happen in her kid’s lifetime, but not ours. As for the latter, it’ll probably take another generation–if at all.
I’m not against gendered pronouns for people who find value in them. I just don’t. And I think if we didn’t live in a world that emphasizes such rigid gender roles (both in America and worldwide, but in different ways), then gender labels wouldn’t be important.
But again, that is a whole different post. One I’ve done before and one I’ll do again. But not going to do it now.
What was I talking about. Oh yeah! Neurodiversity. Here’s the thing. Whatveer is going on with me has been happening my whole life. Which means fifty-plus years. It isn’t that I suddenly became neurodivergent in my fifties–it’s that I only started to realize it fairly recently. About a decade ago, I suspected that I might have ADHD, but I was stopped by the fact that I did not have all the symptoms. And, what’s emphasized all the fucking time? The hyperactive part. Which I most emphatically am not. Plus, I have hyperfocus, which is something I did not know was part of ADHD until someone with it told me about it.
I’m tired. It’s late. I will talk more about this tomorrow. Or later.