functional vs well

[firecat]

"When You're 'Too Functional' to Have Your Mental Illness Taken Seriously"
by Karen Lowinger. This is a brief article, but it sent me on a bunch of ruminations about my life before I formally sought treatment for my mental disorders and how I and others viewed my functionality. Never mind other people taking me seriously; even I bought into the myth that because I was able to outwardly function as an adult, I didn't have anything I needed treatment for.

Comments

[bibliofile]

...even I bought into the myth that because I was able to outwardly function as an adult, I didn't have anything I needed treatment for.

Argh. It's bad enough to have to argue with/convince the healthcare people, that having to argue with/convince yourself? Gah, I say.

Thanks for the link; I'll read it tomorrow.

[ironed_orchid]

I added functionality is sometimes a symptom, depending on the illness and the person.

I know this symptom very well, both in myself and others who insist they don't need help.

[sabotabby]

This is me. Well enough to work, not well enough to feel human outside of work.

[tiger_spot]

Co-signed.

[snippy]

I have been making this point in another social medium, with a focus on how it's a fault of the society we have built that so many people have what they think are individual problems. The system wants us to push ourselves so hard until we fail completely, so we won't notice how awful the system is.

ETA: which is also my way of avoiding dealing with the fact that it takes everything I have to be able to work, and there is nothing left but work, and preparing for work (keeping myself healthy, rested, taking meds, going to the appropriate doctor appointments, etc.) and no energy or executive function or brain left for a personal life beyond the most passive consumption of tv, movies, and video games.

[firecat]

It didn't even occur to me to argue.

[firecat]

ayup

[firecat]

:-(

[firecat]

:-(

[firecat]

it's a fault of the society we have built that so many people have what they think are individual problems.

YES, it's a fault, but as far as whatever evil entities built society like this are concerned, it's a feature.

You deserve a personal life.

[johnpalmer]

I got lucky. In my 20s, I realized the world couldn't be like *me*, because if it was, the Empire State Building would have been too flippin' tiring to build and capped at 50, 60 stories, tops. (Yeah, I know - but if explanations are exact, what's a metaphor?)

I wasn't normal, I couldn't be, because the world didn't fit "this is normal". It still took a hell of a long time to figure out CFS. (Then again, CFS is tricky as blazes - primary fatigue isn't normal, and it's a symptom of, well, *everything*.)

It might "help" that on my bad days I just barely remember what my good days are like, *but* have a good sense of how different they are. Like, I love to laugh at the many absurdities of life. I don't laugh very much when fatigued.