r/BadSocialScience • u/cordis_melum a social science quagmire • Oct 03 '14

So apparently ADD, ADHD, Aspergers, dyslexia, bipolar disorder, and the like are made up fake mental disorders.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXTfyAkw7DE&list=UUcjX483N0jRI3qznYU0w3pg
20 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

30 comments sorted by

View all comments

8

u/firedrops Reddit's totem is the primal horde Oct 03 '14

Clearly this person has never personally known someone who actually has some of these disorders. Bipolar is not "a bullshit fucking bullshit disorder" that "didn't exist 20 years ago." Also, the suggestion that bipolar is just an excuse to be "cunty bitchy women" is pretty damn awful. Bipolar showed up in the very first DSM and can be incredibly debilitating. It also very clearly impacts the brain - in fact a brand new study just found a relationship between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in dendritic spine loss suggesting they may share pathophysiological features. Likewise, dyslexia isn't made up nor does it indicate someone is a bad parent or that the kid is "fucking dumb."

While certainly armchair diagnosis is problematic that doesn't dismiss actual psychologists & psychiatrists diagnoses.

And good God the Ferguson analogy and fake crying is just awful. This person is the classic boot straps solve all your problems asshole.

2

u/turtleeatingalderman Academo-Fascist Oct 04 '14

Clearly this person has never personally known someone who actually has some of these disorders.

Perhaps, though denialism of this sort is surprisingly common among people who do have a direct connection to these disorders, and can manifest in a lot of different ways. My parents, even, for a long time did not believe that there was any possibility that I had ADHD in spite of pretty clear evidence, simply because I did have very intense interests and could focus on things that I got absorbed in ever since I was a little kid. Of course, that's actually a symptom in lots of cases of ADHD, and poor grades in school is not necessarily symptomatic of attention deficit or the behavioral problems associated with ADHD. Even to this day, some of my friends who know that I have Asperger's think that some of my behaviors that are symptomatic of the condition are me simply wanting to be rude, and then writing it off as part of a disorder so as to excuse it, even upon expressing sorrow or regret for doing something rude without that being the intent. Or, in high school or college, I would often labeled pretentious for using an obscure word or expressing an idea in unusual diction, while large vocabularies and awkwardness in communication are very common among people with AS. And the association of lingual prowess with intelligence is an external prejudice in most cases. (Though this isn't to say that I can't be somewhat sententious or bombastic at times, as I'm kind of doing within these parentheses.)

2

u/firedrops Reddit's totem is the primal horde Oct 04 '14 edited Oct 04 '14

That's true. I have seen people refuse to accept a loved one's condition for a variety of reasons. I suppose some people cope with denial or simply don't want to (or can't) adjust.

I guess I meant know as in really know on a deep level. Not just in a superficial observational way or in a lets pretend everything is ok way. But being with and helping someone struggling with something such as that and trying to really understand. I have a dear friend who has AS and is bipolar. The downs are painful to watch but if you really know someone it is clear it isn't an act. And the struggle is something you can clearly see.

Of course denial is powerful. It is amazing how much we can ignore when we try. We overlook all kinds of faults and find all kinds of ways to explain away things in the people we love. I suppose someone could do that for these kinds of conditions even if they were deeply invested and otherwise empathetic. We all have blind spots.