Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Normal Health

A lot of attention has come to the DSM and the criticism that they are pathologizing everything, including the parts that fall well within normal (I remember being told that a lack of any neurosis is seriously abnormal ).  The question is usually: what negative affects on mental health does this view of mental health cause?
I wonder how much the same could be said of medicine.  Science "knows" there is a cause (when, of course, some chronic disease might be viewed as emergent) and so it keeps defining, as do other (shall we say...less scientific) folks trying to speak in the accepted language of the time.  Sick House, Fibromyalgia, general autoimmune disorders.  I think that we live in a weak enough way that these could all grow from this unhealthy relationship with the world.  But dammit, what about just being sickly... surely that happens some time... is it actually something "wrong" with that person or has science once again confused theory with practice and is hurting us with its comparison to it's fantasy ideal?

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