kiss and tell

GO OFF BESTIE

i HATE self-censorship for a lot of reasons, but being in crisis work makes it even more frustrating. who are you censoring for? like i am being so fr, WHO are you censoring for? have you even thought it through? people who have been raped know that they have been raped. if someone attempts suicide or is grieving someone who did, saying "sewer slide" isn't going to protect them from any of the feelings. a murder victim's family isn't going to feel better bc you said "unalived" instead of murdered. if anything, it's just extremely invalidating and othering. it's saying "what happened to you is so bad that i won't even say the word," which is NOT trauma-informed care. you are not protecting survivors/victims when you self-censor. the ONLY things you protect when you self-censor are the puritanical ideologies that are being encouraged by rich fascists who want your money and obedience

since the pandemic, we have been seeing a rise in self diagnosers, most prominently when it came to did, tourettes, or autism. i do think a part of that is influenced by the barnum effect or people's tendencies to be a part of a community which is fine, it is merely human psychology. but something else that has been happening is people will find a disorder that they believe they identify with, they will research said disorder to no end, and when it comes time to be face to face with a mental health professional, they will know exactly what to say in order to get their desired diagnosis. they know the vocabulary and they are very good at shaping their answers to fit expected outcomes. mental health professionals do evaluate a patient objectively but they also have to rely heavily on history that is self reported. so of course a misdiagnosis can easily happen.

a misdiagnosis is extremely dangerous when paired with pharmaceuticals. if a person who is misdiagnosed with adhd starts taking stimulants, they can go into extreme paranoia, especially if what they actually have is anxiety. the actual root cause is left untreated with the potential to get worse. they will never get the proper treatment required for the things that are actually going on.