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Nobody has a personality anymore: we are products with labels

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Re: Nobody has a personality anymore: we are products with labels

#111

Post by cheschire »

Retric wrote: post #89
zug_zug wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting because there are two diametrically opposed ways to interpret what you said One is - everybody thinks they have disorders, so just ignore that feeling it'll mess with you. The other is - everybody thinks they have minor version of disorders, because we all do, we live on continuums, and therefore we should probably all think about it more

Disorders are labels for things which significantly negatively impact people’s lives. Thinking of them in terms of a spectrum generally means stretching a label past the point of meaning.

So it’s a 1 or a 0? The kid is either full autistic or just a socially maladjusted asshole? No room for a middle ground with you then?

Re: Nobody has a personality anymore: we are products with labels

#112

Post by bbminner »

nemo wrote: post #12

I'm suspicious of the use of "we" here since I don't feel like I'm a part of this discourse. Also: >Now you are always late to things not because you are lovably forgetful In the past from, say, 30-40 years ago, if you failed to arrive at appointments and meetings on time you probably weren't labeled "lovably forgetful," and you probably would face punishments for having certain personality traits. We're changing in…

As another example, I was treated horribly by a ex-spouce for years, and for some reason I didn't leave, and only covered up for my spouce's bad behavior. Retrospectively it was destructive, but in the moment it felt like the right thing to do (in a very roundabout way). I don't want this to happen again, so I'm trying to understand and catch behaviors that got me there in the first place.

But if we drop the false nostalgia and think of about the overall "we think too much and feel too little" sentiment - i can relate to that.

Re: Nobody has a personality anymore: we are products with labels

#113

Post by Paracompact »

hresvelgr wrote: post #53

The lovable aphorisms we had for people with character quirks were largely from our original support systems. What no one is talking about is the reason therapy-talk has become so pervasive is because all those support systems: family, friends, and local communities (religious or otherwise), have all degraded so severely for most that therapy is the only option for reaching out and getting help.

I agree, though possibly for different reasons. Those support systems may or may not be weaker than they were in generations past, but they are certainly more likely to say "I can't help you, go get professional help" than in the past.

In some ways this is a good thing. It is good if bipolar people get the medication they need faster, and can start living their best lives. But as someone who almost died to depression, the "help" out there is criminal. It is not a disease we have a cure for, in fact it's not clear to me it's even a disease in most sufferers, but a healthy and rational response to societal decay. I do not believe some disorders will ever be satisfactorily explained by individual-centric medicine, in the same way history will never be satisfactorily explained by great man theory.

Re: Nobody has a personality anymore: we are products with labels

#114

Post by rf15 »

mosquitobiten wrote: post #64
colechristensen wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're trying to explain everything but what they're actually doing is labelling everything with dubious labels and then putting social pressure on people to act like their labels. Under the guise of acceptance they're alienating everybody from each other by trying to put everybody into a bucket. It's best to notice this kind of thing but not put too much energy into refuting it because it's just not where conversat…

Haven't we been doing exactly what you say since like forever? Aren't "asshole" or "creep" or "nice" just labels coined a long time ago that already distort someones actual behavior or some situation between 2 people? Or used for being mocked or commended? I say at least in current times the new generations are expanding that vocabulary in trying to be more precise but the people that are more of a following type kee…

Yes, but this time it's with the veneer of scientific legitimacy.

Re: Nobody has a personality anymore: we are products with labels

#115

Post by GuB-42 »

bevr1337 wrote: post #98
GuB-42 wrote: post #87

I think what (may have) changed is that we now have "acceptable" labels. ADHD is fine, autism is fine, alcoholism, schizophrenia, not great, pedophilia, very very bad, even if you have never acted on a child. I don't remember past "acceptable" pathologies, or what was considered a pathology back then, it included being gay. It you have a pathology, then you are mad, and if you are mad, then you lose your rights, at b…

>Now: you are diagnosed as autistic, you get welfare benefits I wish I lived in this reality. It sounds like a utopia over there.

It is not utopia, it is my country, France. And while public healthcare looks better than in the US, it is absolutely not a utopia, from understaffing, bureaucracy and fraud, it is not without problems, even putting aside how much it costs in taxes.

But the idea is: in current society, for some pathologies / personality traits, you are better off with the label than without the label, so people will seek the label rather than avoid it, they would be crazy not to...

Re: Nobody has a personality anymore: we are products with labels

#116

Post by zug_zug »

rf15 wrote: post #110
zug_zug wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting because there are two diametrically opposed ways to interpret what you said One is - everybody thinks they have disorders, so just ignore that feeling it'll mess with you. The other is - everybody thinks they have minor version of disorders, because we all do, we live on continuums, and therefore we should probably all think about it more

there's a third: everyone wants to feel special and also takes any excuse to not have to work on their flawed habits

There's an odd presumption there...

It sounds like you're presuming those who put a label on themselves don't want to change themselves at all; one could also imagine that those who put a label on themselves want to change themselves most of all

Re: Nobody has a personality anymore: we are products with labels

#117

Post by Yossarrian22 »

cheschire wrote: post #111
Retric wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disorders are labels for things which significantly negatively impact people’s lives. Thinking of them in terms of a spectrum generally means stretching a label past the point of meaning.

So it’s a 1 or a 0? The kid is either full autistic or just a socially maladjusted asshole? No room for a middle ground with you then?

It’s a 1 if it goes above 0.6

Re: Nobody has a personality anymore: we are products with labels

#119

Post by Retric »

cheschire wrote: post #111
Retric wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disorders are labels for things which significantly negatively impact people’s lives. Thinking of them in terms of a spectrum generally means stretching a label past the point of meaning.

So it’s a 1 or a 0? The kid is either full autistic or just a socially maladjusted asshole? No room for a middle ground with you then?

That’t not it, what many disorders are describing isn’t just the obvious symptoms.

ICE engines heat up because they burn fuel, but if it’s overheating in normal operation that’s from something else breaking down.

Not that people are so simple, but that transition point to disorder often represents a meaningful transition.

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