When Doctors Thought ‘Wanderlust’ Was a Psychological Condition
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When Doctors Thought ‘Wanderlust’ Was a Psychological Condition
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Re: When Doctors Thought ‘Wanderlust’ Was a Psychological Condition
#2Aren't most mental disorders just behaviors that differ from the norm and make it difficult for those people to function in everyday society? Some cultures wouldn't recognize some things as a disorder if it wasn't difficult for those people.
My point being that I don't understand where you draw the line. If someone had such a need to wander the world that it meant that they couldn't live properly in modern society then it seems as much of a mental disorder than most others.
Re: When Doctors Thought ‘Wanderlust’ Was a Psychological Condition
#3Aren't most mental disorders just behaviors that differ from the norm and make it difficult for those people to function in everyday society? Some cultures wouldn't recognize some things as a disorder if it wasn't difficult for those people. My point being that I don't understand where you draw the line. If someone had such a need to wander the world that it meant that they couldn't live properly in modern society th…
>Some cultures wouldn't recognize some things as a disorder if it wasn't difficult for those people.
There are a few mental disorders like that, but it's important to bear in mind that most of them (major depression, mid to low functioning autism, anxiety, schizophrenia, and so on) lead to objectively reduced functioning independent of society and a lot of suffering in whoever has them. It's not something to be romanticized.
Re: When Doctors Thought ‘Wanderlust’ Was a Psychological Condition
#4Aren't most mental disorders just behaviors that differ from the norm and make it difficult for those people to function in everyday society? Some cultures wouldn't recognize some things as a disorder if it wasn't difficult for those people. My point being that I don't understand where you draw the line. If someone had such a need to wander the world that it meant that they couldn't live properly in modern society th…
> make it difficult for those people to function in everyday society?
They normally add in "and causes the person distress".
Re: When Doctors Thought ‘Wanderlust’ Was a Psychological Condition
#5Aren't most mental disorders just behaviors that differ from the norm and make it difficult for those people to function in everyday society? Some cultures wouldn't recognize some things as a disorder if it wasn't difficult for those people. My point being that I don't understand where you draw the line. If someone had such a need to wander the world that it meant that they couldn't live properly in modern society th…
> Some cultures wouldn't recognize some things as a disorder if it wasn't difficult for those people. There are a few mental disorders like that, but it's important to bear in mind that most of them (major depression, mid to low functioning autism, anxiety, schizophrenia, and so on) lead to objectively reduced functioning independent of society and a lot of suffering in whoever has them. It's not something to be roma…
Would you happen to know if there is some classification difference between a mental disorder that may involve some kind of chemical imbalance and a personality disorder which would be more like having a personality that makes daily life difficult? I feel like they get lumped together, but maybe I'm just ignorant about how these terms are used.
Re: When Doctors Thought ‘Wanderlust’ Was a Psychological Condition
#6Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Some cultures wouldn't recognize some things as a disorder if it wasn't difficult for those people. There are a few mental disorders like that, but it's important to bear in mind that most of them (major depression, mid to low functioning autism, anxiety, schizophrenia, and so on) lead to objectively reduced functioning independent of society and a lot of suffering in whoever has them. It's not something to be roma…
Would you happen to know if there is some classification difference between a mental disorder that may involve some kind of chemical imbalance and a personality disorder which would be more like having a personality that makes daily life difficult? I feel like they get lumped together, but maybe I'm just ignorant about how these terms are used.
Here is a link describing the categories. They are divided up into AMI (any mental illness) and SMI (serious mental illness). Illnesses categorized in AMI may even involve no impariment, those are probably what people are referring to when they talk about fresh air and a walk being the best medicine.
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness.sh...
Re: When Doctors Thought ‘Wanderlust’ Was a Psychological Condition
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Some cultures wouldn't recognize some things as a disorder if it wasn't difficult for those people. There are a few mental disorders like that, but it's important to bear in mind that most of them (major depression, mid to low functioning autism, anxiety, schizophrenia, and so on) lead to objectively reduced functioning independent of society and a lot of suffering in whoever has them. It's not something to be roma…
Would you happen to know if there is some classification difference between a mental disorder that may involve some kind of chemical imbalance and a personality disorder which would be more like having a personality that makes daily life difficult? I feel like they get lumped together, but maybe I'm just ignorant about how these terms are used.
> that may involve some kind of chemical imbalance
This mostly doesn't exist.
> a personality disorder which would be more like having a personality that makes daily life difficult?
Go careful with that. People with the dx have usually been harmed by early childhood abuse (although there's some difference between UK and US diagnosing) and many people with the dx feel it's an entirely unhelpful construct.
Re: When Doctors Thought ‘Wanderlust’ Was a Psychological Condition
#8Aren't most mental disorders just behaviors that differ from the norm and make it difficult for those people to function in everyday society? Some cultures wouldn't recognize some things as a disorder if it wasn't difficult for those people. My point being that I don't understand where you draw the line. If someone had such a need to wander the world that it meant that they couldn't live properly in modern society th…
> Some cultures wouldn't recognize some things as a disorder if it wasn't difficult for those people. There are a few mental disorders like that, but it's important to bear in mind that most of them (major depression, mid to low functioning autism, anxiety, schizophrenia, and so on) lead to objectively reduced functioning independent of society and a lot of suffering in whoever has them. It's not something to be roma…
There is also the converse - what is accepted as "normal" or even praised as a virtue is harmful and destructive.
To give real examples smoking was normal, as was pedestray and ironically the Roman gladiatoral combat which is considered peak decadence was intended to combat decadence!
Normal is a pretty shitty heuristic for being good.
Re: When Doctors Thought ‘Wanderlust’ Was a Psychological Condition
#9Aren't most mental disorders just behaviors that differ from the norm and make it difficult for those people to function in everyday society? Some cultures wouldn't recognize some things as a disorder if it wasn't difficult for those people. My point being that I don't understand where you draw the line. If someone had such a need to wander the world that it meant that they couldn't live properly in modern society th…
> make it difficult for those people to function in everyday society? They normally add in "and causes the person distress".
The standard formulation in the DSM stipulates that symptoms should cause "clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning". About half of the listed disorders contain this clinical significance stipulation. Given the inherently subjective nature of psychiatric diagnostic criteria, the authors of the DSM have gone to a reasonable effort to avoid pathologising healthy eccentricity.
Re: When Doctors Thought ‘Wanderlust’ Was a Psychological Condition
#10Aren't most mental disorders just behaviors that differ from the norm and make it difficult for those people to function in everyday society? Some cultures wouldn't recognize some things as a disorder if it wasn't difficult for those people. My point being that I don't understand where you draw the line. If someone had such a need to wander the world that it meant that they couldn't live properly in modern society th…
I would go one step further by now- nearly all mental "disorders" make perfect sense as adaption to one or another state in a swinging habitat.
What we would declare a psychotic killer, is perfectly adaptet to a humanity locked into a state of constant strife. In such a world, actually not beeing a psychotic killer is "mentally sick" as in - bad adapted to the circumstances. As with all adaptions to circumstances, one trys to keep the circumstances optimal for ones own adaption. Meaning, someone adaptet to strife, will try to keep the environment stable, preventing the return of peacefull times- where they must subsist on institutional cruelty and torturing animals. Humanity is legacy hardware.