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[-] Juice@midwest.social 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

My daughter struggles with various health issues, and gets frustrated when people bandwagon health conditions to like valorize what, to her, has amounted to lifelong pain, inability to work, surgery and recovery. I sympathize with this frustration, but I think there's different social problems that manifest as valorizing health struggles.

If you could please provide specific instances where increased awareness and identification of symptoms was a net negative, compared to the problems caused by widespread cultural (hegemonic) suppression of people's identification with their own experiences, that would help me see your perspective. Because to me, who has experienced acutely the other side, your gripe seems hypothetical and functions (probably unintentionally) as part of a movement to continue to suppress peoples identification with their own experiences.

Like why do you even care (serious question)? Have you or somebody you know failed to get sufficient treatment as a result of individual misidentification? I think if someone is identifying with mental health issues in a way that misidentifies the disorder, that isnt behavior of a healthy, well adjusted and socially active person. Isn't it worthwhile to try and determine why someone might be experiencing a need that would drive them to misidentify with a health problem? If the cause is chronic loneliness, social media addiction, identity crisis, etc., that person should be encouraged to seek help for their experiences, not told they are faking it. That just moves the suppression of experiences away from these few conditions that previously went undiagnosed, into new forms of gas lighting that ensure people don't receive the help they need.

Like, I'm not really convinced that a lot of disorders are really all that negative by nature. In extreme cases, yes; but my ADHD might not have manifested depressive symptoms if there wasn't like devastating consequences to missing a utility payment, forgetting to pay a speeding ticket, mixing up days of my chaotic work schedule, etc. Its like there are all these people who don't fit in a rigid and punitive society, who are creative and kind and energetic, but get fucked over because fucking people over with bureaucracy is a time-honored way to make money. Which justifies the existence of the punitive society, by erasing the subjective reality of the individuals who make it up.

So all of the contradictions that emerge from having a human species that manifests individuals uniquely with incredible talents and possibility, being forced into a society that enforces an unrealistic ideal "neuro-normality" and punishes the rest, the consequences get shunted onto the individual (itself a socially/historically contingent definition). Society needs to take responsibility for the problems it creates for people. Silencing people just prevents them from talking to each other about our experiences, sharing struggles and identifying each other through them. And that social attitude doesn't benefit us, it benefits the bosses who make money by keeping us disorganized and suffering alone.

this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2026
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