Diagnosis & Fear

Humans have the capacity to communicate through spoken language. We also give clues as to how we feel through facial expression & body language. We are unique. We also have the brain capacity to be able to think & understand all of these & more.

What has that to do with Diagnosis? 

I am beginning to think that our need to have a name, a diagnosis of a medical condition, might occasionally not be advantageous. I wonder if it is too simplistic. Obviously if you have a cancer it is important to know what type & hopefully get it early when it is treatable. That must be true of many conditions. In order to treat successfully medics need to know what they are dealing with.

I think I am concerned more about "neurodivergence" & "mental health" issues. I do wonder if we are given a label we live up to that label. If I have a physical diagnosis there is usually strong scientific evidence for that diagnosis. Hopefully if the diagnosis is correct the treatment will help, if not cure. 

Empiric evidence - which is based on experience, without precise knowledge of the cause or nature of the disorder is less reliable & is dependent on the skill & experience of the practitioner. We have devised question & answer tests for neurodivergence, but is that reliable? Divergence & difference is actually normal.

I think my point is that human beings are incredibly complex systems which include physiology & psychology. What we are at birth, our genes, can be modified by experiences - Nature & Nurture. The thing that troubles me today is that we have become very risk averse. Parents are more afraid for their children than in my childhood. Children don't have the freedom & life experience that I did & actually my daughter did too. 

We have also become more culturally afraid. I actually think that the public is being kept in a state of permanenet fear by politics worldwide. We are afraid of the international situation, (wars, rogue leaders...), climate change, food, water & energy security, privatised services not working, the list is endless. We are made to feel powerless. Cynically I believe that this is deliberate at some level, so that the powerful can retain that power by convincing us we need them to solve everyhting. 

All of this is perpetuated by the press & media that constantly bombarding us with the current news reason to be afraid. There is endless diagnosis of whatever that is, with "experts" being hauled in to give their views, which are mostly pure speculation. It might happen, but the chances are it won't. How much postitive news do we hear?

I do think my parents generation & my generation were more resiliant. Shit happens, we understood that & we got on with it. We didn't expect or get a diagnosis or a label to put on it. We knew we just had to deal with it.