Psychology of a Self-Diagnosing, Exaggerating Generation

[Lexicon]

Most people seem to do it wrong, though.

The internet is power. With great power comes great dumb.

 

[prplchknz]

well even with convential diagnoses you can still be mis-diagnosed, like i'm convinced i was and because of it, i know longer have rights and get treated like i can't take care of myself. it's very demeaning.

 

[prplchknz]

The internet is power. With great power comes great dumb.

with great dumb comes 15 kids and poverty

 

[Lexicon]

with great dumb comes 15 kids and poverty

[YOUTUBE="icmRCixQrx8"][/YOUTUBE]

 

[Orangey]

Good! What was the operation?

I divined it from the ether.

 

[Quay]

The internet is power. With great power comes great dumb.

 

[Wolfie]

Are you using the term diagnosis strictly in the medical sense, or do you just mean you notice people labelling themeselves, more?

I ask mainly because introversion's not a mental illness in the sense of an unhealthy psychiatric condition, it's just a pattern of behavior and understanding of what energizes an individual.

I do not mean strictly in the medical sense.

 

[Wolfie]

I think there is a distinct tendency (nowadays or always, I don't really know) to believe that "normal" exists. When someone feels they are sad or can't sleep or can't concentrate, that's not normal. They automatically think, "What's wrong with me?" And they want to believe it is some condition they suffer from, not that life is just shitty and you feel all sorts of uncomfortable things as a result of it. They will say, "Oh I have depression. I have insomnia. I have ADD. I need to get treated for this so I can be normal."

Fair enough if you actually have the condition, but I think probably only a fraction of those who claim to suffer from these things actually do. You don't have depression if you're sad sometimes. You aren't an insomniac if you stay up late on your computer and don't feel like sleeping. You don't have ADD just being you can't always concentrate or get distracted sometimes.

Have you heard of Seasonal Affective Disorder?

 

[Mole]

Pop Psychology in the Electronic Age

Since the invention of the electronic telegraph in 1840 we have been moving from an exploding literate society to an imploding electronic society.

And as we implode, we impode into each other and into ourselves. And so we become vitally interested in understanding ourselves and others - and that is why almost all are here for mbti.

And as we implode electronically into ourselves we look inward and create the therapeutic society.

And the therapeutic society is to ease us from literate individualism to electronic tribalism.

So welcome to the electronic tribe of Typology Central where we understand ourselves through pop psychlogy and mbti.

 

[Such Irony]

I've noticed alot of people will say they have OCD or ADD. It seems like people have an OCD or ADD moment and claim they have the disorder. Well most people are obsessive compulsive about something and most people have lapses of attention every now and then. It doesn't mean you have the disorder. It's hard to know if these people are really being serious or not when they say they have something like OCD. It may be just some peoples way of poking fun at themselves. On the other hand, I do think people tend to over self-diagnose. Is it human nature to want to put a label on things? How is putting on an MBTI type label any different?

 

[Thalassa]

Psychology is the new religion, it's as simple as that.

Also, being someone who actually is from a working class family where there actually were truly dysfunctional people, and I have a subsequent issue which I am in counseling for, I will honestly say that I do find a lot of spoiled, sheltered middle class brats kind of whiny and if I had the inclination, I'd like to introduce them to people with real problems.

But I'm too busy living my life to even socialize with those people, so mostly I just mock them on the Internet.

 

[jcloudz]

damn you webmd!!!!!

 

[CzeCze]

I tend not to take people literally on things like this, and play it by ear/observe. We're all capable of stumbling into lexical pitfalls from time to time.

:alarm:

Every time you somewhat reference your name, do we win a prize?

To answer the question, yes I think the millenials are considered things like more selfish and more individualistic and also more wired than any other generation. I think you guys grew up around A LOT more pop culture noise and youth advertising aimed specifically at you than any before you so you picked up on the hyperbole and also probably grew up with A LOOOOOT more exposure to pharmaceutical/mental health talk and also advertisements.

When I went to Taste of Chicago a few years ago, there was a big yellow tent with the words ADHD on it. There was some company giving people questionnaires that proved you had ADHD (everyone has it, you know ) and then they'd give you this neon yellow backpack that said ADHD on it and also sell your information to their pharmaceutical list or whoever they were hustling for. I thought it was hilarious. Why the hell would you walk around advertising that you have ADHD, or Eczma, or Erectile Dysfunction? But this is the day and age that we live in and the generation that came of age in it is the mirror of those changes... Or something...

BTW, [MENTION=16164]Wolfie[/MENTION] I was assuming by 'my generation' you meant Millenials. Or whatever comes right after that. I'm losing track these days.

 

[Cellmold]

[YOUTUBE="icmRCixQrx8"][/YOUTUBE]

Id laugh at that film more if it wasn't so scary.

 

[WALMART]

do you not feel... wolfie....

that in your haste to whitewash a generation, you have become what you hate?


i don't know your age, but i know many intelligent, bright young adults (i'm assuming you're speaking of young adults). you're probably just abnormally cynical about the human condition for your age.

 

[Totenkindly]

do you not feel... wolfie....
that in your haste to whitewash a generation, you have become what you hate?

If you're just referring to the opening post (I haven't read the others she might have written), how is she supposed to ask the question? It's not she called them all "narcissists", she just said people are using self-diagnostic terms as if they are actual diagnoses, where in reality people are just mislabeling themselves.

There's actually some harm in this, I think, in terms of people labeling themselves in categories, in terms of having bad tendencies they feel they can't fix because they are "OCD" or "narcissists" or whatever elese, and in terms of treating people with serious, true forms of those syndromes with respect rather than just sloughing them off.

(For example, being "clinically depressed" is not just "being sad," so when people mislabel their own sad periods as actual depression, then they tend to expect people who are clinically depressed to "just get over it" and not understand how much more SEVERE a REAL diagnosis is.)

i don't know your age, but i know many intelligent, bright young adults (i'm assuming you're speaking of young adults). you're probably just abnormally cynical about the human condition for your age.

I don't know your age, but I think I'm probably a lot older than you, and I found her question legitimate rather than cynical.

I think the Internet does have something to do with it -- basically a bunch of knowledge without the real-life context to understand what particular problems actually LOOK like in real life, coupled with people's desires to label themselves and their personality/characteristics in shorthand for easy summarization.

 

[WALMART]

If you're just referring to the opening post (I haven't read the others she might have written), how is she supposed to ask the question? It's not she called them all "narcissists", she just said people are using self-diagnostic terms as if they are actual diagnoses, where in reality people are just mislabeling themselves.

There's actually some harm in this, I think, in terms of people labeling themselves in categories, in terms of having bad tendencies they feel they can't fix because they are "OCD" or "narcissists" or whatever elese, and in terms of treating people with serious, true forms of those syndromes with respect rather than just sloughing them off.

(For example, being "clinically depressed" is not just "being sad," so when people mislabel their own sad periods as actual depression, then they tend to expect people who are clinically depressed to "just get over it" and not understand how much more SEVERE a REAL diagnosis is.)



I don't know your age, but I think I'm probably a lot older than you, and I found her question legitimate rather than cynical.

I think the Internet does have something to do with it -- basically a bunch of knowledge without the real-life context to understand what particular problems actually LOOK like in real life, coupled with people's desires to label themselves and their personality/characteristics in shorthand for easy summarization.

i just feel like it's a question that could have been repeated throughout all of history, albeit in differing context.

i don't know, maybe i lack depth.


sigh, sorry being a jerk, wolfie.

 

[garbage]

If they mean it in jest, fine.

If they really have the condition, fine.

If they take some damn responsibility for their condition (or 'condition') and refuse to use it as an excuse--or, hell, even embrace it or turn it into a strength--great.

i just feel like it's a question that could have been repeated throughout all of history, albeit in differing context.

I'm inclined to believe this, but I don't have anything to back it up. I'd be pretty damn certain that people have referred to themselves as alcoholics, insomniacs, or poor throughout history, though.

I'd love to learn more about self-loathing through the ages

 

[WALMART]

If they mean it in jest, fine.

If they really have the condition, fine.

If they take some damn responsibility for their condition (or 'condition') and refuse to use it as an excuse--or, hell, even embrace it or turn it into a strength--great.


I'm inclined to believe this, but I don't have anything to back it up. I'd be pretty damn certain that people have referred to themselves as alcoholics, insomniacs, or poor throughout history, though.

I'd love to learn more about self-loathing through the ages

Don't ask why, but this scene popped into my head reading your post -

Witness the violence inherent in the system!

 

[Cellmold]

I think the Internet does have something to do with it -- basically a bunch of knowledge without the real-life context to understand what particular problems actually LOOK like in real life, coupled with people's desires to label themselves and their personality/characteristics in shorthand for easy summarization.

You just outlined the problem with anything exposed to the internet.

This theory is often a great example of this same warping effect. Of course it also goes on in real life as well. But it is easier to see on the internet.