I think there's more than a little romanticism to it as well. There's that whole crazy,tormented artist , 'touched by fire' thing. There's the notion that left to themselves and free of their opressors, mental patients would have a delightfully eccentric, colourful community a la King of Hearts and live in a state of edenic contentment.
On one hand, it's not a bad coping strategy to be able to think of oneself that way rather than in negative terms but, I think it's something of a trap to think of creativity , individuality, or enhanced/different sensory experience, being necessarily linked to entirely unpleasant and debilitating things like depression, self-harming impulses, paranoia or agoraphobia.
It's exactly that kind of thinking that made me really hesitant to try medication for my condition. I had a fear that it would take something away from me that was essential to my identity. I asked friends who appreciated that side of me keep to an eye on me for that reason. I'm very happy to say that when I finally found useful treatment, it most certainly didnt turn me 'normal' suppress any desirable aspects of my personality or diminish my creativity in the least. If anything, all the aspects that I liked about my different way of experiencing the world were magnified because the self-consciousness, depression and out of control feelings were mostly removed or at least manageable.
I understand that for many people useful treatment isn't yet available and the existing options are frequently worse than nothing. I know I got particularly lucky. My point is that treatment that retains and even enhances all the positives someone might think of as part of the mental illness package is ultimately possible. That's what makes a trend towards embracing the whole package as inseperable or having some kind of causal relationship disturbing.
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Date: 2012-06-26 12:53 pm (UTC)On one hand, it's not a bad coping strategy to be able to think of oneself that way rather than in negative terms but, I think it's something of a trap to think of creativity , individuality, or enhanced/different sensory experience, being necessarily linked to entirely unpleasant and debilitating things like depression, self-harming impulses, paranoia or agoraphobia.
It's exactly that kind of thinking that made me really hesitant to try medication for my condition. I had a fear that it would take something away from me that was essential to my identity. I asked friends who appreciated that side of me keep to an eye on me for that reason. I'm very happy to say that when I finally found useful treatment, it most certainly didnt turn me 'normal' suppress any desirable aspects of my personality or diminish my creativity in the least. If anything, all the aspects that I liked about my different way of experiencing the world were magnified because the self-consciousness, depression and out of control feelings were mostly removed or at least manageable.
I understand that for many people useful treatment isn't yet available and the existing options are frequently worse than nothing. I know I got particularly lucky. My point is that treatment that retains and even enhances all the positives someone might think of as part of the mental illness package is ultimately possible. That's what makes a trend towards embracing the whole package as inseperable or having some kind of causal relationship disturbing.