We all have stories and context — diagnosis try to strip that away from us

This was first a facebook update:

Everything that happens in our lives (and all our encounters with psychiatry) are SITUATIONAL. Always. There is no such thing as a clinical depression without a “situation.” That is a ludicrous and destructive fantasy. The same is true for anyone with any diagnosis. Schizophrenia, bipolar, anxiety, OCD.  We all have stories and context. Diagnosis try to strip that away from us. The fact is EVERY single person with a diagnosis has an individual, unique story and context. Everything matters. Diagnosis (as currently most frequently used) are reductionistic lies that try to remove us from the fabric of our lives.

Some different ways to consider some of the psych diagnosis:

• Rethinking bipolar disorder

• Depression and the Call to Adventure

• there is no such thing as a monolithic state called depression

• Rethinking Madness: Towards a Paradigm Shift in our Understanding and Treatment of Psychosis

• World mental health day: empowering ways to consider your experience