I literally hate when people try to moralize thinking. our brains are just information generating machines, and we can try to condition ourselves to have different mindsets. but at the end of the day, we cannot have complete control on the thoughts we have. and it is stupid to expect that people repress “immoral” or “sinful” thoughts. ultimately the only thing we can do is chose how to actively respond to these thoughts; we have the choice whether or not we manifest these thoughts into the world.
as someone who has “evil” thoughts everyday… I think it is important to critically engage with your thinking. like asking yourself “hey where is this thought coming from?” or more importantly “could this thought have the potential to hurt someone if I acted on this thought, consciously or subconsciously?” but you aren’t a “bad” person for thinking these thoughts. nor are your thoughts “bad.”
it is also okay if “bad” thoughts linger for a while. it is okay if your “bad” thoughts aren’t just intrusive but arise consciously. you don’t have to constantly try to repress your thoughts, even if they are “bad.” critical engagement is not about stopping you from having those thoughts, it is about having a conversation with those thoughts. it is about engaging with those thoughts without shame. its about letting thoughts run their course so that they can be released. trust me repression does nothing.
No doctor will ever get my respect like the woman in the ER who checked me for claws and fangs because I told her I was turning into a werewolf and could feel it and let me know gently that she couldn’t find any but that didnt make it feel any less real, like THATS how you do it, other doctors who just flat out told me I was wrong take notes
This is how you treat us!
i am reblogging this as someone who does not have delusions and often makes shitposts about werewolves, and i just want all my followers to know this is not a joke!
i am so glad you had this positive experience, and i hope this sort of kindness catches on with doctors and the general public.
Look when someone is in a confused or compromised state, no matter why,
and they are your medical charge,
it is vital to continue to treat them with dignity. Like that. Reassure them with visible practicalities that you acknowledge their fears, will not belittle them, and can show them facts to help them cope.
THAT is the proper compassion of a Healer.
Can I just add that, if you like me have delusions where everything bad that happens is your fault, the doctor shouldn’t be like “Yeah, you’re probably right” but try to reason with you in a respective way. OP’s doctor did it right, but some of the notes make it look like people think delusions must be agreed to always, when doing so can be detrimental to the person’s wellbeing
This is my favorite addition to this post because it’s true. When dealing with delusions you need to avoid the extremes - DO NOT tell the person flat out “you’re wrong”, “thats not real” or worst of all “you’re crazy.”
BUT DON’T ENCOURAGE THE DELUSION EITHER!
Let’s take my werewolf delusion, for example. Doctors who have flat out told me “that isn’t real” haven’t helped because for me it is real and no amount of you saying it isn’t will change my perception. It makes us feel alienated.
But someone saying “You ARE transforming into a werewolf but i have a poition thatll stop it! :D” is just as dangerous because you’re furthering a delusion which could get someone hurt. its also manipulative. we’re psychotic, not children.
So what DO you do? Acknowledge that the situation is frightening. If possible, give them the objective facts (ie, i don’t see any monsters; your mom hasn’t said anything to make it seem like she’s going to kill you) while also acknowledging that for them, it is real. Most of all, ask what you can do to keep them comfortable and safe.
Sorry for the long addition but when I made this post it didn’t occur to me apsychotic people would look at it for advice on how to handle an actively delusional person. I’m glad it’s resonating with people, though
I remember when I told a doctor someone had replaced all the veins and arteries in my body with wires and I was no longer a person. she very gently checked me over for any wounds where they could have made the incisions to put the wires in, and took photos of the places on my phone to prove it. all the places I felt were the entry points were out of my sight, behind my ears and in my back and stuff. then she offered to get me an xray if they could fit me in, but it might take a while. I declined because I didnt want to take up space for people who need it, and honestly at this point I trusted her enough to tell me if I had wires. she brought my husband in and showed him how to check me over for wounds and wires, then she asked me if I had any questions. I went back into the waiting room, feeling like I wasn’t stupid and I felt much safer.
she came into the waiting room later to check if I was okay, and I felt safe, cared for, trusted and believed. she told my husband she put a psychiatrist on standby in case I got freaked out again, and told me she understands how I feel, and that she can’t see anything but she gets how scary it is for me and she’s on shift for a few hours and to ask for her by name if I need reassuring again.
I felt safe. I felt believed. that’s how you do it.
Ppl will be like “end the stigma around mental illness uwu” but still judge you if you’re unemployed or single or not completely self-sufficient or healthy or perfectly groomed or still live with parents and don’t see the hypocrisy in that whatsoever
anyways can we start recognizing adhd as an actual and serious disorder that
can affect on functioning in every day life so badly that it interferes with taking care of very basic human needs
is not 10 yrs old white boy exclusive disorder
is not a fake disorder created to benefit medicine companies
definitely should not be reduced to “kid who cant sit still and wont stop screaming” stereotypes because adhd has a whole fuckton of symptoms ranging from serious memory issues to fine motor control difficulties
ADHD is:
One of the most treatable “psychiatric” disorders (although it’s more accurately a neurodevelopmental disorder), with approximately 90% of patients able to find a treatment regimen that works well for them, given appropriate medical support. ADHD stimulant medications in particular (Ritalin and Adderall and their variations) are some of the most effective psychiatric medications in existence.
Contrary to popular opinion, extremely under diagnosed overall, particularly in populations that are not young white boys (women, adults, people of color, etc.)
So there are a LOT of people out there who could be helped by getting a diagnosis and treatment but are not, in part because of the negative stereotypes around ADHD and ADHD medication that are prevalent in pop culture.
Able to coexist with a number of other conditions or traits that may change its presentation and/or impact, including mental illnesses such as anxiety or depression and various learning disabilities but also giftedness/high intelligence.
In fact, in adults diagnosed for the first time, it is extremely common to have comorbidities, in large part because ADHD can be so hard to cope with.
Sleep disorders are also frequently comorbid with ADHD. Additionally, being poorly-rested makes ADHD symptoms worse, which makes you more likely to sleep badly. It’s a hellish merry-go-round.
In some cases, “twice exceptional” people (gifted + ADHD) have extra trouble getting appropriate support, because some ADHD symptoms can be masked by intelligence (for instance, if a child is bright enough to do their homework in the ten minutes between classes and master the test material by cramming the night before, they may never see the poor academic performance that might lead to testing), and because the symptoms of ADHD may also mask their giftedness - so they end up stuck in classes that are too easy for them, and therefore boring, which makes the ADHD symptoms worse. Also, people who know they are intelligent but have untreated ADHD can be really prone to some of the other psychological comorbidities, especially as they become adults, because they know what to do and how to do it and that they SHOULD do it, and they WANT to do it, but they still can’t make themselves actually do it, so they start to beat themselves up, thinking “I’m too smart to constantly be this stupid, I must just be really lazy, maybe I really DON’T care, maybe I’m just a terrible person.” Ask me how I know.
Can also have less-common symptoms associated with it. I actually had my hearing tested before my diagnosis because I had so much trouble following conversations if there was background noise. My hearing is fine: my issue is auditory processing. My brain just can’t focus on conversations if too much else is going on. (This also applies to following dialogue on television if there is a lot of background noise/music. I use the captions a lot.
In some cases, extremely disabling. Under the Americans With Disabilities Act, a disability is “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activity.” A sampling of major life activities that might be substantially limited by untreated ADHD includes:
Managing finances (largely through impulsive spending, frequent lost items that need replacing, forgetting to pay bills, forgetting to do routine maintenance and having issues like larger repairs needed)
Basic self-care (remembering to take meds, go to doctor appointments, eat and drink at appropriate times, go to bed at appropriate times)
Employment (difficulty being on time for work or work activities, difficulty meeting deadlines, propensity to make “careless errors”, difficulty with emotional regulation)
Interpersonal relationships (memory problems so you never remember important dates, time issues meaning you’re late meeting them, forgetting commitments, easily distracted during conversations, impulsivity leading to interruptions/saying or doing stuff you didn’t think through, difficulty responding appropriately to social cues (through distraction/impulsivity), difficulty with emotional regulation)
Maintaining a clean and sanitary home (forgets steps in household chores, distracted away from finishing them, loses key equipment, impulsive purchases clutter up the home, loses interest in projects and leaves them out half-done)
If untreated, linked to higher rates of all manner of negative outcomes when compared to similar neurotypical populations, including:
unemployment
divorce
substance abuse
injury or death in accidents, especially car accidents
arrest
None of this is because people with ADHD as a group are, like, bad or lazy or evil or irresponsible or don’t care. People with ADHD are just people, and exist on the same range of good, bad, and in-between that all people do. However, the parts of our brains that are meant to help us regulate our emotions, plan for the future, remember to do important things, and not act on every impulse that crosses our minds just don’t work properly. A lot of us might lean in to an airhead, spacy artistic type, class clown, or similar persona to mask our deep shame over not being able to “just” do all these basic things that other people seem to do with no trouble at all.
Additionally, even accessing ADHD treatment can be extremely challenging, because stimulant medications are controlled substances and there are so many false and damaging perceptions about the condition and medications out there. And even when you have a well-established diagnosis and are well controlled on a medication you’ve taken for years, you are never far away from potential disruptions to your treatment. I personally am a white professional with good health insurance and was able to get diagnosed and medication prescribed - which in itself is often really difficult - but even from that position of privilege I have experienced multiple gaps in my treatment for reasons like:
My pharmacy lost a prescription and had to get a new one. (My medication cannot be refilled; each month has to be a brand new prescription.)
My pharmacy was out of stock of my medication (I can’t transfer that prescription to a different pharmacy, and even if I had a paper prescription, you can’t call a pharmacy and be told the medication is in stock, you have to physically go there and ask.)
I forgot to make a doctor appointment in time (I have to have a doctor visit every three months to continue to get the prescription.)
I forgot to fill the prescription (since I, you know, HAVE ADHD, and you can’t set them up to auto-renew like you can other meds.)
My prescription is really expensive and there aren’t many savings options because it’s a controlled medication. (Even with savings I pay over $100 out of pocket for my ADHD meds every month. If the manufacturer isn’t offering a coupon that month it’s close to $300.)
Again, this is a LEGAL medication that I am LEGALLY prescribed by my supportive doctor with consultation from my supportive psychologist, for my actual disabling medical condition, and which all parties involved agree is extremely effective in helping me manage said condition. I’m in about the best situation you can be in short of being a millionaire who doesn’t have to worry about things like preapprovals or copays or taking sick time from work.
I’ve also heard from others who have had to change doctors due to moving, job or insurance changes, etc., only to get issues like:
medical practices that flatly refuse to prescribe any controlled medications at all.
medical practices that don’t deal with ADHD specifically at all.
doctors that “don’t believe in” medicating adults/women/people with good jobs/people with good grades/anyone for ADHD.
doctors that won’t accept existing diagnoses or treatment plans.
ADHD is a treatable and manageable condition, but it isn’t a joke, it isn’t “made up,” we aren’t “all a little ADHD these days anyway”. It’s a complex and wide-ranging condition that can impact nearly every part of your life in serious and possibly very damaging ways.
stop fucking using the word psychotic to describe bad behaviour and violence already god fucking damn it
oh my god i’m so tired psychotic does not mean violent it does not mean angry or erratic. it refers to a person suffering from psychosis, a loss of touch with reality that includes hallucinations and/or delusions. psychotic people are not inherently violent and y'all need to understand how much stigma you create when you again and again incorrectly use the word psychotic without even thinking about it
would appreciate if non-psychotic people could reblog this
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