> we have chemical imbalances and not nonsense medieval concepts

That is not how the brain works. The whole chemical imbalances thing is a gross over-simplification. Honestly how it is used in pop science is often very analogues to the medieval theory of Humorism.

> When it's often actually a lack of purpose, a lack of enduring value, being a standardized cog in a machine

If you are subjected to an toxic environment it is a very healthy and good reaction to be unhappy about this.

Yes, psychologist mostly focus on the individual. That is their job. They can't fix unemployment, alienation of labor and so on. Those are societal issues that need political solutions.

However, this does not mean ADHD, autism, PTSD and so on are not real issues.

If I lived in a perfect utopia, I would still have ADHD. If ADHD were made up, why do my genetic children also have a 40% chance of having ADHD? Why would that not be true if I adopted someone?

These are real and disabling things that need specific treatment.

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bonoboTP a day ago | parent [-]

I agree with most of this. Though it gets really conceptually murky what a mental illness is and the DSM diagnosis checklists are quite different from how diagnoses work in "body"-medicine. The psychiatrist blogger Scott Alexander has written a lot about this.

For the common person, psychology and therapy are a new skin on spiritual guidance, shamanism, or rituals like Catholic confession.

> That is not how the brain works. The whole chemical imbalances thing is a gross over-simplification

I know and I was implying disagreement by the placement of that sentence in the context. I was trying to present what the common notion is. If it's a chemical imbalance, it can't be your fault. We trust science, we are physicalists. It has to be imagined as some miswiring or chemical problem for it to be respectable and taken seriously.

> If I lived in a perfect utopia, I would still have ADHD. If ADHD were made up, why do my genetic children also have a 40% chance of having ADHD? Why would that not be true if I adopted someone?

Personality and temperament differences exist yes. What we decide to label as a disease diagnosis is an entirely orthogonal question. ADHD is often diagnosed in rigid school environments that look nothing like homo sapiens' evolved natural habitat. It's not necessarily a disease not to flourish there. Yes I understand that given the environment, it makes sense to try to help as best as we can, and we can't single-handedly change society with a magic wand. Of course.

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cardanome a day ago | parent [-]

Ok, I slightly misunderstood and I see now better where you are coming from.

Yes, you are not wrong but as a ADHD person it comes off as super invalidating.

It is kind of like discussions where gender radical people tell to trans people that gender is just a social construct. Like it is but that doesn't exactly help trans people.

I mean I am sure you recognize this as you wrote.

> Yes I understand that given the environment, it makes sense to try to help as best as we can, and we can't single-handedly change society with a magic wand. Of course.

Still, I do believe that you massively overstate socially constructed aspect of having ADHD and underestimate the physical reality of it.

Yes, my environment makes a huge huge difference. But, as someone who was diagnosed very late in life, it was always with me. Even when I was alone. Even when I thrived. It is a fundamental part of who I am.

Not having a diagnosis earlier set up for constant spirals of failure, for internalized self hate. It did not allow me to find strategies to cope effectively.

I couldn't find or build the environment I needed because I didn't know my needs. This is why the diagnosis must come first.

ADHD is a disability and it is a real as being deaf or not being able to walk.

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bonoboTP a day ago | parent [-]

> it comes off as super invalidating.

Once this is on the table, it's hard answer in a way that doesn't come across as being the asshole. But that's kind of my point. People tie identities and emotions to labels. It reframes how people react. Since it's real, you're given support. If it were fake, you'd get scolded. The shift in view that I got from Scott Alexander is that the arrow points the other way around. Since we see people who can benefit from some support, and we generally don't want to be assholes and want the support to be paid by insurance etc, we have to declare the thing as a Disease(TM). But this categorization is in good part necessary due to the bureaucratic system we live in. There are many ways that societies have conceptualized such things. All the way to demon possession. In comparison blindness is much easier to understand mechanistically.

	▲	cardanome 19 hours ago \| parent [-]
		No. Knowing that I have ADHD is something that would benefit me even if I spend the rest of my life on a remote island with no human contact. Yes it is as real as blindness.