Most of us get that the classic way to sell something is to create a need or at least point out what is lacking in our life. Need more calm in your life? Buy this candle. When it comes to our mental and behavioral disorders, what sells is not stuff at first, but clarity and a sense of belonging. When that’s established, the drugs follow. Let me explain.
The business of mental and behavioral disorders soothes our worry through categorization and labeling. We feel better when we receive a label for how we’re feeling or behaving. Here’s how it works. I observe something about myself, and so I google the hell out of the symptoms and descriptions, and viola! I am sick with Intermittent Explosive Disorder. This process can also work the other way around. I read something online about a certain disorder, wherein people are always late and they can’t meet deadlines because they lose track of time. I realize that it’s something that happens to me all the time, and presto, I have Time Blindness.
Sickness and Relatability
Information and clarity is important, but I guess what doesn’t quite sit well with me is that it’s become quite common for people to think that they are sick or suffering from mental disorders. It’s great that we are talking about mental health, but it’s not great that more and more kids and adults alike are living life thinking they are sick in the head. It’s one thing to label behavior and our mental state, but another to call it a disorder and a disease. The ubiquity of sickness is also the reason why I hear people saying that they need to heal from a bad day at work. What we use to refer to as “unwinding” is sounding like a medical recovery.
Sick Makes You Feel Like You Belong
I understand the sense of belonging that happens when you fit into one of these buckets. For some, it’s an aha-moment. But we cast a wide net nowadays when it comes to who is sick and who needs prescription drugs. I’m guessing it will only grow from here. I am not saying that it’s better to be in the dark with what ails you or to ignore pain. Of course, you should want to know if you are sick so you can work on fixing it. But we’ve become too quick to take a pill for mental and behavioral disorders. I have seen what happens when a person normalizes taking antidepressants because they have gotten it in their psyche that this is somehow their nature, or that they are born this way.
I’m not a doctor as I have said repeatedly in my articles when it comes to mental health. But a quote from Simon Sinek made me see the value in sharing my take about this issue. It goes like this:
The value of our knowledge multiplies when we share what we know with others.
Simon Sikek
If I can get even one person to first look for holistic ways to be more at peace with the fact that life will not always be happy. Disappointments are guaranteed. Death is part of living. And to still celebrate life in spite of this, I am grateful.
Sick with Time Blindness
Time blindness is a good example here. Maybe the solution is not a pill to help you keep track of time, but to set multiple alarms and have a carefully planned out schedule, so you can address time blindness. This is not meant to be condescending. It’s a plausible solution.
People with Time Blindness don’t have a good sense of time. Since they can’t track time well, they are often late and struggle with meeting deadlines. People with Time Blindness are usually also diagnosed with ADHD. A woman on TikTok shared her experience with discrimination when she was applying for a job and asked if they accommodate time blindness. The company does not. She got even more pissed because someone in the room, I believe a fellow applicant, told her that there’s no such thing as time blindness and that her generation is ruining the work force. The girl concludes her story with a complain that the corporate system should find solutions for people with Time Blindness. It’s one thing to chastise companies for not accommodating someone with special needs, but taking control of your diagnosis means finding solutions that don’t rely so much on other people, but instead focuses on what you can do. There’s power in that.
