(2021-09-25 20:58)Pinedirt Wrote: Can you explain to me more what you mean by "identifying with" something? I do think I better understand what you're saying, but perhaps I am not fully understanding what that is intended to mean. I think of that phrase as acknowledging a significant part of ones self with a term. How you would if it was something with relevance to your sense of self. like your gender, or for a DID system, putting a label on the fact that they experience that condition at all times and it impacts their internal self significantly. Meaning, I don't see how one could not "identify with" a disorder like that anyway, unless they were unaware of its presence.
With the migraine example, migraines probably don't make you into the person you are, even if they have affect on living quality. DID is literally an identity disorder like its name states, so, it's self explanatory how it would be an identity. (The same things with migraines would go for Tourette's syndrome, so yeah those do not need to be an "identity," like who we are, however migraine and Tourette's education/awareness should still exist, should they not?)
I think the concept of a medical disorder is that something isn't the way it's supposed to be and that there is a healthy state in which the disorder isn't present. In identity, you are exactly who you were supposed to be (because, it's you). You can't be cured of your identity. If someone were to try and remove parts of who you are through medical procedures it would be considered to be invasive and unnecessary.
For example, being gay is not a disorder, it's an aspect of identity. You can't be cured of being gay, it's a part of who you are. There were historic attempts at removing homosexuality from a person, but this is now understood to be unethical and it was ineffective at the time as well.
If you identify with a disorder, you are basically saying that the disorder is a part of who you are and it's not something that anyone should attempt to remove. It would be unethical to try to cure you. However, since it is a disorder, it's negatively impacting your life and it should be cured. There is an obvious conflict here.
Additionally to it being detrimental to your own life, because of the disorder, there is also the problem described in the video, where broadcasting your disorder causes harm to people around you.
I don't think DID being an identity disorder really makes these problems go away. Being affected by DID and it causing you to dissociate is one thing, but making the DID diagnosis a part of who you are, is another. I'm not going to dive too deep here because anything either of us can say about DID is going to be plagued with inaccuracy (given that there likely isn't a qualified person to talk about this). However, there is a standard for which people are allowed to interact with society and if your DID is so severe that you actually have no choice but to present as different people on a daily basis, likely you will be institutionalised and won't have access to the Internet to broadcast anything in the first place.
Also, you could easily stretch your explanation to migraines, since they are a brain condition and personality (a large part of identity) is obviously based on the functioning of the brain.
As for the question whether awareness videos should be a thing or not. I don't know if I'm qualified to answer that, but I guess when you get to the point where someone is making money or enjoying a higher social standing from having a disorder, it's not about awareness anymore.
Perhaps what would work better was if the awareness videos were made by clinicians and not patients.
(2021-09-25 20:25)Lupus Ferox Wrote: May I add something? Understanding of the trans community, I am not trans myself, but I am very much fascinated by the people in it. This does not cause me to have a different outlook on my gender, however. Naturally, being trans isn't a medical condition, as far as I'm aware, but I am genuinely intrigued by their community.
Trans people do have medical conditions which are a direct result of them being trans. Not all people have them, obviously.
There's a bunch written on this topic in the DSM-5. As you might imagine it's a bit of a hot topic, but essentially the gist of it is that clinicians are looking for ways to help people who are trans not have medical conditions.
It depends on who you talk to. People in general probably don't care about medical conditions, but if you talk to medical professionals, they care about nothing but medical conditions. I'm sure you got to experience that first-hand regarding your autism.
(2021-09-25 20:25)Lupus Ferox Wrote: My experience with therianthropy is that most people in this community have medical conditions or are mentally scarred in a way.
I think it's important not to forget that we are an online community here on TG. Online spaces tend to attract people with unresolved issues, because online you can exist without needing to deal with the issues. It creates a kind of bias where over time, communities get saturated with people with unresolved issues.
I once revisited an IRC community I hung out with in my youth. The only people who were still there, were those who had the same unresolved issues they had when I was still frequenting those places about a decade ago. It's not a great outlook.
(2021-09-25 20:25)Lupus Ferox Wrote: It's not because I like Michael Jackson, that I want to alter my facial appearance. Dumb example, maybe, but I think this was the point of this thread, wasn't it?
There are many spaces outside of TG, that have therians in them, where disorders are glorified and if you check, everyone in those spaces claims to have these disorders. It's to the point that people come here to TG to make accounts and the first thing they have to do is tell everyone about all of their disorders.
It's indicative of the fact that we have a problem.
LP,
Dusty