Thank you, Spiritual.... I always liked your posts, so I am delighted you decided to post here.

I wish to say that a set of quotations around a label should not automatically be construed as some sort of insult or disbelief in an individual's hardships. I use quotations around labels all the time, in particular, the labels of "schizophrenia, psychosis, bipolar disorder and schizoaffective disorder". I do so out of recognition that those labels themselves can frequently slide depending on individual experiences/presenting symptoms at that time. I further do so out of recognition that is it a label and while some people find comfort in them, others find them to be extremely limiting or degrading. There's also the fact that the determination of who should be applied what label is not always a fail-proof process.

I never liked labels. I often claim (warning! posting in slightly sarcastic tone follow. The facts I claim are true but the way I present them is not how I view them: I never had "fun" with my bipolar because I did about 5% of the things I wanted to do (and to be honest "let's spend 20 euro in outlet store!" is hardly disordered... i may be disordered that I spend too little, because people like me don't fuel capitalism enough...)... As I don't act on my impulses and am I able to more or less function... I don't fit the DSM really. But believe me at some days you would not want to live in my head....

I agree that any expectation we have as a culture -- that we can take a human being, throw them into a theater of war, and not expect them to be psychologically impacted by that -- is a flawed expectation. I find it somewhat insulting to call that human distress a form of mental illness. To me, any distress associated with the harsh realities of war is a rational response to a situation of trauma. When people are exposed to brutality I anticipate seeing people emerge from those experiences as brutalized people.

I think it goes along with the trend of glamorization of war in some parts of the world. Not just talking about the US (though we Europeans don't wage wars we just make humanitarian interventions). That war traumatizes people does not fit into the picture.....

But yes, it is incredibly insulting. I recognize that sometimes you have to fight... it is sad reality of this world. But please realize wars are not pretty.


I further believe that calling it a form of mental illness is a means of distancing ourselves from the reality of war's horrors. Rather than acknowledging that reality I feel we "blame the victim" by implying they are biologically flawed as opposed to psychologically wounded by conditions of their environment that their society placed them in and doesn't want to accept responsibility for.

I agree... it is writting off the consequences of our actions... As I said already, wars do happen, that is the reality... but to distance ourselves of results of our doings in this way... it's dangerous in a way.