Thanks for posting this, ultramar...& for writing your piece, DocJohn. One sentence I took away from the NYT piece is:
Quote:
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Some thought that what he calls “illness identity,” which manifests in some patients as overidentifying with their mental disorder, was a topic of lesser importance in the face of other serious symptoms that patients experience, like cognitive impairment and thoughts of suicide.
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Although I consider myself fortunate to have a pdoc who's a good fit, & whom I trust, the list of questions she asks in our 20 minute sessions always deal with symptoms, not self. As DocJohn pointed out, this tends to be a fairly standard practice in the field.
On my good days, I don't let BP define me; however, when depressed or self-absorbed I find myself wondering how different my life might have been had I not been BP. This is pointless conjecture I sometimes allow myself to wallow in, rather than accepting it as a part of my identity. A more healthy perspective would be to accept my foibles as a part of my identity & move on.
BP, or not, everyone in this life has their crosses to bear. Pathologizing ourselves is easy to do given the current state of the psychiatric field...not to blame the field itself; we, too, have a responsibility to take stock of our identities as a whole, rather than viewing ourselves only as BP peeps.
Thanks for your piece DocJohn, & for bringing the NYT piece to our attention. If I missed the point altogether, that's OK. I took a lot away from both pieces...& it's made me think about trying on a "new set of glasses" where my BP & my identity are concerned.