Quote:
Originally Posted by sidestepper
Sometimes I think they should just start over with naming illnesses the media has doing such a number on some of the labels that the public reacts to the label in a visceral way.
Cancer invokes concern & pity, bipolar/manic depression invokes fear. Depression has been so overused that people are starting to think any depression is a bad thing and grief needs to be medicated away. I agree with the poster who said there needs to be a distraction between depressed and MDD. At least in the USA. Mental illness in a misnomer anyway as they are learning it's not just in the brain but the whole body. Nobody walks around saying I'm cancer, I'm hypertension they say I have ....._______. I have trouble with the whole AA philosophy, I think it would be easier to say I struggle with alcoholism, and not internalize it so much. How are you supposed to recover if you carry it internally? It's like a set up to fail. I am not my illness I was not born this way. Just my take on this whole issue, I'm just tired of the labeling.
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The other thing I don't like about 12 step programs/AA is that they force you to say that you have no control over your actions and that you surrender control to a "higher power".
Now higher powers are fine and dandy, but saying you have no control seems to be setting yourself up for failure. You can admit you need help, you can even admit that you've lost control... but the goal should be to put YOU back in control, not someone else.
Plus I'm pretty sure studies have shown that 12 step programs just don't work for some people.