[Shadowsinsideme]

HI everyone-

i just felt like i needed to get this out. I hope it doesn't offend anyone, because that's not my intention. I just need to share my opinion.

sometimes, when i tell someone that i have schizophrenia, they will look at me and say "why do you use that to label yourself" or i frequently hear people saying things like " i'm sick of being "labeled" with all these diagnosis".

Well, first of all. That;s not how i look at it. I am not schizophrenia, but i do HAVE schizophrenia. I am an individual, of coarse-- my own person, but schizophrenia has a big effect on my life and the way i act and react and the types of people i am able to relate to. I'd feel better being around a group of schizophrenics or people with other mental illnesses, then i would with a group of people who dont really understand these types of things.

So anyways...what im trying to say is, i dont really understand why people have to look at these things like it's a label and like it identifies who they are as an individual.

thanks for reading. any opinions/ input are welcome.

-becka

interesting thought. i have bi-polar, but i am not the disease....xoxo pat

[Myzen]

Hi shadows,

I agree completely. The thing about mixing with people who understand us is worth remembering.

In the 3d world most of my friends are writers and/or artists and few of them have not been touched by some illness relevent to this discussion. I think that being in this company (including here at psych central) is one of the few positive features of having the illness.

I can relate in the 'other' world, but I take a little care, much like a philosopher who doesn't talk philosophy with the neighbours.

Good thoughts to you,

Myzen.

[h0kie]

I agree. You have schizophrenia...you are not schizophrenic. A very important distinction.

I learned that in an "exceptional learners" class (a.k.a. special ed). You have the disease, you are not defined by it. It really stuck with me.

[Wants2Fly]

Good topic -- Thanks Shadows

[darkeyes]

I hear you, I have my own label, as seen on clothes in "outlet stores", "slightly irregular, but will not affect wear".
My brother and I are Bipolar, we deal with it, have gotten to the point to pay no mind to ignorance, it's not worth it.
We just follow our meds, keep appts. and all has been fine, other than a few teeny rough spots, but then that is life.
Good post, thanks for sharing this with us.

Sincerely,

DE

[jbug]

I HAVE bpd I am not borderline. It seems to get confused in some peoples minds that we are not a disease. I struggle with that will some of the clinicians at my therapy place. They seem to think that because I have bpd I should exhibit certain behaviors and when I don't it confuses them.

Janniebug

I have bipolar disorder, PTSD, and ADHD, but like you said, I am not these things. They are a part of who I am. Great topic.

Ry

[jmo531]

I have Depression, Panic Disorder and OCD. Like Ry said, I am not these things. Just a small part of who I am.

[(JD)]

Very aptly spoken. Just today (as the site was partially down) I went reading previous articles on site. (Go to the main page, and into the resource, then into Articles and Editorials? ) There was a good one about labels and stated just what you said: we are not the label (and thus labels are not so good) but HAVE the disorder etc...(label good for identifying therapy choices?)

I think the article was written in '96 maybe? Aw I'm not sure - I read several - but still good info.

Part of the good thing about a label (if accurate) it puts us ahead of all the rest of the world that doesn't know what THEIR problem is! heheheh

Click Here for article

Well there it is you don't have to go to the main page... up top Resources ... Articles and Essays....

[(JD)]

Click Here for article

Well there it is you don't have to go to the main page... up top Resources ... Articles and Essays....

ok let's try that again... : (

[Parker10]

Sky said exactly what I was thinking from reading this thread - its the people who dont admit they have issues, and those who won't get help who have a "label"........ignorant! Grrrrrrrrrreat post !!!!

[oksomaybeimnuts]

[kerria]

We agree also..... that we may as well be honest and say we have the dx ( although it was hard at first) but it's the other people in the world that i don't want to know.

We can deal with having it and my T knowing but anyone else? No. It wrecked every relationship when people found out by accident that i had dx.

kerria

[Mahali]

I don't consider it a label but I do consider that I am DID....or more accurately we are DID. It is just fact.
I can't even think of it as something we have. I do not say others are wrong...that is just a strange concept for me.

I don't tell anybody in the face to face world. It is not that I am ashamed but it is not something that is taken well by others.

Take care.

place

[(JD)]

(((Place))) I hope now you can think about it only being a label... and not YOU (no matter how separate your parts are.) It is a disorder... a DIS order of... the way you function?... the way your "parts" interact (don't?) etc

YOU are NOT your DISorder. Maybe if you hear it enough, you'll come to realize that... and that you are much more than a label!

[Mahali]

I understand what you are saying Sky. You have always been very supportive of me.

DID does define what we are but not all that I am.

Thank you. (((( sky )))

Take care.

place

[eskielover]

Very well put, I have a few lables that have stuck over the years. But I am not the lable. Others have come & gone. Does that mean I would have come & gone too, if I was my lable?????

Unfortunately, one of the past lables which wasn't entirely correct then came back to bite me now when the doctors thought I was having a relapse of the incorrect lable. It was the easiest lable to find, & quite obvious with a massive weight loss, but oh how incorrect/incomplete. Since then I have done the research & enlightened the Doctors as to what is going on. Unfortunately, I don't seem to be treatable by them with a different lable & have to find the much needed help elsewhere. Lables can confuse, send you down the wrong path.....I am so glad that I am not my lable since it is all in confusion, but maybe that is correct too. We are all getting closer to what is going on unfortunately I seem to be adding new symtoms/lables daily.....very unstable.

Great post, thanks,
Debbie