[MuddyBoots]

I don’t really know where else in the forums this could go, it’s so wide reaching and can affect anyone that frequents any single subforum so I figure here is best but considered somewhere in “treatments” because I am talking about codes in the DSM and ICD, but it’s not really about the codes, more the stories around them/after them.

Last week in therapy I was talking about moving, and she mentioned that within diagnostic manuals like the DSM and ICD there are codes for environmental stressors that impede treatment (and mentioned I had more than usual). V Codes (DSM-5) & Z Codes (ICD-10) - PsychDB

I looked them up and I never really thought about how just some of those things don’t necessarily mean someone has some lifelong mental disorder, but “shytty life syndrome” as my hospital NP called it.

Just skimming the incomplete list here (okay, I’m on a phone and messed that up the link is above and I’m being a little too lazy to fix it), I knocked off at least four in the past year or so from my list just from no more dad and having my own place now.

I don’t want to say moving cured me (I mean, I did start a new ADHD med the day I moved and it is definitely the strongest stimulant I’ve been prescribed so being calm and focused definitely helps), but also I know if I wouldn’t get kicked out, I would be getting high af right now.

Anyone else have a significant problem that falls under these codes that managed to “fix” it and just feel (is there a stronger synonym for “relief”? Put that word here!)? Just really interested if others may have felt beyond fked but some life change happened and suddenly air is breathable again.
(I do know a lot of those codes involve history or things that require really drastic measures to change, but I’m referring to the ones referring to things like homelessness, poverty, and ongoing abuse)

[Nammu]

I was homeless and it definitely exacerbated my mental state. Being in shelters was scary. It took awhile to get section 8. But I did get to go to a shelters for domestic abuse and that was a huge step up. I had my own room there. Privacy was golden. I definitely was more stable once I got my own place. Transportation isn’t on the v list it should be. Not having a car. Not being close to bus service. That’s a problem.

[MuddyBoots]

That is a good point. Getting around is a must, and a lot of people have difficulty. I can drive, but when I can’t because I went three days without sleeping and I might do a vehicular manslaughter on accident, that is definitely a stressor (how am I going to make it to appointments/get meds? What if I need to get the ff away from here and can’t? How do I get food when I need it? What if someone needs my help and I can’t get to them? Etc)

I do think that a lot of causes of lack of transportation are on there (poverty, problems living alone, phase of life, etc. ) but it’s such a big one that’s not always necessarily a part of the other ones and can certainly exist on its own that it should be there.

[unaluna]

I am glad to see they codified the old Life Events list (score >40 and you are having a bad year!) and also the Negative Life Events questionnaire.

Its taking me a few years, but yeah i feel like i am finally getting over my mother's presence in my life. I wish i had continued ignoring her as i did when i was a child. But THERAPISTS were all like, tel me about your relationship with her. I was like, there isnt one. Shes a waitress. She used to be a cook. She got a better job, good for her. But she was never my mother. She never bandaged a knee. She abandoned me to a bucket of water and a bar of Dial soap.

[Nammu]

Yeah, I guess it does fall under poverty but I still think it should get its own mention. When I first got my apartment. I had no money for food and I couldn’t use a food pantry cause they gave you three bags of stuff. There was no bus. Near me and I couldn’t carry all that. On top of that they thought they were being healthy giving out raw ingredients that needed pots and pans which I didn’t have yet. It took a long time to acquirer kitchen supplies. Goodwill was my favorite store but I had to be sure I could carry the stuff home.

[Tart Cherry Jam]

This quote, abbreviated to just "being determines consciousness", was already used in a satirical sense when I was growing up, but it came to mind in its literal sense when I read your post:

"It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness. "