Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
in recent history
witches and wizards from
around the world have been
gathering
sharing their knowledge and
insights and spells
and inscribing them in giant,
dark tomes
the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, or DSM, is one such volume of incantations, and the initiated
have merely to mumble its
words to enchant or curse
but rites once performed
in dark corners now take place in
broad daylight
personal curses have become
community property
subject to community scrutiny
personal curses have become
a community responsibility
we must fix the broken
though we may have broken
them
...
human brains operate on stories
and we need those stories to make
sense
mental trauma is the result of
encountering real-life plot holes
and plot holes are like black holes,
we’re trapped by them, held fast by
them until their two sides, their two
opposing universes can be glued
together again
glued together with good stories
a good story is a safe wormhole
between dimensions
one does not live on the event
horizon of a black hole, one merely survives it
we live to affect outside
observers, and we suffer when we are
silenced
on the event horizon we can only be invisible and silent
...
depression is a healthy response to a sick society
in this post-industrial age we’re living in societies in which
normal is working hard under inhumane conditions sacrificing self and friends and family to pay off debts incurred competing for things we neither want nor need
normal is suppressing self expression
normal is poisoning our bodies and
environments with mass production of cheap goods and foods
normal is living vicariously through screens and minimizing risk
normal is thinking of “get-a-job training”
as education
and of the value of education in monetary terms
normal is relying on the narcissistic
power hungry to protect us
and hypocritical doctors to heal us
and normal
has become how we define wellness
biologically and psychologically
but you and i know that for each of us
individually
sickness is suffering
and if i suffer, i want to be well again
if i suffer, i want the cause of my
suffering to be treated and not the
symptoms
if i suffer, i want my treatment to be personalized, not categorized
the DSM is supposed to define types
of suffering and treatments
but in many cases it simply defines minorities:
after all, insanity does not imply anything other than abnormality
an inability to fit into societal structures
and institutions
we’ve been taught that we need to be
happy
that contradictions are hypocrisy
that money and religion are the answers
to all our prayers
that safety trumps triumphs
and that we are all to be welcomed
as individuals, so long as that individuality conforms to the norms
so that we can be analyzed statistically
but statistics are only as accurate as the data they're based on
and as true as the minds that wield them
in the wrongs hands, they spell disaster
the spells and potions that the DSM
offers are conjured out of statistics,
disease has become a numbers game
so you're not really sick if everyone
else is too
or if you don't seek help
i am not sick
unless i am suffering
and if i am suffering because of you
don't medicate me
witches and wizards from
around the world have been
gathering
sharing their knowledge and
insights and spells
and inscribing them in giant,
dark tomes
the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, or DSM, is one such volume of incantations, and the initiated
have merely to mumble its
words to enchant or curse
but rites once performed
in dark corners now take place in
broad daylight
personal curses have become
community property
subject to community scrutiny
personal curses have become
a community responsibility
we must fix the broken
though we may have broken
them
...
human brains operate on stories
and we need those stories to make
sense
mental trauma is the result of
encountering real-life plot holes
and plot holes are like black holes,
we’re trapped by them, held fast by
them until their two sides, their two
opposing universes can be glued
together again
glued together with good stories
a good story is a safe wormhole
between dimensions
one does not live on the event
horizon of a black hole, one merely survives it
we live to affect outside
observers, and we suffer when we are
silenced
on the event horizon we can only be invisible and silent
...
depression is a healthy response to a sick society
in this post-industrial age we’re living in societies in which
normal is working hard under inhumane conditions sacrificing self and friends and family to pay off debts incurred competing for things we neither want nor need
normal is suppressing self expression
normal is poisoning our bodies and
environments with mass production of cheap goods and foods
normal is living vicariously through screens and minimizing risk
normal is thinking of “get-a-job training”
as education
and of the value of education in monetary terms
normal is relying on the narcissistic
power hungry to protect us
and hypocritical doctors to heal us
and normal
has become how we define wellness
biologically and psychologically
but you and i know that for each of us
individually
sickness is suffering
and if i suffer, i want to be well again
if i suffer, i want the cause of my
suffering to be treated and not the
symptoms
if i suffer, i want my treatment to be personalized, not categorized
the DSM is supposed to define types
of suffering and treatments
but in many cases it simply defines minorities:
after all, insanity does not imply anything other than abnormality
an inability to fit into societal structures
and institutions
we’ve been taught that we need to be
happy
that contradictions are hypocrisy
that money and religion are the answers
to all our prayers
that safety trumps triumphs
and that we are all to be welcomed
as individuals, so long as that individuality conforms to the norms
so that we can be analyzed statistically
but statistics are only as accurate as the data they're based on
and as true as the minds that wield them
in the wrongs hands, they spell disaster
the spells and potions that the DSM
offers are conjured out of statistics,
disease has become a numbers game
so you're not really sick if everyone
else is too
or if you don't seek help
i am not sick
unless i am suffering
and if i am suffering because of you
don't medicate me
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