Diary entry: I have discovered ‘Pathologisation Disorder’
Jess plays with the idea that since anything can be conceptualised as a mental disorder, maybe it is ‘disordered’ to pathologise traumatised people
I was thinking last week. Dangerous, I know.
I was thinking about how determined some professionals are to see a human being through a lens of mental illness and disorder. How desperately they want to categorise using their checklists and tickboxes. How much they ignore their own confirmation bias.
How come none of those things are ‘disordered’?
If we have spent 100 years making up mental disorders with no proof or tests, then why can’t we all have a go at it? Or is claiming people are mentally disordered reserved for the privileged few?
Who decides what is and isn’t disordered thinking and feeling?
Maybe it is ‘disordered’ to believe that millions of people are mentally ill even though you have no proof, no evidence, and no tests? Doesn’t that sound like a ‘delusional belief’?
Maybe it is ‘disordered’ to be unable to distinguish between normal human behaviours and responses, and your internal belief that behaviour changes and responses in humans are caused by an invisible, unproven illness in their brain?
Maybe it is ‘disordered’ to believe that you can ‘see’ mental illnesses and mental disorders inside the minds of others simply by watching them, directly or remotely, including celebrities and strangers?
Maybe all these professionals that look at women and girls who have been raped and abused, but only see mental disorders and personality disorders, have some new made-up disorder themselves?
What shall we call it?
Hmm.
Pathologisation Disorder?
Yes, okay, let’s run with that.
Pathologisation Disorder: An incurable, treatment resistant illness in the brain that causes patients to see everyone as mentally ill. It may or may not be caused by a chemical imbalance. Could be hormones, I guess. Dopamine. Serotonin. Melatonin. Doesn’t really matter, no one can’t test for it anyway. There’s nothing anyone can do for these poor souls, they will always think this way. They can’t help it. It might be genetic, but we will never know, as no one will ever develop a test for it.
However, I have devised a handy symptom checklist. If the patient has more than 4 of the symptoms below, they likely have Pathologisation Disorder, and should seek professional help.
I know, I know. Clutch the pearls. Terrible. We can’t possibly joke about something as serious as this. But… I think we can. What is there left to do?
It’s becoming a joke. It’s a farce.
Mental disorders are created and dreamt up by professionals, they are written about and spoken about in articles and conferences until people think they are real. They do some studies and some speeches, write some theory - and bam! A few months down the line, maybe a year if slower, and people start to pick the idea up. It ends up in the media, some big headline about a new disorder being discovered. Grief disorder. Gaming disorder. Pathologisation Disorder. And before we know it, the pharma companies spring to action creating medications and ‘treatment options’.
Kerching, ching, chinggggggggggg!
There isn’t the rigour around this that most people expect, and believe to be there. So why not make one up ourselves? What is stopping me? What is stopping you? What makes one person better placed to ‘discover’ a new mental disorder over another?
Maybe I could create ‘Pathologisation Disorder’, dream up some symptoms, and treatment options, and then bang on about it in journals and on TikTok for months until people believe it?
So with that in mind, I am proud to announce that I have officially discovered…
Pathologisation Disorder
Pathologisation Disorder is a chronic, incurable, treatment resistant mental disorder that impacts the perceptions, beliefs and world view of those who develop it. Patients begin to believe that people around them have invisible illnesses in their brain that cause them to think and act differently.
Symptoms
Patient believes they have the ability to recognise and categorise invisible mental illnesses in others without access to proof, evidence, or testing
Patient believes in unproven chemical imbalances in the brain, often forcing this belief on to others without their consent
Patient frequently builds inaccurate constructs of people around them, and begins to see them as mentally ill
Patient constructs false narratives and delusions about genes causing the illnesses they propose, without acknowledging reality - that there is no proof of any genes being implicated in ‘mental illness’
Patient can no longer distinguish between normal human behaviours and responses, and their enduring belief that behaviour changes and responses in humans are caused by an invisible, unproven illness in their brain
Patient builds an identity around their beliefs that they can see, diagnose, and ‘treat’ people who they believe are mentally ill
Patient believes they are the authority on the experiences of other people, and encourages others to see themselves as mentally ill
Patient perceives people with mental disorders as dangerous, unreliable, liars, suspicious, and untrustworthy, leading them to become paranoid and defensive of their own safety and well-being around those they believe are mentally ill
Patient demonstrates an enduring belief that they can ‘see’ mental illnesses and mental disorders inside the minds of others simply by watching them, directly or remotely. In more severe cases, patient believes they can diagnose mental disorders in people from reading their social media posts or reading about them third-hand
Patient believes they can diagnose mental disorders in celebrities, politicians and strangers they have never met, with special preference for those they dislike
Patient advocates for the harm, abuse, torture, imprisonment and isolation of those they believe to be mentally ill, and ignores any evidence or signs that the person is suffering from further harm
Patient can become dispassionate, oppressive, violent, abusive, and disconnected from the humanity of the person they believe to be mentally ill
Patient rejects the lived experiences of trauma, abuse and harm of other people, and instead perceives the person to have an illness in their brain that must be found and ‘treated’
Patient mocks and ridicules any other explanation for human thoughts and feelings, and insists there is an invisible disorder inside their mind or brain that is causing them to act or think differently
If a patient exhibits 4 or more of the symptoms listed above, they hit the criteria for diagnosis.
Cause
The cause of Pathologisation Disorder is unknown, much like every other mental disorder. Some theorists have suggested that it may be genetic, and that Pathologisation Disorder is passed down through families. Twin studies have shown a strong genetic link. However, others have pointed to the role of dopamine and serotonin, which are thought to be implicated in the development and escalation of Pathologisation Disorder.
Social theories of Pathologisation Disorder suggest that patients gain social power and status by engaging in ‘god complex’ behaviours, believing they can see mental illnesses in others, maintain power over them in structured professional and social contexts, and can frame those they dislike as having mental illnesses inside their brain. Many patients gain further power by imprisoning and medicating those around them until they are heavily sedated and cannot advocate for themselves.
One further theory suggests that those with Pathologisation Disorder have deeply held unconscious fears stemming from their childhood abuse and trauma, which may result in their rejection of normal human emotion, thoughts and feelings. In these cases, those with Pathologisation Disorder find it more comfortable to create imaginary concepts of mental illnesses than to validate the wide range of uncomfortable and complex human behaviours and emotions around them.
Treatment options
Unfortunately, there is no cure for Pathologisation Disorder, but we can help the patient manage their symptoms so they can live a healthy and productive life.
…
I mean.
Hahaahhahahahahaaaaaaaa.
Ridiculous.
I’m only playing. Pathologisation disorder doesn’t exist, and neither do any other ‘mental disorders’.
But can you see how easy this is?
I wrote this article in less than an hour. Made it all up. Off the top of my head.
If I wanted to, I could write theories and studies about this, and I could absolutely make it sound legitimate. I could claim that ‘pathologisation disorder’ was a set of ‘disordered’ perceptions and beliefs that are disconnected from reality.
If I was a leader in an industry worth a few hundred billion dollars and had limitless marketing resource, I reckon I could sell this all over the world.
Thoughts?
Quite scary isn't it? How do we change the system?
Sounds very familiar! Apparently, many of the disorders included in the DSM were formulated in a similar way. Psychiatrists trading off their favourite disorders with others for inclusion in the DSM. Doesn't sound too scientific to me!