Let us ask, in the name of science and Occam's Razor, why it seems so much easier for humans to diagnose behavioral and apparent emotional or mental issues in ANIMALS, but they make it such a mysterious and "highly intellectual and academic" process in diagnosing human beings?
When someone's pet dog barks and howls when the owner leaves them alone, no one questions a trainer or a veterinarian when they simply say "the dog is obviously anxious because it was left alone; dogs are pack animals, so being left alone in a confined area, and being separated from their owner can of course cause them to become upset and anxious... etc.. The dog is a social animal. The dog naturally wants companionship and leadership. The dog naturally does not want to be separated from its owner/pack leader. Therefore the dog is anxious. ALSO, the dog becomes more anxious because of certain noises in the area.
In order to HELP THE DOG FEEL BETTER, simply do this..." (whatever they prescribe).
So, why exactly does a human child who is also a "social animal", who cries when Mother and Father leave her with someone else in an unfamiliar or scary environment get weird speculations about some kind of "emotional illness" slapped on her?
It's not the fact that she's getting left in an unfamiliar, foreign environment, or that human children naturally want to be with their parents, or that human children have natural boundaries that prevent them from simply trusting any stranger or acquaintance. Nor could "excessive crying" possibly be an effect of something else that may have happened to the child either in the past or recently... right?
(But if we think something did happen, we'll immediately blame the mother OR father first...)
Apparently, the DOG is "legitimately anxious" because of nature and external situations, events, and factors, but the HUMAN is just CRAZY, or has some kind of inner DEFECT when SHE is anxious. It's not because of anything, it's just HER... she's just "screwed up". Or, her mother is "screwed up..." It can't be anything else that we might have to find out about.
And further, if anyone connected to the child wants to share information with us about the child's life, or about that environment, we'll treat them like they're acting strange, even histrionic or codependent, or BPD...
The capacity for DENIAL in humans, ABOUT other humans, is absolutely MIND BLOWING, both in and out of psychiatric, medical, and social fields.
This is not an article to demonize every person who works in these fields. There are plenty of individuals who are competent and objectively scientific, and who actually respect and care about other human beings, both male and female, young and old. But in general, these fields don't seem to care much about gathering FACTS and actual INFORMATION. They tend to be quite used to getting away with "practicing" on pure speculation and assumption, and JUDGMENT and BIAS, and not a little arrogance.
If you want to find out for yourself, set yourself up as a patient in a psychiatric hospital and see what happens. You're "sane" and of sound mind, right? So what do you have to worry about...?
Surely the staff will recognize you right away as "one of them", one of the "sane people", and not try to diagnose or medicate you ..... right...?
So, the cat at the shelter who HISSES at everyone that comes in is simply defensive because of what he's been through. You can't get near him, you have to be careful when you feed and water him, he doesn't seem to like other cats, he tries to bite and scratch, the veterinarian has to sedate him, but you can "understand why he's like that because of what he's been through"..! Right? Sure. Someone abused him at some point. He was living in an abandoned barn because someone abandoned him. All of his behaviors are completely understandable, and they're OBVIOUSLY from what he's BEEN THROUGH, what he's ENDURED, the POOR CAT, let's give him all the CARE and UNDERSTANDING we can muster.
RIGHT?
YES, in my personal opinion, YES, that's what should be going on, absolutely. The poor cat, he deserves to be understood and given CARE, and treated with RESPECT, especially given what he's endured.
So... how does that go again when a HUMAN walks into a doctor's or psychiatrist's office? Or the average counselor's office? Does anyone take that human's entire history seriously? And connect that human's current apparent emotional effects, affect, reactions and behaviors with that human's actual life events, either in the distant or recent past? Either or both, or is it just BARELY acknowledged, and REALLY, we treat this human as if they dropped out of the sky with all these "issues"? Like they were just born this way, and they would have been the SAME if they were raised in Atlantis by the Utopian royal family?
So the CAT'S behavior is because of what it's been through, not because he was just BORN "mean".
But the HUMAN's behavior and emotional profile is just "because", umm... that's "how she is"... she's just some kind of nutjob with a defective brain.
Yeah... that's it... so break out that prescription pad and give her something to affect her brain, and SEND HER ON HER WAY, get her OUT of our hair, and collect that paycheck.
In the meantime, let's make sure that poor cat is comfortable, protected, fed, and taken care of.
"Science" even fully recognizes the effects of the SOCIAL CLIMATE on the emotional and mental well-being of all other animals, and on their behavior, but apparently NOT on the animal called "human".
When an animal in a group seems to behave differently or oddly, the humans observing them IMMEDIATELY jump to finding out WHY, and they look to only a few factors:
The way the OTHER animals in the group are TREATING it,
the environment itself (food, water, terrain, weather, predators, etc)
physical disease that's affecting the animal's health and nervous system.
They don't just single out the animal and call it "mentally ill"!
They actually LOOK at what's going on, and what has happened in the animal's life.
And they do that FIRST, and in a thorough manner until they find out what's going on, not as an afterthought..
So... why exactly DON'T medical, psychiatric, or psychology "professionals" do that when it comes to HUMANS who behave "differently" or who are "more emotional" or "more reactive", or "can't get along well with others", or who don't seem to be interested in school or work, etc,, etc.
There is no good reason. Occam's razor is about looking at the most obvious factors about something FIRST. That means NOT making things more mysterious than they really are, not introducing all kinds of theories when the factors are right in front of you.
If a child is cutting themselves, I would bet TEN TO ONE that the child has been traumatized or abused in some way by another human being in their personal life. Direct abuse, neglect, or witnessing the abuse of a loved one is a safe bet. These are ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS, the child wasn't born as a "cutter".
So treating the child as if they're simply "defective", and not dealing with trauma and external events is frankly just sick, and it's very irresponsible.
Medicate the CHILD and act like there's nothing else going on in the child's life, and that the child is just making things up? Is that any way to treat another human being? Is that how anyone would want to be treated by others, especially professionals who are supposed to be there to protect and help?
Let's give the person who comes in with social anxiety a diagnosis of a disorder, and throw some pills at them, and invalidate everything they say about what's really going on in their families or at their job.
Let's ignore the person's claims of childhood abuse when they show signs of depression or suicide, and keep telling them to focus on themselves instead of other people... and throw some pills at them and tell them to go home.
Let's deny the next patient's obvious need to tell their story and be heard and validated by a supposedly NEUTRAL human being ,who they're PAYING, treat them like they're not that bright, definitely not as bright as WE ARE, and throw some medication at them.
WOW.
So when HUMANS have issues, it's not from anything they've been through, lived through, the household they grew up in, the people in their lives NOW, the atmosphere of social interaction in their community, OR from events in their lives that would be traumatic or upsetting for anyone... Nope, it's just because they're DEFECTIVE, and need to be medicated.
And if they're DEFECTIVE, let's NOT EXPLORE anything MEDICAL!
RIGHT?
It's much more fun, and lucrative, to call it "psychiatric", and AVOID doing any neurological testing or exploration.
I mean, never mind about all that trauma or social dynamic stuff... that's just for every OTHER species on the planet. That doesn't have a WALLET.
When someone's pet dog barks and howls when the owner leaves them alone, no one questions a trainer or a veterinarian when they simply say "the dog is obviously anxious because it was left alone; dogs are pack animals, so being left alone in a confined area, and being separated from their owner can of course cause them to become upset and anxious... etc.. The dog is a social animal. The dog naturally wants companionship and leadership. The dog naturally does not want to be separated from its owner/pack leader. Therefore the dog is anxious. ALSO, the dog becomes more anxious because of certain noises in the area.
In order to HELP THE DOG FEEL BETTER, simply do this..." (whatever they prescribe).
So, why exactly does a human child who is also a "social animal", who cries when Mother and Father leave her with someone else in an unfamiliar or scary environment get weird speculations about some kind of "emotional illness" slapped on her?
It's not the fact that she's getting left in an unfamiliar, foreign environment, or that human children naturally want to be with their parents, or that human children have natural boundaries that prevent them from simply trusting any stranger or acquaintance. Nor could "excessive crying" possibly be an effect of something else that may have happened to the child either in the past or recently... right?
(But if we think something did happen, we'll immediately blame the mother OR father first...)
Apparently, the DOG is "legitimately anxious" because of nature and external situations, events, and factors, but the HUMAN is just CRAZY, or has some kind of inner DEFECT when SHE is anxious. It's not because of anything, it's just HER... she's just "screwed up". Or, her mother is "screwed up..." It can't be anything else that we might have to find out about.
And further, if anyone connected to the child wants to share information with us about the child's life, or about that environment, we'll treat them like they're acting strange, even histrionic or codependent, or BPD...
The capacity for DENIAL in humans, ABOUT other humans, is absolutely MIND BLOWING, both in and out of psychiatric, medical, and social fields.
This is not an article to demonize every person who works in these fields. There are plenty of individuals who are competent and objectively scientific, and who actually respect and care about other human beings, both male and female, young and old. But in general, these fields don't seem to care much about gathering FACTS and actual INFORMATION. They tend to be quite used to getting away with "practicing" on pure speculation and assumption, and JUDGMENT and BIAS, and not a little arrogance.
If you want to find out for yourself, set yourself up as a patient in a psychiatric hospital and see what happens. You're "sane" and of sound mind, right? So what do you have to worry about...?
Surely the staff will recognize you right away as "one of them", one of the "sane people", and not try to diagnose or medicate you ..... right...?
So, the cat at the shelter who HISSES at everyone that comes in is simply defensive because of what he's been through. You can't get near him, you have to be careful when you feed and water him, he doesn't seem to like other cats, he tries to bite and scratch, the veterinarian has to sedate him, but you can "understand why he's like that because of what he's been through"..! Right? Sure. Someone abused him at some point. He was living in an abandoned barn because someone abandoned him. All of his behaviors are completely understandable, and they're OBVIOUSLY from what he's BEEN THROUGH, what he's ENDURED, the POOR CAT, let's give him all the CARE and UNDERSTANDING we can muster.
RIGHT?
YES, in my personal opinion, YES, that's what should be going on, absolutely. The poor cat, he deserves to be understood and given CARE, and treated with RESPECT, especially given what he's endured.
So... how does that go again when a HUMAN walks into a doctor's or psychiatrist's office? Or the average counselor's office? Does anyone take that human's entire history seriously? And connect that human's current apparent emotional effects, affect, reactions and behaviors with that human's actual life events, either in the distant or recent past? Either or both, or is it just BARELY acknowledged, and REALLY, we treat this human as if they dropped out of the sky with all these "issues"? Like they were just born this way, and they would have been the SAME if they were raised in Atlantis by the Utopian royal family?
So the CAT'S behavior is because of what it's been through, not because he was just BORN "mean".
But the HUMAN's behavior and emotional profile is just "because", umm... that's "how she is"... she's just some kind of nutjob with a defective brain.
Yeah... that's it... so break out that prescription pad and give her something to affect her brain, and SEND HER ON HER WAY, get her OUT of our hair, and collect that paycheck.
In the meantime, let's make sure that poor cat is comfortable, protected, fed, and taken care of.
"Science" even fully recognizes the effects of the SOCIAL CLIMATE on the emotional and mental well-being of all other animals, and on their behavior, but apparently NOT on the animal called "human".
When an animal in a group seems to behave differently or oddly, the humans observing them IMMEDIATELY jump to finding out WHY, and they look to only a few factors:
The way the OTHER animals in the group are TREATING it,
the environment itself (food, water, terrain, weather, predators, etc)
physical disease that's affecting the animal's health and nervous system.
They don't just single out the animal and call it "mentally ill"!
They actually LOOK at what's going on, and what has happened in the animal's life.
And they do that FIRST, and in a thorough manner until they find out what's going on, not as an afterthought..
So... why exactly DON'T medical, psychiatric, or psychology "professionals" do that when it comes to HUMANS who behave "differently" or who are "more emotional" or "more reactive", or "can't get along well with others", or who don't seem to be interested in school or work, etc,, etc.
There is no good reason. Occam's razor is about looking at the most obvious factors about something FIRST. That means NOT making things more mysterious than they really are, not introducing all kinds of theories when the factors are right in front of you.
If a child is cutting themselves, I would bet TEN TO ONE that the child has been traumatized or abused in some way by another human being in their personal life. Direct abuse, neglect, or witnessing the abuse of a loved one is a safe bet. These are ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS, the child wasn't born as a "cutter".
So treating the child as if they're simply "defective", and not dealing with trauma and external events is frankly just sick, and it's very irresponsible.
Medicate the CHILD and act like there's nothing else going on in the child's life, and that the child is just making things up? Is that any way to treat another human being? Is that how anyone would want to be treated by others, especially professionals who are supposed to be there to protect and help?
Let's give the person who comes in with social anxiety a diagnosis of a disorder, and throw some pills at them, and invalidate everything they say about what's really going on in their families or at their job.
Let's ignore the person's claims of childhood abuse when they show signs of depression or suicide, and keep telling them to focus on themselves instead of other people... and throw some pills at them and tell them to go home.
Let's deny the next patient's obvious need to tell their story and be heard and validated by a supposedly NEUTRAL human being ,who they're PAYING, treat them like they're not that bright, definitely not as bright as WE ARE, and throw some medication at them.
WOW.
So when HUMANS have issues, it's not from anything they've been through, lived through, the household they grew up in, the people in their lives NOW, the atmosphere of social interaction in their community, OR from events in their lives that would be traumatic or upsetting for anyone... Nope, it's just because they're DEFECTIVE, and need to be medicated.
And if they're DEFECTIVE, let's NOT EXPLORE anything MEDICAL!
RIGHT?
It's much more fun, and lucrative, to call it "psychiatric", and AVOID doing any neurological testing or exploration.
I mean, never mind about all that trauma or social dynamic stuff... that's just for every OTHER species on the planet. That doesn't have a WALLET.
