Conditional Acceptance

[kuriboo]

I'm watching one of those current affairs programs, and they're talking about people suffering from a condition called trichotillomania ("trich" for short). They're talking to four women who have the condition. Sad condition, sad stories, I feel bad for them. It's a condition where they pull at their hair compulsively to the point of creating bald

Comments

[tabular_rasa]

Well, some people do tell people with anorexia to just go eat. Just as they tell people with depression to get over it. They are insensitive, and so are those who tell these women to simply stop plucking their hair

[kuriboo]

Yeah, you're absolutely right.

Really I should have elaborated a bit more on my post... It's more the general attitude of certain disorders being "taboo" to mock or speak out against, while others are seen as a free target.

I can't imagine any sane person seriously telling an anorexic to go eat (particularly publicly), but some of the offhand comments that get overheard about other disorders are offensive and puzzling.

The media seems to latch onto whatever disorder someone somewhere has decided is acceptable and which ones aren't get ignored or dissed...

[tabular_rasa]

Yeah . . . What usually seems to happen with public opinion and mental illness is at first it's just some crazy madness, but then a celebrity publicly admits to having it and suddenly it's tragic and sad and OMG we need to fix it.

On the other hand, too much public acknowledgment can diminish also how seriously people take certain disorders. For instance, now self-mutilation is often considered a choice made by members of certain teen countercultures and the butt of jokes ("Go cut yourself, emo kid"), while real self-harm is not trendy and chosen freely but a symptom of a mood and/or anxiety disorder-- certainly not something to take lightly!

In the meantime, I'm glad that there are television programs and things that discuss average people with the disorders. Some conditions seems stranger than fiction but they are an inescapable reality for many people. I just hope viewers really empathize with the people on the shows, instead of viewing them like circus freaks . . .