Poor Atwat....

[UartigePigebarn]

There are many reasons why more people are being diagnosed with mental illness in my opinion. We know more about the diseases (and what qualifies as a disease) through research and people are more aware and more educated on them - that's not all the reasons obviously, but both very vital when it comes to recognising a sick person from a healthy person. Then there's the thing about the media. When there's a lot of focus on an illness, more people people will be diagnosed (and I'm not talking self-diagnosed here) with that illness. Why? Because the increased focus will make the doctors more aware of it and therefore be more likely to notice it - even in the beginning stages. If it's a "new" disease, like when depression was first defined, it explains the mental state of a whole range of people, therefore causing more people to be diagnosed with it. The thing about depression is that's it been redefined to include some symptoms that were earlier just discarded as 'teenage angst', so now of course, more people are being diagnosed with depression.

I won't really go into the whole thing about depression being a trend. It sickens me. However, people do have a tendency to self-diagnose and if depression and suicidal behaviour is all you see on the news, well, then that's the thing you know about, right? Again, there'll be more people at least claiming they have a depression. I remember a few years back when everybody had schizophrenia, now it's just trendy to depressed.

That being said, I don't honestly think that the FAs are mentally ill nor am I in a position to diagnose them as such after reading a few posts by them. Disturbingly greedy and self-absorbed, yes, but not really anything more severe. Well, in Atwat's case perhaps more. Sleeping with a man and then calling him your son is just plain perverse. Ew.

And sorry for the long post, heh. TL;DR, yep.

[Devilfish]

I won't really go into the whole thing about depression being a trend. It sickens me. However, people do have a tendency to self-diagnose and if depression and suicidal behaviour is all you see on the news, well, then that's the thing you know about, right?

That's what I was getting at, thanks for saying it better. It is a problem, especially since some people really do need help but are afraid they'll be concidered poseurs and bandwagon-hoppers if they own up to being ill. And I'd like to mention at this point that I have nothing against teenagers who really are ill. I'd never think they're misguided straight of the bat. I was depressed as a toddler. Rare, but it happens. It took me until I was sixteen (when I was more or less through the worst of puberty) before people started concidering something might actually be wrong with me, that it was not just 'teenage angst'. Ten years of being ignored simply because I was a teenager did nothing to help my situation. So I try to go easy on the teens. Some of them may actually need help.

God, I have so many thought and opinions on the subject, but for now let me say that I appreciate everyone fessing up. I was afraid I'd become the resident nutcase 

We should totally start a 'Diagnose a pirate' self help thread.

Well my son has Asperger's - I wouldn't say that it's a horrid illness.  It's more that I have to modify how I explain things to him - logic wins over any kind of emotional plea.  You have to logically explain why it's not good to treat people carelessly, which means that it is lucky I am quick on my toes.  Of course, it's then good that he doesn't stick with his argument for why it's a good idea to do whatever it is - he's not emotionally attached to his point of view so I mostly know I've won because he says "....good point".

Props to your son then. He sounds like he's fun to hang out with. More then some people I know at least 

And my food still turned into insect and snot.

    why the hell is my wife cooking your dinner?   

Dad?

Sis? 

[minionsRmine]

I don't think Atwa's suffering from a mental illness. (It'd just be another thing she could use to her advantage; think about it.) I think she's seriously just a drama queen and has been coddled too much by Thomas and she's a selfish you-know-what!!

No psychology degree or psychoanalysis needed to pinpoint her issues!

[SoggyFox]

Obsession is considered a mental illness.

As for the media, I think they are using Autism/Depression/MID to keep from addressing diabeties - which is an illness, will kill you, but first it takes your sight, your limbs, your ability to feel your feet, your ability to heal injuries and illnesses - and caused by this unhealthy ability of our advertising industry to LIE about what is healthy to eat, just so companies can make a fast buck.

That's just my outlook - knowing two diabetics now who have lost parts of their body to that 'condition', one girl missing most of a leg now from stepping on a nail.  From knowing entirely too many diabetics of both type 1 and type 2, and from being one.

Which irks me more because that means that you not only are lead to believe that there is something -wrong- with a mind that works logically instead of being emotional, and instead of learning to adjust around it, parents will go so far as to -ignore- the flaw in their baby and do nothing, but also it means we're ignoring an actually -deadly- problem that is affecting a large chunk of the population.

[gayle_afcb]

My son has has Aspergers and ADHD.  He was "labelled" at 18 months old and officially diagnosed at age 4/5.  He'd not long started school so it was around the time of his 5th birthday. There are days when it's hell to be near him as he has a very spiteful aggressive side to him but when he is taking his meds and they are working he is very sweet natured and loving. Well as loving as an emotionally detached person can be!  It can be draining at times to remember to carefully explain things when you have had a few months of just 2 hours sleep per night. He takes everything said to him literally, a year after a situation where a supply teacher told him he had worked his socks off I am still trying to explain to him that it was merely a saying meaning he hard worked hard.  He sat at home the night it happened just looking at his feet sobbing and saying he hadn't worked his socks off cos they were still there and was very confused by it.  Every now and then I catch him looking at his socks to check they are still there LOL

As for Atwa - the only thing wrong with her is she lives in a fantasy world inside her own head because she quite simply has no life in the real world.

[UartigePigebarn]

We should totally start a 'Diagnose a pirate' self help thread.

Heh, diagnosing others and self-diagnose FTW. I call Dissociative Identity Disorder. Imagine a better excuse for stupid behaviour? 'It wasn't me! It was me!'

[SnarkyShark]

I call Dissociative Identity Disorder. Imagine a better excuse for stupid behaviour? 'It wasn't me! It was me!'

 Hmmph, that is a good one - -  but since I call kleptomania and  Tourettes it's now MINE, you motherfuckin' bitchface.

[alia]

Not saying that I am an atwa expert or anything close to that. I did spend every night for 6 months talking to her.

You realize you are going to need therapy now, right? 

She had Thoma$$?   

That is what she claims.But then she would turn around and call him her son.As you guys have seen.YUK!

  After reading that, I'm going to need therapy, too.  Icky stuff, especially the part about her calling him "son". Eww!
*Desperately wants to make a some sort of "Come to mama" -joke, but will not, since it would be in bad taste*

About: Atwa.
Yeah, she seems like a sad, lonely person. If she has no friends or family outside TSR, I understand why she's so obsessive about Thomass and TSR in general. However, that doesn't excuse her behaviour. If you're not suffering from serious mental illness that prevents you from functioning in "normal" society alltogether, you are responsible for your actions. Just because you're on the Internets doesn't mean that you can backstab everyone and expect to get away with it. Obsessing over some married guy who is much younger than you just isn't cool.

Atwa, go out, clear your head and start making some real friends.

it maddens me when they talk about aspberger's and autism as being so horrid illness.

What utter silliness. Totally agree with you, Foxy. 
Asperger's is not an illness. Illness is something you can cure, whereas people who have Asperger's are just... Born different. IMO, that is not an illness. Furthermore, people who have Asperger's can usually learn to function better in society with some training (as in, how to act in different situations, what kind of behaviour do "normals" find frightening/agressive/non-friendly etc.). The training doesn't "cure" them, but it can help them.

I've taught some kids with Asperger, and while they were different, I never thought they were ill. Just different from other kids. Also, drawing the line between somebody who has Asperger's and somebody who is just very eccentric is very hard. One of my students, I never realised he had Asperger's before somebody mentioned about it to me. He was just rather quiet and often liked doing things on his own. One of his classmates was also tested for Asperger's, but the tests came back negative, even though he exhibited several characteristics (bluntness, inability to read other kids' reactions, obsessing over certain things, etc.)  It was funny, though, I ended up treating him like he had Asperger's, as he reacted to instructions much better that way. 

[Devilfish]

He takes everything said to him literally, a year after a situation where a supply teacher told him he had worked his socks off I am still trying to explain to him that it was merely a saying meaning he hard worked hard.  He sat at home the night it happened just looking at his feet sobbing and saying he hadn't worked his socks off cos they were still there and was very confused by it.  Every now and then I catch him looking at his socks to check they are still there LOL

Best story I heard all week. No offense, but that really made me lol. 

[SoggyFox]

Well, also they are still not sure how to diagnosis it anyway - for example, if I'm remembering right, they still tend to think one of the telling signs is a fascination with the mechanical.  I read somewhere they were just now realizing that girls had it -just as often- but their fascination tended towards animals.  I did a lot of research because I did this test online and it suggested I might have it.  I do have some of the traits, but I'm actually a very emotional person - I do take things literally and I'm fascinated by how -everything- works, mechanical and living, emotional and physically.  I do know my mind works differently than the -norm- but I also was lucky to have teachers who liked me and went out of their way to nurture my mind.  Other kids were a horror though.

[calalily]

Well, also they are still not sure how to diagnosis it anyway - for example, if I'm remembering right, they still tend to think one of the telling signs is a fascination with the mechanical. 

I'm not sure how recent your info is, but they've generalised it to obsession with anything - although there are tendencies towards certain things.  There's some exciting research coming out now - cutting edge stuff - about the gait of kids with Aspergers being different to both normal kids and kids with autism.  They hope to be able to determine whether or not a kid should be tested for Aspergers instead of waiting until the kid runs into problems - http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/2389736.htm. 

[SoggyFox]

Its a few years old, maybe more than a few years - time flows so damn fast that I often go, has it really been that long?

Also makes it hard to plan for things because its so easy to procrastinate.

[calalily]

Its a few years old, maybe more than a few years - time flows so damn fast that I often go, has it really been that long?

That's alright though - unless you're directly affected or a psychologist you don't find out they've updated the DSMIV until someone tells you. 

[mustluvcatz]

One of my boys has many, many problems. Being BiPolar, mildly MR and having ADD are just 3 of them- to give you an idea of how his life is.
He has always been in special education classes and will most likely never function above the level of a 4th grader. There have been times when just thinking about what he'll do when he's considered an adult has made me cry. I know that he'll never lead a "normal" life....but he doesn't. He'll most likely never be able to drive a car (he's almost 16 and couldn't take driver's education- they dropped him out of the class after a week)- he lacks the ability to concentrate and judge a situation properly. He talks about going to college- functioning at the level he does, that's highly unlikely. He talks about getting married and being a daddy- that could definitely happen, if he finds the right girl who understands and accepts who and how he is whole-heartedly. He talks about working- again, could definitely happen...but it's unlikely that he'll ever get a "skilled" job that pays well. If he's to ever live on his own, he'll need supervision- so he'll never truly live on his own. For the rest of his life, he'll be struggling to add 2+2 (it's not that he can't, it's that he forgets how to do basic math and has to be reminded) and his library card is rarely used- young adult and adult books are too hard for him to read.
Don't get me wrong. I love my son uncondtionally. He's mine- "faults" and all. That's my boy, my baby. I've always done all I can to try to improve his situation.
The only reason I say a any of this now is this- someone told me that he envies my son because he'll always have it "easy" and be able to "skate" through life. Believe it or not, I managed to not kill that person.

[dietofworms]

My son has Asperger's too (doesn't it seem like it's overrepresented in our little sample?!)  He's obsessed with machines, is reluctant to do anything other than build stuff out of Legos, and collects incredible amounts of trivia.  Until now (he's 12) he's always been naive and guileless, but now that he's nearly a teen, there's a little more sophistication in his thinking.  He's not socially inappropriate, but tends not to mix and prefers solitary activities like reading.  One of the reasons I'm homeschooling him is that he was miserable in a group setting.

What I've learned is that there's a huge spectrum of Asperger's symptoms, which is why it's classified as a syndrome.  It's a bit of a hodgepodge like ADHD--the terms get thrown around but they're easy to confuse wth other stuff(My older son, who we finally know has severe ADHD, was misdiagnosed as having Tourette's, seizure disorders, and OCD for many years).  I think, when there are multiple possibilities and especially in children, clinicians are quick to label with whatever diseases they're most familiar with.

Devilfish, I understand what you're saying. I'm sorry you had to go through what you did, and thank God for medication that works.  My mother was deeply psychotic for five years before she died.  It was hell on everyone around her, but especially on her.

Paleo, I think we're very much alike.  Glad you have things under control.  I do, too, knock on wood.