Re: terms
David Lloyd-Jones (dlj@inforamp.net)
26 Sep 1996 14:57:34 GMT
ebc@ix.netcom.com(Errol Back-Cunningham) wrote:
>In <52bfge$ju6@news.inforamp.net> dlj@inforamp.net (David Lloyd-Jones)
>writes:
>>ebc@ix.netcom.com(Errol Back-Cunningham) wrote:
>>> In fact the whole thing is just good old psychobabble.
>>
>>Errol,
>>
>>This is a very silly thing to say. Schizophrenia, depression and
>>bipolar affective disorder are as real as death or money, and you
>>scoff at them at your peril.
> David - these disorder are defined in terms of the views and
>perceptions
> of the adherents to particular camps of philosophy. If you had the
>balls
> you would look back on the views and terms espoused by practioners
> of mental health two hundred years ago and ask yourself why the
> views and terms of the present generation should not be viewed in
> pretty much the same way in two hundred years time - with amusement.
Errol,
The fact that people change their views on mental illness does not
mean that it doesn't exist -- and doesn't give you an excuse for
making up a definition out of thin air rather than looking it up in
the dictionary. Today, as 200 years in the past, the words we use
reflect our best efforts at expressing the truth -- and while this
effort can never achieve perfection this does not make it ridiculous.
What is ridiculous is your refusal to face up to the fact that you got
caught in a stupid mistake.
Your "error" is the same kind of small time dopiness as that of the
person who, when asked "Which way is State Street?" points at random
rather than admitting they don't know.
-dlj.
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