I wrote several posts about diagnosis (Diagnosis and Mental Health, Diagnosis, the Beginning, Diagnosis (dx) Basics), trying to unravel some of the reasoning or at least the criteria used by doctors, psychologists and social workers to treat their patients appropriately, not to mention to be reimbursed appropriately by insurance companies. One of my readers, Womanunadorned.Wordpress.com […]
Why such an odd title for a post in a blog about issues relating to autism, neuroscience and mental health issues? Lately I’ve been thinking about how things are classified. In particular, how the medical establishment classifies mental illnesses, and how diagnoses are meted out. Many of you chafe at the idea of being defined […]
I just started reading ‘The Book of Woe’ by Gary Greenberg, about the generation of the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-5, the document that physicians will use to diagnose the mental illnesses of their patients and to receive reimbursement from insurance companies. The first several chapters outline the […]
Entire books have been written about psychiatric diagnosis. Diagnosis comes from a Latin application of the Greek: ‘gnosis’, to know and from the Greek: ‘dia’, through or thorough.[1] To diagnose something is to have thorough knowledge of it. Dx of physical ailments The means of understanding of a physical ailment is quite different from the […]
I always had my camera equipment with me when I visited Michael. I was hot on the trail of capturing the image that would explain it all. I was proud of one particular portrait of Michael, and printed a special copy for him. I wondered what he would do when he saw it. Below is […]
Mike was a very popular guy when I used to visit him in his group home. I imagine that he still is. Pretty good for a guy who doesn’t talk. When I lived close by, I frequently got calls about Mike’s condition, usually if he had a seizure or a cut or a bruise. He […]
What is it like to be Michael? He doesn’t have language skill, as he has never spoken. If he thinks at all it is probably not in words. If Michael imagines, how does he do it? Is it visual? His visual equipment is not like mine. Mike’s eyes seem to be independent of each other. […]
This is how I remember most of the moments between Dad and Mike. Dad, although tireless, seldom connected with Mike. Was it Mike being rebellious or uncomprehending? I know that I rebelled at times. Did Dad expect too much and demand that things be only his way? Was he the uncomprehending one? When I used […]
Dad never gave up. One would think that after so many years, he would. But he must have thought there was hope of some kind. The particulars escape me, but I remember that he always played with Michael and he always wanted to visit him at Willowbrook. When he was placed in a group home, […]
I was killing my brother. We were both characters in an opera and I was supposed to be acting only I couldn’t be a total actor, and he wouldn’t die. I kept squeezing and squeezing him. I had to, but I couldn’t So I thought he was dead and I ran away, up the fire escape to the building which […]
