Sunday, December 3, 2017

Why Say Gravely Disabled?

     What has motivated me to take as many Psychology
classes as possible? Well, lets look at something first.
I showed signs of a mental disability when I was 19, 
but did not get diagnosed until I was newly 21. Many
family members kept saying that I was taking too much
to heart and that I should not let all the back-biting get
to me. But, I cannot turn off my ears and I cannot face
those that lie to me with a neutral face. 

   I was always told that mental illness, in my family, only
hit the men. In school, I learned that that is not true. The
mother passes on the mental illness, not the father, through
the x chromosome. So, when I  was told that I had mental
illness, I rebelled. I was so sure that the experts were wrong.

     So, eventually, I began on my path to prove the experts
wrong. I have been in school for many years now. I took
almost all of the psychology classes offered at my local
community college and hope to move on to the university.
I wanted to know, from the experts, why they were saying
that I am mentally ill. Surely, someone is joking right?

     So, I started on the road to learning. I started with 
psychology 101. From there I branched into sociology 101,
health 101, and philosophy 101 (where an instructor 
encouraged me to continue in the social field). I learned
how to write better, attending journalism and english 
classes. I took another philosophy class to have better
critical thinking skills. I learned sign language that helped
me get some of my facial expressions back in control. I
took some art classes, and learned that it is not my forte.
I took biology, political science, and math. 

     Soon, I was able to concentrate on psychology classes.
So, I took psychology 101, but what else is there? There
are actually quite a bit. Such as; social psychology, human
sexuality, developmental psychology, physiological 
psychology, learning psychology, abnormal psychology, 
and statistics. All of these were interesting, but what did
I learn? I learned that I can now identify for myself what
is so wrong, and I can explain myself to my doctor ever
better for it. I have come to the realization that I am even
more disabled than what the doctor's diagnosed and was
able to open up for the first time with my doctor, areas in
need of treatment. 

     I will continue to be an active player in my treatment,
and I don't need to be ashamed of my diagnosis. I am who
I am, and the doctors can treat me with a better idea as to
what exactly is wrong, so I can stay in remission. I have 
reached acceptance. I accept that I am mentally ill, but I
still disagree with the 'gravely disabled' part of it. How can
I be, when I am so functional? 

Vocabulary ABC's

Side-effects