My parents used to have his show on all the time, I can totally imagine him saying something like this. But the more I think about it, the more it surprises me - because back in the day, before people understood what Alzheimer's was all about, he did a shitload of research and wrote a book trying to help people understand the disease. What's happened to him since then?
I guess something he's had no personal experience with doesn't matter to him. Far too many people feel that way.
I think one of the problems with psychiatric and mental disorders is that they can be faked by people who want attention, and that small percentage of people ends up representing the whole. I'd place equal blame on idiots like Savage and people who use faked diseases to get attention...because they do exist, and they're just propagating the stigma that "it's in your head = you can control it."
Another big issue, I think, is some people who refuse to accept that their physical disorders have a psychological basis. That does NOT mean that it's "fake" or that they're attention-whoring, it just means that they need to seek a different mode of treatment. If we could eliminate that stigma, then people who are suffering might be more open to accepting psychological diagnoses.
I've gone off on a complete tangent here, but I think this is a very interesting topic to discuss.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2008-07-27 05:14 am (UTC)I guess something he's had no personal experience with doesn't matter to him. Far too many people feel that way.
I think one of the problems with psychiatric and mental disorders is that they can be faked by people who want attention, and that small percentage of people ends up representing the whole. I'd place equal blame on idiots like Savage and people who use faked diseases to get attention...because they do exist, and they're just propagating the stigma that "it's in your head = you can control it."
Another big issue, I think, is some people who refuse to accept that their physical disorders have a psychological basis. That does NOT mean that it's "fake" or that they're attention-whoring, it just means that they need to seek a different mode of treatment. If we could eliminate that stigma, then people who are suffering might be more open to accepting psychological diagnoses.
I've gone off on a complete tangent here, but I think this is a very interesting topic to discuss.