I've been skimming through this book on how the patriarchy uses women's trauma against them. Here are passages I copied directly from it:
- I had experienced years of disrespect, accusations, and pushback for simply suggesting that women and girls are not mentally ill, but are traumatized by their experiences, abuse and oppression
- Isn’t personality (and what constitutes whether it is disordered or not) socially, culturally and historically situated?
- Huge questions, I know. But nonetheless, if we are going to diagnose tens of thousands of women and girls with personality disorders which impact them for the rest of their lives - shouldn’t we be asking these difficult questions?
- This is why it is so important that we do not reframe women’s traumas as mental illnesses, personality disorders and forms of psychoses. In my view, knowing that women and girls exist in a patriarchy where they are likely to be subjected to traumas and violations over and over, and then convincing them that their natural and rational reactions are mental health issues, psychoses and personality disorders is one of the most insulting, insidious and powerful forms of victim blaming of women that has ever been developed and maintained
It took years, but now I'm on board with my bi-monthly injection of 900 mL of Abilify, a time-released anti-psychotic used to treat my diagnosis of bipolar i. However, I have always been skeptical of this diagnosis and even the bipolar label itself. This book confirms some things I suspected. I'll add to this post as I read more! 📖
Comments
Post a Comment