DSM-5 A new dystopian novel takes the form of a dictionary of madness

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Thanks for putting this up, will read it in full later. But:

"The idea emerges that every person’s illness is somehow their own fault, that it comes from nowhere but themselves: their genes, their addictions, and their inherent human insufficiency."
"If there is a normality here, it’s a state of near-catatonia. DSM-5 seems to have no definition of happiness other than the absence of suffering. The normal individual in this book is tranquilized and bovine-eyed, mutely accepting everything in a sometimes painful world without ever feeling much in the way of anything about it."

Right on. It's pathologising the state of being human. I'm off to read some RD Laing...
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Wow, sounds like some heavy stuff. Anyone interested in buying it and reading it together? Don't think we've done that since Cyclonopedia, have we?

Anyway:

"The idea emerges that every person’s illness is somehow their own fault..."

Ben ('Bad Science') Goldacre has a lot to say about this, mostly about physical rather than mental illnesses although the principle is the same. He identifies not-at-all-a-Dr. Gillian McKeith, a.k.a. The Awful Poo Woman, as being a prime offender in promoting the idea that illness is caused primarily by an unhealthy lifestyle and that if we could only eat correctly, avoid sinful vices like alcohol and tobacco and take a suitably cold-showers-and-early-morning-runs, Protestant-self-hatred approach to life, we'd all enjoy excellent health and die at the age of 100. The unavoidable corollary being that if you get ill in any way, it's somehow your fault. Whereas something like 60% of cancers are reckoned to be non-lifestyle-related, and were going to happen anyway just because of genetic bad luck.

Sorry, a bit tangential. Looks like an interesting book.
 
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mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
looks like fun, I can't possibly read it at the moment though, but would love to follow other people who are
 
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