#cluster a

[girlzoid]

i dont "struggle" with isolation, i'm actually soooooo super fucking good at it

[co-fronting]

Something that always bothers me in mental health spaces is the fear of relating too much to each-other across the lines of different disorders. Too many times I've met people who are not dissociative systems, but have dissociative experiences (such as from BPD), and they trip over themselves saying "no no, I mean, I don't REALLY understand what you go through, my thing is totally different," and it makes me a little upset. Disorders are just clusters of symptoms packaged together in a certain way, that's why the names and criteria often change across DSM and ICD editions, and viewing them as entirely exclusive clubs where only they could possibly understand anything about each other isn't a particularly healthy way of seeing it. The lines between disorder labels are blurrier than you think. You are not being a bad person or overstepping for relating to symptoms of a disorder, or people with a disorder, without having their specific label. Very rarely (if ever, frankly) is there a symptom that can only occur in one disorder, or even one type of disorder. Psychosis can occur in countless circumstances. Dissociation and identity compartmentalization can occur in countless circumstances. It's better to focus more on your specific symptoms and building community with your fellow neurodivergent people, using the resources that help you regardless of if they were specifically made for your diagnosis, over worrying about whether or not you're "allowed" to relate to something or experience something similarly to someone else.

[chronicsymptomsyndrome]

*displays textbook symptomatic behavior of my own disorder that I am well educated on* what’s my deal why am I like this

[hazedxg0]

While I am glad that ARFID has been getting more awareness recently, it really does bother me when people claim that it's something only autistic people have or when they call it the "sensory issues eating disorder".

Because while ARFID certainly can present that way, by definition it's just any clinically significant restrictive eating or feeding disturbance that isn't body image based. It also commonly presents as:

Lack of interest in food or eating—such as a result of major depressive disorder, schizoid personality disorder, the negative symptoms of schizophrenia spectrum disorders, dissociative disorders, etc

Avoidance of specific foods that are PTSD triggers, or of eating as a whole due to traumatic events that happened around mealtimes or in kitchens or dining rooms

Avoiding food due to phobias surrounding vomiting, choking, allergic reactions, etc

Avoiding food due to OCD surrounding due to magical thinking around the consequences of eating (i.e. fearing that a loved one will die if you eat a specific food), obsessions surrounding poisoning or allergic reactions, or food restriction as a compulsion

Avoiding food as a result of delusions or paranoia in schizophrenia spectrum disorders, paranoid personality disorder, etc

And so on. Of course AFRID as a result of autism and sensory processing disorder deserve awareness as well, but it would be great if people could develop a more holistic view of the different ways ARFID can present instead of just calling it "the autism eating disorder".

[neptune-scythe]

I hate the idea that the opposite of love is straight up evil, and that love is required to experience any positive or caring emotion or be "a good person" (whatever tf that even means)

anyone can have empathy or compassion or respect without "love"

you can be social and have community and close relationships without having "love"

you can never experience "love" and still be kinder and treat people better than people who do experience it

and it doesn't make you evil

even if you don't experience empathy or compassion or really any emotion like that it doesn't make you evil

not experiencing any emotions at all doesn't make you evil

and being empathetic and loving and compassionate doesn't make you immune to being evil or hurting people either

nothing is that black and white

love is in fact not what makes us human

it's literally just another emotion on the same level as all the others ... and not everyone experiences it, just like any other emotion

and while I'm at it there is nothing wrong with being anti social or having a hard time connecting with other people or having no desire for human connection

as long as you're not purposely hurting people, or unintentionally hurting people but never taking accountability or responsibility for it then you're doing okay

stay loveless stay heartless be social or anti social whatever it is you are

thank you for coming to my TedTalk

[takemetodragonstone]

t shirt that says i survived hell and all i got was this stupid personality disorder

[thegalvanizedstaff]

btw your witty and creative friend could have npd, the family member that believes fortune tellers and always closes the windows could have stpd, the friendly neighbour that always asks how did your day go could have aspd, the not-so-talkative sweetheart you're dating could have dpd, the classmate that always shares jokes with you could have szpd. personality disorders ain't as special or rare as you think, you just don't know them enough. it's not always obvious!!