A lot of my break from anarchism and mad pride had to do with the refusal to recognize the individual or the biological at all; I was expected to embrace my mental illness or else frame it as entirely socially constructed. Which I find interesting, as that sort of loops around to the mainstream, capitalist view of mental illness—it is only categorized as such if it interferes, specifically, with your ability to do work. The difference is that anarchists hated me for not celebrating my unique role in a future society, and instead taking psychiatric meds about it.
(Standard disclaimer: Not all anarchists.)
My spine has also tried to kill me in the past, and I see no real distinction between saying that my spine is trying to kill me and my brain is trying to kill me. The brain isn't a special organ; it can malfunction for all sorts of reasons. Of course my brain and my spine are both me (in that sense, the tumour was also me) but as a rhetorical framing—I need to deal with this part of me that is causing me harm—I find the separation useful.
I'm ending my time in psychotherapy after around 25 years, so it's a strange time for me. I found it helpful, if overly individualistic, since a lot of what is going on with me is socially/economically based. That said, my ability to push back on the latter relies on my ability to exist in the first place.
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Date: May 27th, 2025 11:21 (UTC)A lot of my break from anarchism and mad pride had to do with the refusal to recognize the individual or the biological at all; I was expected to embrace my mental illness or else frame it as entirely socially constructed. Which I find interesting, as that sort of loops around to the mainstream, capitalist view of mental illness—it is only categorized as such if it interferes, specifically, with your ability to do work. The difference is that anarchists hated me for not celebrating my unique role in a future society, and instead taking psychiatric meds about it.
(Standard disclaimer: Not all anarchists.)
My spine has also tried to kill me in the past, and I see no real distinction between saying that my spine is trying to kill me and my brain is trying to kill me. The brain isn't a special organ; it can malfunction for all sorts of reasons. Of course my brain and my spine are both me (in that sense, the tumour was also me) but as a rhetorical framing—I need to deal with this part of me that is causing me harm—I find the separation useful.
I'm ending my time in psychotherapy after around 25 years, so it's a strange time for me. I found it helpful, if overly individualistic, since a lot of what is going on with me is socially/economically based. That said, my ability to push back on the latter relies on my ability to exist in the first place.