What's in the Name?

We call it DID, MDD, ADHD, OCD, NPD, PTSD, and other such abbreviatins of names of mental health problems. They shorten the category of symptoms, objectifying what it is, make it common and conforming, make it easier for the viewer and health worker, and treat the problem as some "thing" to be dissected and treated. Today's focus for many health researchers and providers is now to find the "biological markers" for these categories, further dissecting to some greater "thing." It is as if we are looking for some universal "God factor" to explain the all of this thing, with the belief that we will then have all we need to solve a problem. Quite a lofty goal! Although the rationale and action may be well-intended, if the task become purely mechanical or narcisstically-invested, problems abound and misdirection becomes inevitable. We need to look more "humanly" than this to really see, or we will not see. Robert Coles, the very gifted Existential Psychiatrist, speaks of this challenge to understand with one of his female patients in his book, "The Spiritual Life of Children." Or, perhaps better said, without the "human", we will see an illusion of what is real, or only what we want to see, distorting what is there. Persons of the past have been led and have led others away from the real of human life by their illusions and delusions. No matter what letters we attach or titles we ascribe, we will never truly understand, empathize or adequately help heal unless we first see and continually see the person before us. I am Tom Kelly, Joe Smith, Bob Brown, Cathy Sullivan, Sharon Stone, Tom Terrific, Jane Doane, Jennifer Johnson, etc. (note: names are fictitious). I am not a bunch of letters. I am not to be lumped with a bunch of others. I am not a thing. I am I, a unique self, a special someone unlike everyone else. Although I may share with others certain symptoms or problems or traits, my expression of them, my life journey, is mine alone. Only I have these experiences in my own way, from my perspective. Understand this and you may come to know me. The greater our objectification and separation, the more the human will disappear for us, confuse and frustrate our understanding, and move us further from intimacy and real life. Many, more serious and even dangerous consequences may come to us when we move away from the human in us and others. May we all be mindful in life and see what really lies before us.
Dr. Bob