Narcissism

narcissism (noun) : a psychological condition characterized by self-preoccupation, lack of empathy, and unconscious deficits in self-esteem; see also, narcissist (better known as my mother, my ex-husband, an inordinate number of my female friends)
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But enough about me!

The real news is that narcissistic personality disorder (characterized by an inflated sense of self-importance and the need for constant attention) has been eliminated from the upcoming revision of the DSM.

see: www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/health/views/30mind.html

Critics of course are concerned over how a treatment plan will be implemented if narcissism is removed as a personality disorder. Speaking from my own experience, I have yet to meet a narcissist who has changed, therapy or no therapy, and become less self-centered and more empathetic. So should we even care about them?

I think that since there's now room in the DSM for new personality disorders, how about one for those enabling all the narcissists out there? Because if therapy can help the enablers then the narcissists will be left to deal with each other, right?

And picking up on the whole 'daydream believer' melodyfest, maybe then the world will be a better place.

DSM

DSM (noun) : 1. Distinguished Service Medal given to those mental health professionals who diagnose mental disorders; 2. the non-religious 'good book' referencing those mental disorders
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Apparently, the clinical usefulness of the DSM is more than a tool for making diagnoses - it´s a guide for communicating about mental health conditions. So when two clinicians discuss a diagnosis such as "major depressive disorder, single episode, severe with psychotic features," they both have the same visualization of the illness.

Categorizing conditions or disorders that people have helps with avoiding labels and further conditions. That means that while I may have suffered with depression, I was never a manic (or other kind of) depressive and therefore was able to eliminate or cure the depression with the help of my therapist (who, by the way, has been bugging me to say something nice about him in this blog; consider it done, dude). As with most therapy-like items, there are others who value the label because it may provide a sense of control over the illness as more can be learned about its treatment, causes, and outcome. With depression, I´m not convinced that this is true since the outcome of it as an illness usually is not good.

But look for that in MORE depression posts - coming soon to a blog near you!