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Wow that's a really impressive example to show how appendicitis is socially constructed! Speaking in a totally non-psychological, community psychological or critical way, I agree with people that are saying striving to be happy all the time is nonsense. Obviously abject misery is not a good thing, but I know people that have never experienced hardship or pain in their lives who are devoid of personality or humour, and on the other hand, I feel that any pain or misery I have experienced in my life has changed me for the better and has made me who I am - with I like to think (though obviously I would!) a better personality and greater sense of humour etc. for it - so I wouldn't strive to be unhappy as such but I wouldn't want to have only experienced total happiness my whole life - for one thing it would make me unbelievably ignorant and selfish, if I hadn't experienced pain in relation to injustice and international events Rachael ________________________________ From: The UK Community Psychology Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Nick Jordan Sent: 28 February 2008 10:03 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Anti depressants 'of little use' Imagine a society that views ritual self- disembowelment as the most honourable and glorious form of death. Then imagine that someone developed and died of a similarly agonising assault to the intestines (appendicitis), only this time it didn't appear to be freely willed. This could easily be viewed as a divinely ordained version of disembowelment - even more glorious, in fact the most glorious death of all. Hence the notion of appendicitis as a pathology is socially constructed. Tim Anstiss <[log in to unmask]> wrote: I only understood every second word of the below, at a push, which probably says more about me than the author. But help me out here (being a simple doctor), in what way is a red, inflamed, swollen, painful, about to burst and cause peritonitis and possibly death appendix (aka appendicitis) a social construction? I understand appendicitis is a label, and I understand it is shorthand - is this what you mean by "social construction"? - or do you mean something else above and beyond this? Tim David Fryer <[log in to unmask]> wrote: Hi Craig, I think the phrase "the conditions problematically diagnosed as depression" is useful because it avoids the over-simplification and depoliticisation of the position you appear to take in this email. The phrase leaves room to acknowledge that depression is diagnosed i.e. is socially constructed with all the involvement of interest groups that implies, that it is problematic as a diagnosis (in the narrow sense that it is quite different from e.g. a diagnosis of appendicitis - though that is also a social construction too of course) and problematic in the wider sense to which Carl Walker alerts us that depression may be a phenomenological and embodied manifestation of societal and political phenomena but it is still dreadful, destructive and very 'real' for people manifesting it and not in any useful sense just 'part of the human condition' (a positioning which naturalises it and makes it seem inevitable) but a direct consequence of oppressive forms of political, economic and social organization which are not inevitable and could be changed by collective decision. David ___________________________________ COMMUNITYPSYCHUK - The discussion list for community psychology in the UK. To unsubscribe or to change your details visit the website: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/COMMUNITYPSYCHUK.HTML For any problems or queries, contact the list moderator Rebekah Pratt on [log in to unmask] or Grant Jeffrey on [log in to unmask] ________________________________ Sent from Yahoo! Mail <http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/nowyoucan.html> . A Smarter Inbox. ___________________________________ COMMUNITYPSYCHUK - The discussion list for community psychology in the UK. To unsubscribe or to change your details visit the website: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/COMMUNITYPSYCHUK.HTML For any problems or queries, contact the list moderator Rebekah Pratt on [log in to unmask] or Grant Jeffrey on [log in to unmask] ___________________________________ COMMUNITYPSYCHUK - The discussion list for community psychology in the UK. To unsubscribe or to change your details visit the website: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/COMMUNITYPSYCHUK.HTML For any problems or queries, contact the list moderator Rebekah Pratt on [log in to unmask] or Grant Jeffrey on [log in to unmask]