Are All These Medical Conditions Real?

When I was a freshman in college, one of the reading assignments was Nathaniel West's Miss Lonelyhearts.

I was in Honors College and English was one of the Honors classes, so we did not do traditional course work. We actually discussed literature and society. We discussed learning and questioning the themes and situations.

One of the major discussions that arose with this reading assignment was that of all the different "illnesses" and "mental conditions" that exist today.

Do they really exist or are they just all in our heads?

The thing is, the answer is both.

That's what we discussed, too, and it was also our conclusion.

There are really mental conditions that exist. There's no doubt that they exist. There's no doubt that they existed long ago, either. It's just that in the past, people with these conditions were hidden or locked up in what people thought were mental instituions, but were really just places where they were tortured. So, of course, we didn't know of the problems.

However, today, we also make up all kinds of mental and medical conditions. Shy? You might have social anxiety disorder! Outgoing? You might have ADHD! I'm not saying that these things don't exist, but I've heard many cases of misdiagnosis, and that's why. Doctors are trying to diagnose everything, even things that don't really need to be diagnosed.

I often find myself holding my pen or pencil in my mouth when reading or writing. I must have OCD! However, things don't really bother me. That's just one of my strange little habbits. I like Disney shows. I must not have grown up at all! Except, here I sit writing this little essay.

I haven't found the right job, so something must be wrong. No, I think it is just more that I haven't found the right job and it has to do with how even though it says every single place is hiring, they really don't want to hire a college graduate and the "Good Ol' Boys Network" is still strongly in place in the city where I live.

I'm certain that somewhere there is a doctor who would love to diagnose me with numerous ailments and conditions and prescribe me all kinds of pills. The thing is, I know that I don't need them.