Monday, 23 April 2012
Am I Normal?
Paperdoll commented that ?she (?he-- do paperdolls have gender?) likes posts about "normal."
The quick answer is: No, you're not normal! Normal people don't call themselves "paper doll." Normal people also don't write blogs called "Shrink Rap" or post photos of their feet all over the internet.
I'm a psychiatrist and people ask me all the time "Is that normal?" or worse, "Am I normal?"
And we start with a semantic disconnect here: I equate "Normal" with "Booooring!" and would gladly wear a pin that says "Why Be Normal?" Like Why? What is normal? Why would anyone aspired to that. Normal is an IQ of 100, corn flakes for break fast and tuna fish for lunch (ok, I like tuna)..normal entails conforming to some exact mediocre standard. Why would you want to be Normal. Please don't call me normal (I think I don't have too worry too much here).
To my patients, however, "Am I normal?" doesn't mean Am I normal, it means "Please tell me I'm not crazy." You're not crazy. Okay, Paperdoll, I don't know you, and I don't know what crazy means to you, but there's probably a good shot you're not crazy. And I am definitely not crazy. Oh, yeah, I'm a psychiatrist and I'm not supposed to use the word crazy. Okay, you're normal.
So sometimes I'm told that I'm too normal to be a psychiatrist. Oh, all the Shrink Rappers---believe it or not--- kind of "look" normal....except for ClinkShrink who has started acting like Spiderman while she repels off steep cliffs. Apparently-- or so I'm told-- psychiatrists don't look normal.
Where am I going with this? And why? Is this kind of bloggy discourse normal?
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