this post was submitted on 02 Nov 2023
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You've obviously not worked with people who don't bathe, groom or clean their living spaces. That's not efficiency; it's dysfunction.
It's also not laziness
It isn't always due to mental illness or intellectual limitations. I've worked with people who simply didn't care about hygiene, grooming, or keeping up with their living spaces. Individuals who admitted themselves they were too lazy to put effort into things, and they were okay with that lifestyle.
Their guardians, families and care facility staff weren't okay with it tho. Yes, it was severe dysfunction that is more than what someone normally thinks of with laziness. But there are people who simply are severely dysfunctionally lazy.
I'm not referring in relation to mental illness, chronic fatigue syndrome, or cognitive limitations. This may not seem politically correct, but these people exist and you could ask anyone from my previous employer, or my past clients themselves.
That seems like a very long way to say " undiagnosed mental illness".
Lack of self-care is a symptom of mental illness. The fact that they are otherwise functional just means that they are probably not properly diagnosed, and are possibly self-medicating.
If you say so. But I would venture to guess you don't know more than the diagnosticians with their extensive testing.
Absolutely not self-medicating tho. They were in controlled environments and while drugs would occasionally enter the RCFs/ALFs, it was easy to spot and test for.
I'm not saying these people did not have dysfunctional behavior. But they did not have any diagnosis related to their self-indulging laziness. Some people are overachievers and others are extremely lazy. What I'm describing is more a personality trait and likely influenced by their upbringing.
The most common form of self-medication is caffeine and alcohol.
Both substances were regulated at the facilities. Obviously alcohol, but caffeine can interfere with specific meds or exacerbate certain people's symptoms.
How do you know it wasn't due to some deeper issues or trauma, etc?
Working with their families and court-appointed guardians and having access to their medical and treatment history, diagnostic testing, etc.
I also always had great rapport with my clients, and was often the only person my clients would be totally honest with.
I'm sure people may read this thinking I'm a callous judgemental prick, but I was able to provide 100% non-judgmental empathetic reflective listening and maintaining the therapeutic alliance as people confided to me a grotesque murder they committed, the abuse they suffered, child abuse they inflicted...
I was the one on my team given the challenging cases and individuals who were notoriously difficult to work with, had borderline intellectual functioning, or were volatile and threatening.
The laziness I'm referring to is a personality trait; not a symptom of mental illness or trauma.