On the whole traumatic birth thing again...

[ailbhe]

From http://www.psychnet-uk.com/dsm_iv/female_orgasmic_disorder.htm :

Female Orgasmic Disorder occurs when there is a significant delay or total absence of orgasm associated with the sexual activity.

That bit's ok.

This condition must cause a problem in the relationship with the sexual partner in order to be defined as a disorder.

THAT BIT ENRAGES ME BEYOND BELIEF.

Comments

[ailbhe]

My experience of my expressions of distress is that medical professionals consider them entirely invisible. Unless I consciously Act Distressed, rather than calmly stating the degree of my distress. Same with physical pain; merely saying "that is intensely painful, that is almost unbearable" or similar gets me nowhere; I have to *act* it. That bit is easier since the Big Pain Event six years ago, but it used to be extremely difficult to deal with.

[trinker.livejournal.com]

I *hate* the way that pain/distress is evaluated. I've heard from two people whose pain responses I knew in great detail that they went into the ER for appendicitis, and nearly burst because they weren't inclined to blubber and howl, and the SOP was "not until they're screaming". (Two different people, two different hospitals, different decades.)

[rmc28]

Yes. I don't easily DO revealing emotion, and I made the mistake once of using my energy to hang onto my ability to communicate my severe pain, so the evil locum doctor insisted that he had to examine me "just to be sure".

The part where I screamed and nearly went into shock from the pain may have convinced him that I was serious about the pain. But FFS.

Ailbhe is right, I get better treatment when I use my energy to overcome my reserve and cry, than when I keep it for communicating.

[erik]

This reminds me a lot of my recent (about a year ago) Kidney Stone Episode, where I calmly told the ER staff that the pain was unbearable, and the pain I'd felt an hour ago was the worst I'd ever felt and it was worse than that now (while curled into a ball). They flat didn't believe me, and it wasn't until I was actually going into shock from the pain that they started to treat my pain.

[the0lady.livejournal.com]

I find that mental distress is especially dofficult to convince people of; there is a particular brand of medical professional who will dismiss you as a malingerer unless they can dismiss you as a hysteric.

I don't have any issues externalising my emotions, but I used to think that when speaking to someone with scientific training it was better to be rational and stick to facts, measurables and testable hypotheses. WRONG! Breaking down in floods of tears earn you contempt, but also gets you treatment.

I do have to make the observation that this is a very English/British Catch-22, by the way. I think it's something to do with the very fact of having/admitting to a mental problem being seen as so shameful and flawed that there is no "right" way to about being that patient...