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« on: December 04, 2018, 11:55:20 pm »
Words!
One of the highlights in my life was learning the words "dermatophagia" and "dermatillomania." Prior to that, my belief was that I was simply crazy, or cursed, or broken, or something. All of a sudden, I understood that enough other people had the same problem(s) that there were words for them. The words helped me separate myself from these problems, whereas prior I felt they were an integral component of my self.
All of a sudden, the metaphor about having (some) power over a demon once you learned its name made sense.
Then I shared my finding with my GP, whose response was "Dermatophagia? That's just Latin for 'skin-eating!' That's not a real medical thing." First of all, asshole, Google tells me it's Greek; second, can we maybe abstain from playing the semantics game long enough to talk about the flaw in my brain that decides my fingers are made of KFC every now and again? Kthx.
Did learning new words fix my problem(s)? No. Did it help foster a very different understanding of my life, the world, and my place in it? Absolutely. Has my new GP mentioned it to me even once in the past two years, despite "nail-biting" being on my medical record? Not a peep.
Funny how words work (or get worked over) sometimes.
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