How accurate is Wikipedia and should we rely on it?

Here’s a good article that I think is credible:

http://firstmonday.org/article/view/1413/1331

So the article states that in a search, many errors were found. I saw the figure 13%, that is, 13% of articles contain mistakes. What constitutes “mistakes” and exactly how huge were those errors? An error in date of birth is significant. A completely goofed chart of chemical composition is a big goof, or an incorrect drawing of the anatomy of a certain animal species.   Or to state that a person was murdered when in fact, the person drowned in a boating accident is also a big no-no. However, leaving a period off at the end of a sentence, also a boo-boo, isn’t such a big deal unless it confuses the reader into thinking, for an instant, that the wife might have eaten her dead husband’s body.

Interestingly enough, anyone can claim expertise and alter a Wikipedia article. So if you hate someone that much, go claim expertise and alter the article on that person.  Doing so isn’t a particularly original thing to do. You might as well forge checks for a living, or steal identities.

When I was a kid, we’d get together with neighbor kids and make annoyance calls. “Is your refrigerator running? Better go catch it!” It was funny, though, we usually called parents of other kids and imagined the expressions on their faces. Silly kids stuff. This was before the day of telemarketers, and no one ever got in any trouble for it. It always ended in good fun.  We got bored of the “annoyance calls” game and then ran outside and climbed trees for a while.

 

Those of us who have suffered psych abuse need to team up with veterans

This is my thinking. It seems like the psychiatric regime loves to deny that trauma exists. They’d rather call us permanently disordered than admit that we are possibly traumatized, and maybe we need to be listened to. The notion of “it’s temporary” scares the heck out of them. It challenges them. The very thought that we have the potential to be functioning, happy, productive human beings is contrary to their extremely low opinion of us. This is one big reason why they continue to abuse, or order their underlings to abuse.

So now what? I myself suffer trauma from abuse while inpatient and have suffered insomnia ever since. I am shocked, looking back, that Dr. P, who had known me 12 years, didn’t recognize the signs of trauma when it was darned obvious, and instead, mistook what was happening for mania. I myself didn’t know, since I had never been through something so extreme. Not only could I suddenly not sleep, but I became fixated on the abuse, which played itself over and over in my mind. I couldn’t get it out of my head, and still can’t. So she decided that was “paranoia,” which was dead wrong. Or her hospital was pressuring her to push that one on me. I suppose, since I have yet to get an apology, I’ll never find out. Frankly, since what happened after MGH almost killed me, it would really be nice to get at least an “I’m sorry” out of those that were just  plain uncaring assholes to me.

As psych survivors, we have a lot in common with veterans, who are also survivors. Many vets didn’t choose to go to war. They were coerced, or pressured by their families, or fulfilling a requirement, such as economic need, or drafted. In some countries, it is a requirement of all citizens. Many vets do not go to war but whether they do or not still are traumatized in other ways such as military sexual assault which is insanely common.  The very setup, the way servicemen and women are bossed around I find a turnoff, to tell you the truth, although some people thrive on that kind of thing. I do admire the idea of loyalty, friendship, and sharing. Then again, I never served, so my viewpoint is rather romanticized.

I have a bunch of friends who served in Vietnam. Most did end up with PTSD afterward. Many used alcohol to deal with it. Now that I have PTSD myself, I totally get that, and would be drinking right now if alcohol actually did anything for me.

Psych survivors also see many of their friends die way too young. We see others tortured. We see wrongful deaths. We see suffering that by all means, shouldn’t be happening. We see stuff and we know we can’t do a darned thing because we won’t be believed. We are lowly mental patients and whatever we say won’t even stand up in court and if we go to the cops we’ll get laughed at or sent to a hospital. And even if we can get out of their grasp, we know loneliness, because who will stand by us when everyone loves to deny it all happened?