The Truth Behind Netflix’s ‘Afflicted’

We are some of the subjects of the recent Netflix docuseries, Afflicted. We were all told that we would be participating in a project that would show our lives and our struggles with illness through a “compassionate lens.” We participated because our diagnoses are misunderstood and stigmatized. We thought that revealing some of the most intimate moments of our lives would lead to greater public understanding. We hoped that with it might come investment in research to find biomarkers and better treatments. We never fathomed that we were participating in a project that would instead expose us and our communities to further <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DGtVMTkyzpVfXYar7oz99_xVjebkMeI6e-lYAWWAh4U/edit?usp=sharing" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">ridicule and disbelief</a>. The most serious and central flaw of Afflicted is the way it frames our conditions — which impact millions of people around the world — as psychosomatic or psychiatric disorders. It does this in part by carefully excluding facts, which show that yes, while there is a lot that science does not understand about our conditions, they have an “organic” basis. <a href="https://medium.com/@afflicted/the-truth-behind-netflixs-afflicted-92e92d32cd7c">Click Here</a>