Spectrums have become popular in academia during recent times to explain complicated things, especially mental disorders involving a 3D wrinkled blob of jello. I actually think it's not that useful of a construct, even for autism and especially for bipolar disorder, which already had a good name of "manic depression." Kay Redfield Jameson was by far the leading scholar and published a huge encyclopedia by that name, but almost exactly after she did, rich white child abusing doctors who had not yet discovered opioid drug dealing opportunities started peddling a new name of "bipolar disorder." Of course it seemed like genius, since happy is simply the exact opposite of sad, isn't it? I mean, some people don't learn that until they are four years old. But anyway, I just want to add another spectrum to the mix, which I think sometimes really is measurable by degrees, and that is the "I don't care" / "I can't care" spectrum. It has to do with people only being able to take so much, and how some people's "don't seem to care" is really a matter of having cared so much that they maxed out. And there is simply nothing left. I'm not suggesting that everyone start saying "I can't care," when they can't come through on whatever the next demand is for their attention, because I think that can still hurt the people needing help. But when people are assessing how much to blame themselves for certain limits of strength and heart, then it might be useful for them to know themselves that their feeling of not caring enough actually might have a mix of "can't" in it, and they might be the ones in need.
