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You Make Me Sick!

  • Writer: Deric Hollings
    Deric Hollings
  • Oct 12
  • 7 min read

 

The idiomatic expression “you make me sick” refers to someone that perceivably causes you to feel intense anger, disgust, or annoyance. For example, consider the song “You Make Me Sick!” by rapper Ashnikko, from her 2023 album Weedkiller. Lyrics include the following:

 

[Chorus]

You make me sick!

You make me turn my insides out onto the bricks

I could never train a bitch like you

Click, c-c-click, c-c-click, click (Woof)

You like my boots?

I could squash you like a little rotten fruit

On your jugular and leave a pretty bruise

Attitude and the booze won’t save you

 

[Verse 1]

You fucking loser

Red meat deadbeat, you fucking tumor

Can’t believe I let your hands inside my bloomers

Better count your blessings, I got humor

Got a knife, too, I call her Tilda

Bet your fucking ass that I’ma use her

Fucking user

Cokehеad cretin, your life is a blooper

Splintеr-looking ass, born in a sewer

Suck a dick, then I bite, I’m a chewer

Go find another bitch to hoover

Count the days until you lose her

 

Through the lens of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), I challenge Ashnikko’s pessimistic perspective. To do this, I’ll be using the ABC model which is a technique that demonstrates causation regarding self-disturbance (how people sicken themselves with beliefs).

 

The ABC model illustrates that when an undesirable Action occurs and you Believe an unhelpful narrative about the event, it’s your unfavorable assumption, not the occurrence itself, that causes an unpleasant Consequence. This is how people idiomatically make themselves sick.

 

From a psychological standpoint, people disturb themselves in this way when using a Belief-Consequence (B-C) connection. Of course, this isn’t to suggest that in the context of the naturalistic or physical world there is no Action-Consequence (A-C) connection.

 

Take for instance Ashnikko’s album title. From an A-C view, drinking weed killer (Action) may cause severe illness or even death (Consequence). In the natural world, herbicide consumption could prove deadly. (I don’t recommend it!)

 

However, from a B-C outlook, imagine that Ashnikko’s former intimate partner cheated on her (Action) and the rapper then Believed, “You make me sick!” The distorted inference used by Ashnikko is that her ex-romantic interest absolutely mustn’t have been disloyal.

 

In REBT, this self-disturbing command is known as demandingness. Along with low frustration tolerance (LFT), awfulizing, and global evaluations, irrational beliefs of this sort cause idiomatic sickness. I find it helpful to conceptualize these beliefs by using the acronym GLAD.

 

When using GLAD narratives, Ashnikko becomes mad (i.e., “sick”). Aside from demandingness, she states “I could never train a bitch like you” and compares someone to “little rotten fruit.” These are a form of other-downing narratives which are attributed to global evaluations.

 

Using such overall appraisals, Ashnikko neglects to consider that although the imagined cheating former intimate partner behaved poorly, the individual in question has some worth as a fallible human being. In other words, the former lover isn’t completely bad, wrong, or otherwise.

 

Of course, Ashnikko doesn’t stop globally-evaluating the individual within the chorus. In her first verse, the rapper states that the person is a “loser,” “deadbeat,” “tumor,” “user,” “cretin,” and says that the person’s life is a “blooper,” and compares the individual to a rat (“Splinter”).

 

All of these labels constitute negativistic global evaluations which cause the intense anger Ashnikko presumably experiences. Still, the rapper’s self-disturbance doesn’t stop there. She states, “Can’t believe I let your hands inside my bloomers.”

 

Those who are well-versed in REBT likely identified this LFT narrative. For context, I stated in a blogpost entitled I Can’t Believe:

 

Similar to one of four self-disturbing beliefs recognized by REBT, pertaining to low frustration tolerance – whereby an individual convinces oneself that something is intolerable (e.g., I can’t stand it), an “I can’t believe” narrative is a method of convincing oneself of an inability.

 

When Ashnikko says that she “can’t believe” that she allowed a former intimate partner to put “hands” inside her panties, the distorted inference is that the rapper allegedly can’t tolerate that the event occurred. Basically, she unproductively convinces herself of an inability to stand it.

 

As though that concludes the GLAD narratives used in “You Make Me Sick!”, I have a final self-disturbing belief worth considering. Inferred in the cited lyrics is that whatever occurred between Ashnikko and the other person is downright awful!

 

This perspective relates to awfulization—viewing matters as far worse than they actually are. Although a disloyal partner’s behavior may be inconvenient, it isn’t on the level of being boiled alive in oil. Now that sounds like it would be truly awful, doesn’t it?

 

Given the identified GLAD narratives, imagine that Ashnikko’s former intimate partner cheated on her (Action) and the rapper Believed any of the GLAD assumptions cited herein. It’s these conclusions, not the infidelity itself, which caused idiomatic sickness (Consequence).

 

Addressing how people upset themselves with unhelpful attitudes, the ABC model incorporates Disputation of unproductive philosophies of life in order to explore Effective new beliefs. Whereas rigid beliefs cause self-disturbance, flexible beliefs result in an un-disturbed condition.

 

Well, what do you think about my challenge to Ashnikko’s pessimistic perspective? Do you understand how GLAD narratives can cause you to become intensely mad? Given this psychoeducational lesson, from a B-C outlook, no one can make you idiomatically sick.

 

From an A-C outlook, someone can pass along a cold or the flu. However, using a B-C perspective, you can take personal responsibility and accountability (collectively “ownership”) for your own self-disturbed reaction to catching a cold or the flu, or having been cheated on.

 

If you’re looking for a provider who tries to work to help you understand how thinking impacts physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral elements of your life, I invite you to reach out today by using the contact widget on my website.

 

As the world’s foremost hip hop-influenced REBT psychotherapist, I’m pleased to try to help people with an assortment of issues from anger (hostility, rage, and aggression) to relational issues, adjustment matters, trauma experience, justice involvement, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, and other mood or personality-related matters.

 

At Hollings Therapy, LLC, serving all of Texas, I aim to treat clients with dignity and respect while offering a multi-lensed approach to the practice of psychotherapy and life coaching. My mission includes: Prioritizing the cognitive and emotive needs of clients, an overall reduction in client suffering, and supporting sustainable growth for the clients I serve. Rather than simply trying to help you to feel better, I want to try to help you get better!

 

 

Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW


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References:

 

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