Friday, 20 December 2013 06:10
theunboundedspirit.comNonconformity and Freethinking Now Considered Mental Illnesses
Written by The Unbound Spirit
Is
nonconformity and freethinking a mental illness? According to the
newest addition of the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders), it certainly is. The manual identifies a new mental
illness called “oppositional defiant disorder” or ODD. Defined as an
“ongoing pattern of disobedient, hostile and defiant behavior,” symptoms
include questioning authority, negativity, defiance, argumentativeness,
and being easily annoyed.
The
DSM-IV is the manual used by psychiatrists to diagnose mental illnesses
and, with each new edition, there are scores of new mental illnesses.
Are we becoming sicker? Is it getting harder to be mentally healthy?
Authors of the DSM-IV say that it’s because they’re better able to
identify these illnesses today. Critics charge that it’s because they
have too much time on their hands.
New
mental illnesses identified by the DSM-IV include arrogance,
narcissism, above-average creativity, cynicism, and antisocial behavior.
In the past, these were called “personality traits,” but now they’re
diseases.
And there are treatments available.
All
of this is a symptom of our over-diagnosing and overmedicating culture.
In the last 50 years, the DSM-IV has gone from 130 to 357 mental
illnesses. A majority of these illnesses afflict children. Although the
manual is an important diagnostic tool for the psychiatric industry, it
has also been responsible for social changes. The rise in ADD, bipolar
disorder, and depression in children has been largely because of the
manual’s identifying certain behaviors as symptoms. A Washington Post
article observed that, if Mozart were born today, he would be diagnosed
with ADD and “medicated into barren normality.”
According
to the DSM-IV, the diagnosis guidelines for identifying oppositional
defiant disorder are for children, but adults can just as easily suffer
from the disease. This should give any freethinking American reason for
worry.
The
Soviet Union used new “mental illnesses” for political repression.
People who didn’t accept the beliefs of the Communist Party developed a
new type of schizophrenia. They suffered from the delusion of believing
communism was wrong. They were isolated, forcefully medicated, and put
through repressive “therapy” to bring them back to sanity.
When
the last edition of the DSM-IV was published, identifying the symptoms
of various mental illnesses in children, there was a jump in the
diagnosis and medication of children. Some states have laws that allow
protective agencies to forcibly medicate, and even make it a punishable
crime to withhold medication. This paints a chilling picture for those
of us who are nonconformists.
Although
the authors of the manual claim no ulterior motives but simply better
diagnostic practices, the labeling of freethinking and nonconformity as
mental illnesses has a lot of potential for abuse. It can easily become a
weapon in the arsenal of a repressive state.
And these are the same guys that wanted to remove pedophilia from the list of mental disorders???
ReplyDeleteBut on the other hand, just to defend them, resistance to DIVINE authority once you have recognized what it is, is a true mental illness.
This one ticks me off! As a therapist working in the mental health field I continually see adolescents who are abused by people they should have been able to trust most. Usually their parents! How would any of us react in a similar situation?
ReplyDeleteBecause these children are reacting to their personal circumstances in a normal fashion they’re diagnosed with a mental disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder. As a general rule I tell them of course they’re oppositional and defiant. I would be too if I’d been treated the way they had been treated.
Although I pray their parents will repent, I fear most will burn in hell. I’m sure my attitude can also be classified as a “mental disorder” because I hope and pray for retribution. I also pray for leniency for the boys and girls who have offended others due to behavior that has been modelled for them.