Nonconformity and Freethinking Now Considered Mental Illnesses
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.
Sources:
“Is Free Thinking A Mental Illness?,” from offthegridnews.com, where this was originally featured.
www.naturalnews.com
http://breakingdeception.com
http://rense.com
http://jaapl.org
These are the same guys that came out in 1973 saying homosexuality was normal and a couple of years back saying that pedophilia was normal.
ReplyDeleteWhat an upside down world we live in.
General Conference Talk by Jeffrey Holland "Like a Broken Vessel," ..."In that spirit I wish to speak to those who suffer from some form of mental illness or emotional disorder, whether those afflictions be slight or severe, of brief duration or persistent over a lifetime. We sense the complexity of such matters when we hear professionals speak of neuroses and psychoses, of genetic predispositions and chromosome defects, of bipolarity, paranoia, and schizophrenia. However bewildering this all may be, these afflictions are some of the realities of mortal life, and there should be no more shame in acknowledging them than in acknowledging a battle with high blood pressure or the sudden appearance of a malignant tumor.
ReplyDeleteIn striving for some peace and understanding in these difficult matters, it is crucial to remember that we are living—and chose to live—in a fallen world where for divine purposes our pursuit of godliness will be tested and tried again and again. Of greatest assurance in God’s plan is that a Savior was promised, a Redeemer, who through our faith in Him would lift us triumphantly over those tests and trials, even though the cost to do so would be unfathomable for both the Father who sent Him and the Son who came. It is only an appreciation of this divine love that will make our own lesser suffering first bearable, then understandable, and finally redemptive."
My only BIG FAT question is this...if our suffering right now is lesser than God the Father's and we are to become like him, then is that the future we have to look forward to to reach the highest estate is even greater suffering? Or is there a missing piece to the equation? https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/like-a-broken-vessel?lang=eng#13-10791_000_27holland
Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteGod the Father did not suffer for our sins and experience our pains, but he sent his son, Jesus Christ, to do so. It is "unfathomable" that he would be willing to allow his perfect son to endure this suffering, and it was "unfathomable" what our savior was willing to sacrifice for us. It is Jesus Christ whose suffering was much more than any one of us individually because he suffered for all of us and experienced each of our lives in detail. This is what makes him the Savior. He had already reached some form of Godhood before he endured the atonement, so it was not necessary for him to do so to become like the Father. He did so because he loved us. The atonement creates a supremely intimate relationship between each one of us and Jesus Christ. When he says "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me," he means it very literally. When we do something that lives another, then it also lifts Christ, because he intimately knows the details of that persons life. Everything we do, good or bad, to ourselves or someone else, quite literally affects the savior in exactly the same way.
So, no, we do not have to endure the type of suffering that Jesus Christ endured in order to become like him or like Heavenly Father. Suffering in this life is necessary, however. I have endured terrible betrayals from the person who is supposed to love me the most. People tell me that I do not deserve what I have been through, and this is true. But I know what my end goal is: eternal marriage and family. I know for a fact that through the Atonement, my loved ones wrongs can be made right, and I can heal. This is not easy. It is a little bit of hell. But through the trials that have plagued me in my life, I have learned how truly powerful faith can be. I know that miracles are real. I know that angels watch over us. Sacrifice has been a commandment since the world was. Do I deserve what has happened to me. Absolutely not. But did Jesus Christ deserve to suffer for each of us. No. He did it anyway because he loved us an unimaginable amount. This is THE sacrifice. If I am willing to endure pain and trials that I do not deserve, and through doing so can help keep a family an eternal one, then it is all worth it in the end. This is sacrifice. If we want to be like him, we must learn to be types of him, just like the way that so many things typify of him in scriptures and in the covenants we make. We need to love like him. We need to serve like him. We need to forgive like him. And we must always testify of him.
Trials are hard. I am sorry for whatever you have had to face. Know that you are not alone. Our savior understands perfectly. And, there are ALWAYS people that understand, too. Satan wants us to think that no one could ever understand what we are going through. It is a lie. Hang in there. Pray. You can do hard things. You can become like God. Jesus Christ makes this possible. Without him, we would all be lost. I am eternally indebted to him.
Thank you for your comment. I understand though I cannot comprehend that Christ went through unimaginable suffering; that was why I didn't mention that we would suffer like him through faith on him. But as a parent seeing your innocent children suffer is difficult and I cannot either imagine God's suffering as well, in allowing this to happen. My only consolation is that Christ's suffering in that way is finished and that the Book of Mormon, where it says this is the Last and Great Sacrifice in Alma 34. When it means last sacrifice as far as shedding of blood; I am relieved that the vicious cycle or curse as it is referred to in the Bible is over. Not that sacrifice as hard work and stuff isn't good for us. But that kind of a grueling sacrifice that Christ had to go through is done, and can be infinite and the effects of it can last forever, so there never has to be another of its kind, thanks to the efforts and love of our Savior and our faith in Him.
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