Are Independent Thinkers Mentally Ill?

Editor’s Note: Among the cool psychologists I know is Christine Farber, who sent this in. She’s a bit of an astrologer herself and she may have got the cosmic joke about the Sun-Uranus opposition being the perfect day for this post. Thanks Christine! –efc

“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” Wisdom from fishboy/weirdo Albert Einstein
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” -- Wisdom from fishboy/weirdo Albert Einstein

By Mark Nestmann

Do you question authority? Fail to accept conventional wisdom? Lose your temper when you hear a politician make a promise that you know he or she can’t keep?

If so, you may be mentally ill, according to the most recent revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). In this revision, psychiatrists hope to add dozens of new mental disorders. Unfortunately, many of these so-called illnesses target people who merely think or behave differently from the majority population.

A case in point is “oppositional defiant disorder (ODD).” DSM defines ODD as “an ongoing pattern of disobedient, hostile and defiant behavior toward authority figures.” Symptoms include losing one’s temper, annoying people and being “touchy.” Other “disorders” include antisocial behavior, arrogance, cynicism and narcissism. Sounds like many of my readers!

While diagnosis of ODD “victims” focuses on children, there’s no reason why ODD can’t exist in adults. Indeed, ODD can evolve into “conduct disorder” (CD), which DSM defines as “wherein the rights of others or social norms are violated.”

Uh-oh. So violating “social norms” is now a mental illness as well.

Continued on Mark’s website.

11 thoughts on “Are Independent Thinkers Mentally Ill?”

  1. There is definitely a paranoid element, it’s increasing, and it’s now coming out of the con/neocon/it’s all about fear side of the spectrum. The problem is that this faction is accusing Obama of doing everything that Bush and Cheney did; they now have their scapegoat. That said, I’ve been listening to people tell me about the end of the world, UFOs and one world government forever. And part of what we have to sort out is the element of truth. For example, for years and years, I heard about nonlethal weapons. Now every cop has a Taser. Sound and light weapons are being used on crowds. Machines that interact directly with the mind exist and I am sure there are “mind weapons” that are not obviously sensory.

    There is in fact surveillance everywhere.

    If you tune into this at all, and you’re vaguely sensitive, you can have a really rough night. There is a double bind involved: on the one hand, if you’re informed, you know what’s out there’ what is possible. But if you worry about it, you’re crazy. So you have to go through your day knowing that there is a lot of troubling stuff — but to be socially acceptable, you have to pretend it’s not an issue.

    You have to hear Larry Silverstein say on PBS that he authorized the demolition of WTC 7 on Sept. 11, 2001 — but you have to say “that’s not what he meant,” so nobody thinks you’re into conspiracies.

  2. Len: Yes, we should have plenty of space to question all authority, but I think I’ll keep my phrase for this case.

    Equally gentle, I recommend reading the comment stream from readers of the original article if you doubt my choice of words. They may sound very un-PW and harsh here, but yes, there are paranoid people out there, not just in the colloquial sense. And I believe the fear generated in the current environment is pushing many from the simply “fearful and anxious” into the flat-out “wildly generalizing and paranoid” category.

    On the other hand, I think you’re right to question my judgment; for in judging I am also judged, and I should consider my words, no matter the hour. The level of discourse in PW comments are a calibre rarely read in other comment streams, so I find it painful, disheartening and yet instructive to read what negative energy folks will flip off into the ‘netscape on other sites. The worst of it is not here, but we shouldn’t forget that it exists.

  3. Shanna,
    This question is extended in the spirit of compassion and fellowship. Do you think that just maybe the term “paranoid element” just a little, itsy bit judgemental?

  4. Yeah, but…

    Followed the link, read the complete article and then the comments. 85% of the respondents were up in arms about the government taking over their health/life/happiness/whatever. Article “proof” the government is out to control them, 1984 all the way, etc.

    As a parent of a strong-willed and abby-normal kid whose previous teacher wanted to slap ODD on my girl for two years, this is a personal “fight” for me. I know how easily some people reach for a label when they feel threatened by someone they don’t understand. BUT I’m not sure how writing like this is helping any discussions about the role of medication in our expectations of social harmony.

    What most commenters failed to see was the connection between these diagnostic categories and our dependence on insurance companies. If a behavior is in the DSM, then an insurance company is likely to pay for treatment. (PW visited this earlier with the trans-gender operation story.)

    It’s an ugly, ugly situation. Personally, I know many families are denied coverage for fundamental, non-invasive, non-medicated treatment for their children with autism, and I know many people are pushing for DSM recognition for Sensory Integration Dysfunction so they can finally get insurance companies to recognize and pay a portion of a truly helpful (often life-changing) therapy. 40+ years of success supported by more recent discoveries in neuro-cognition and brain development means sensory integration therapy is no longer “experimental”. However, this is frequently the excuse given for denial of coverage. Getting SID into the DSM would be the key that unlocks access to this valuable treatment for thousands of families.

    Again, the question is: are insurance companies the gatekeepers of health or the government? Yes, we know there’s collusion. But comment stream after this article (on the original site) sides heavily against anything to do with the government and seems only to fuel paranoia from that edge where the far Right and Left meet in their mutual distrust of any authority. (Seems tho’ that the Right is less “far” these days, and their edge about a mile deep now, but I digress.)

    Sorry. Rambling. V. early in the morning. But just to say, I’m not sure this article had a good effect on our already paranoid elements. Very Sun-Uranus opp., sure.

  5. I fully understand ODD: every teacher does, and most of the population of any high school instantly qualifies, at least the ones I’ve taught at or observed at. If this kind of diagnosis can get us more money to teach, it might be a good thing. We would, however, be buried under a mountain of paper as a result…

    On the other hand, I think that most kids who have been labeled one thing or another don’t deserve them, and this whole classification/diagnosis system has gone way, way overboard.

    Moving over to the adult world, did they have anything that would allow us to lock up the Tea Party folk as immediate dangers to themselves and others? The FEMA camps need occupants!

    I hate labels by the way, but sooner or later it seems we’ll all be neatly subdivided and then tranquilized, just prior to being bundled into our cocoons to provide power for the Matrix.

    A long day at school, supervising my Sp. Ed. kids and anger management trainees. Forgive me for the rambling nature…

  6. michele,

    there with you – my son’s father has not yet given up trying to control his son by using “the system” and drugs. Thankfully, children do grow up and my son has long been able to speak for himself. But it was a death-fight for years waged by me to keep him off meds.

    And yep too – my son is enormously intelligent and questioning – the labels placed upon him were offensive then and now. There were only mechanizms of control.

    Linda

  7. Sounds like they’re saying that being a progressive liberal is a “disorder.”

    OK – so be it. I’m on the list.

  8. Gah. Growl. When my son was six and his sister (age three) has just been diagnosed with cancer (just after I’d had their father arrested for assault), his school therapist or whatever she called herself — a self-confessed expert at identifying ADD and ADHD, highest rate of diagnosis, don’t you know… — decided my son was a more-than-likely canditate for the drug-du-jour. Being somewhat overwhelmed, I started out by doing a lot of nodding. Then I did the reasearch. Evidently, based on symptoms of this and several other “illnesses”, myself and most people I knew (amazing people) really should all have been incarcerated in an asylum. I fought.

    I’ve since chalked up many metal illnesses (not to make light of some conditions that are too complex to get into here) and my son is one of the most astounding, intelligent people I know. (He’s now 22, fully funtional and a fully questioning INDIVIDUAL, studying biology to then study Chinese medecine, acupunture and holistic healing. WIth one of the biggest hearts I know of. The girl survived cancer — some medecine’s work — is planning a career as a pilot.) This is indeed a very good day to remember and carry on.

    I’m so mad today. But breathing. I’ve already had several ODD moments today and it’s only freaking lunchtime. Great article.

  9. Nolo contendere:

    (1) Put me down as ODD – are they really going to use it as an excuse to lock people up? Perhaps i should start running now.

    (2) Guess i still don’t understand much of anything well enough.

  10. I think they just made official something that’s been common knowledge for a while. This is dangerous, but not surprising.

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