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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.
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