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Why Anti-Authoritarians are Diagnosed as Mentally Ill (2012)

madinamerica.com

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Re: Why Anti-Authoritarians are Diagnosed as Mentally Ill (2012)

#3
I sometimes ask mental health professionals what the converse of Oppositional Defiant Disorder is. At what point do we recognize a disorder in a child who is unnaturally compliant and obedient? No answer so far.

I ask because I think I had this. When I was a young prodigy I had the mentality of a performing seal.

It's true that some people have difficulty controlling themselves, and they do need help. But the lack of symmetry says a lot about how diseases are identified; it is about institutional convenience.

Re: Why Anti-Authoritarians are Diagnosed as Mentally Ill (2012)

#4
This is a great article. The linked article ("Anti-Authoritarians and Schizophrenia: Do Rebels Who Defy Treatment Do Better?") is also very interesting:

"At the 2-year assessment there were no significant differences in severity of psychosis between schizophrenic patients (SZ) on antipsychotic medications and SZ not on any medications. However, starting at the 4.5-year follow-ups and continuing over the next 15 years, the SZ who were not on antipsychotic medications were significantly less psychotic than those on antipsychotics.”

Re: Why Anti-Authoritarians are Diagnosed as Mentally Ill (2012)

#6
I don't like this article's groundless speculation about Albert Einstein, who is used as an unwilling poster child for dozens of causes without support in Einstein's actual biography. I have carefully read Einstein's longest autobiographical writing, and cite it on my personal website,

http://learninfreedom.org/Nobel_hates_school.html

and while it is indisputable that Einstein blew off some of his school homework, it is not at all clear that he would meet any of the DSM-IV or new DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for any of the conditions claimed for him.

More generally, there is a better call for improvement of psychological diagnosis

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/director/2013/transforming-dia...

already up on the website of the National Institute of Mental Health in the United States, the subject of much news reporting and commentary in the last week. So I won't take this opinion piece by lone blogger as the last word on what needs to be done to improve psychological diagnosis.

Re: Why Anti-Authoritarians are Diagnosed as Mentally Ill (2012)

#9
post #3

I sometimes ask mental health professionals what the converse of Oppositional Defiant Disorder is. At what point do we recognize a disorder in a child who is unnaturally compliant and obedient? No answer so far. I ask because I think I had this. When I was a young prodigy I had the mentality of a performing seal. It's true that some people have difficulty controlling themselves, and they do need help. But the lack of…

I think that you are right in that there is probably a disorder in that particular case, but seeing the lack of symmetry in general to be an indication of a problem seems off. As far as I can tell we don't expect such a symmetry in the rest of medicine. I don't think there is an opposite of lung cancer.

Re: Why Anti-Authoritarians are Diagnosed as Mentally Ill (2012)

#10
post #9
post #3

I sometimes ask mental health professionals what the converse of Oppositional Defiant Disorder is. At what point do we recognize a disorder in a child who is unnaturally compliant and obedient? No answer so far. I ask because I think I had this. When I was a young prodigy I had the mentality of a performing seal. It's true that some people have difficulty controlling themselves, and they do need help. But the lack of…

I think that you are right in that there is probably a disorder in that particular case, but seeing the lack of symmetry in general to be an indication of a problem seems off. As far as I can tell we don't expect such a symmetry in the rest of medicine. I don't think there is an opposite of lung cancer.

lung necrosis?
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