Still Normal?

May 24, 2013

Published in Kurier
(Austria) on 23 May 2013
by Birgit Braunrath (link to original link to original)

Translated from by Sandra Alexander. Edited by Laurence Bouvard.

So? Are you still normal? Or are you now sick, in a world in which every variation on marching to a different drummer is labeled as a sickness, just to be on the safe side. The new diagnostic manual of the American Psychiatric Society, The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5, has just raised more mood irregularities to the status of disease, such as strong childhood temper tantrums. Assigned the menacing title “Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder,” it becomes a syndrome. It does not ask the question of whether childhood is overregulated today and whether children react to this with “mood dysregulation.” Also new is the pathology of mourning: Whoever mourns a closely related person for more than two weeks is classified as sick. The same goes for those who exhibit “PMS” — premenstrual syndrome — or “Messy Syndrome” — hoarding.

The lesson is clear: Anyone who is not “normal” must be sick and should be adjusted as soon as possible. That sounds as if it is not the individual, but rather society which is sick.

Und? Sind Sie noch normal? Oder schon krank? In einer Welt, in der jedes Aus-der-Reihe-Tanzen vorsichtshalber mit einem Krankheitsetikett versehen wird. Das neue Diagnostik-Handbuch der Amerikanischen Psychiatrischen Gesellschaft hat soeben weitere Stimmungsunregelmäßigkeiten in den Krankheitsstand erhoben: etwa heftige kindliche Wutausbrüche. Mit dem bedrohlichen Titel Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder („Zerstörerische Stimmungsdysregulierungserkrankung“) versehen, wird daraus ein Krankheitsbild. Die Frage, ob die Kindheit heute überreguliert ist und Kinder mit „Stimmungsdysregulierung“ reagieren, wird nicht gestellt. Ebenfalls neu ist die Pathologisierung der Trauer: Wer mehr als zwei Wochen um einen nahestehenden Menschen trauert, wird als krank eingestuft. Ebenso, wer „PMS“ (Stimmungsschwankungen vor der Monatsblutung) oder das „Messie -Syndrom“ (Hortungszwang) aufweist.

Fazit: Wer nicht „normal“ ist, muss krank sein und sollte rasch angepasst werden. Das klingt, als wäre nicht der Einzelne, sondern die Gesellschaft krank.

This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link .

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