Hate to be judgemental.....but...

As a former psych minor in college I firmly "do" believe that there ARE certain conditions one can NOT mentally control. A fear, though it CAN be overcome, I don't think can be controlled. Nor can one control mental retardation, hearing voices etc. Even, depression in many instances may be uncontrollable. However, I am finding difficulty embracing the notion of SOOOOO many mental illnesses and SOOOOOO many excuses for people to take pills rather than to encourge them to take control of their own situation and life and to give them the skills to do so.

I recently heard that most modern "criminals", besides claiming some form of "insanity", put the blame on someone else; parents, grandparents, lack of skill, lack of education and the failure of the education system, friends who LED them down the wrong path (like they had no choice in the matter), social stigmas, etc. Yet, look at past generations, who had more turmoil and hardship and pverty than most of us will ever know, and they weren't evil or unable to deal with the life they were handed. In fact, they excelled, and imagine that, without pills or counseling sessions.

While I "do" believe counselors can help guide us all on the right path in areas where we are weak, like a chef who can teach us how to cook, rather than doing it for us, or giving us a pill so we won't be hungry and therefor have no need to cook.

Still, I have issue with labeling kids and people as ADD just because they get bored easily. Maybe they are simply BORED and haven't yet gotten a grip on how to stay focused. Maybe they just don't like the work they are doing or the lesson being taught. And, maybe kids are just kids. Depression, while VERY real, we all go through it and we all get sad, frustrated, etc. A pill is not the cure all. Dealing with life, good and bad is. Bi-polar, Okay so one has mood swings. Who doesn't. Some to a greater degree than others. So, if I like to read more than others and avoid my housework, it that a disorder or is that simply poor time management. If I yell at my boss, do I have a disease, or just poor judgment? And, maybe I simply need to learn how to curb my mouth and my temper. Someone who farts in public....disease or just poor manners and social skills.

I fear that we are assigning disorders to every unacceptable behaviour taking the accountabilty and responsibilty off the person and giving society carte blanche to behave any way each individual deems right for them, without any "consequences" because after all, it wasn't them, it was their disorder.

The differences between the mentally ill and the worried well....

Hi chic,

I agree with many aspects of your post. I think that society, especially as I have observed it in the US, has changed over the last 50 years. People no longer are assigned the responsibility of their actions; their behavior must be justified and labeled in order for it to make "sense" and be understood by others around them.

The judicial system has been a part of this change with its use of "mitigating factors" to determine guilty or innocence as well as the severity of the punishment assigned for a crime. But I think a bigger portion of the problem is bad parenting with parents allowing children to "make their own decisions" as to the choices they make. It is a hard job to teach children morality and many parents are just too lazy or ill equipped to do it. But when the child is caught in a flagrant trangression, the parents must jump in a defend their children by assigning blame to others: schools, friends, ets. Moral and ethical standards have been blurred to the point that it is hard have absolutes when it comes to good and evil. Much of this comes from the erosion of the Judeo Christian values which were once the backbone of our society that has been replaced with the "if it feels good, do it" philosophy.


Listening to any news report of a senseless murder, the question will always arise as "why" the crime was committed. I find that question ludicrous; there is no rationalizing an irrational act. If the person was on drugs, for example, does that make every person on drugs a murderer? Of course not, but it assigns a "reason" for the act and something to blame which seems to placate society's need for logic and reason.

I was abused as a child; does that give me license to abuse my children? I made a conscious choice as an adult to NOT follow the behavior that I was taught but instead to do the moral thing.

As long as people are allowed to use the mitigating circumstances as you have listed: bad childhood, drugs, poor socio-economic status, etc., many people will choose to make bad choices and blame it on someone or something else.

Of course, some people are so mentally damaged that they cannot identify the difference between right and wrong. They constitute a minority of the people who behave in inappropriate ways. They may benefit from drug and therapy intervention, but generally the "hard wiring" of their brain is the core of their behavior and that is very difficult to change.

N.