Am Psych Assoc approves the inclusion of "Political Paranoia"

[Emit]

This might have already been posted here--if so, I apologize. I work in the mental health field, and at first I thought this rumor was a joke. I think this is serious, though, that this legislation (proposed by Frist of all people) is being introduced. I think we should all be concerned with this type of label. Notice the emphasis on election fraud and stolen election. Unbelievable! Emit

From:
http://swiftreport.blogs.com/news/2005/05/movement_to_cla.html

May 31, 2005
Movement to Classify 'Liberalism' as Mental Disorder Gains Steam

<<snip>>

American Psychiatric Association approves the inclusion of "Political Paranoia" in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

By Hermione Slatkin, medical correspondent

NEW YORK, NY—When Zacharia Goodman recently sought out the help of a therapist, it was no mystery as to what was ailing him. The 27-year-old copy editor was so consumed by his belief that President George W. Bush stole the 2004 election that he was having trouble sleeping, completing rudimentary tasks at work, and carrying on conversations about topics not related to politics.

The therapist he consulted ... encouraged him to spend less time reading left-wing Web logs and listening to Air America.

<<snip>>

Democrat or just demented?
... Early this summer, Senator Bill Frist, the first practicing physician elected to the Senate since 1928, plans to file a bill that would define "political paranoia" as a mental disorder, paving the way for individuals who suffer from paranoid delusions regarding voter fraud, political persecution and FBI surveillance to receive Medicare reimbursement for any psychiatric treatment they receive.

Rick Smith, a spokesman for Senator Frist, says that the measure has a good chance of passing—something that can only help a portion of the population that is suffering significant distress.
"If you're still convinced that President Bush won the election because Republicans figured out a way to hack into electronic voting machines, you've obviously got a problem," says Smith. "If we can figure out a way to ease your suffering by getting you into therapy and onto medication, that's something that we hope the entire 109th Congress will support."

<<snip>>

Popular conservative radio host Michael Savage has also joined the call to help those suffering from this devastating illness. In his new book, "Liberalism is a Mental Disorder," Mr. Savage shares his observations of the affliction he likens to a national cancer...

<<snip>>

http://swiftreport.blogs.com/news/2005/05/movement_to_cla.html

At this link, they also have a test--unbelievable!

Download the Political Paranoia Inventory (PPI) Self Test

[tk2kewl]

1. Stop being so paranoid.

:sarcasm:

[helderheid]

2. Good GOD

They want to force the kool aid down our gullets.

[OneBlueSky]

3. you know things are bad when you have to stop for a minute . . .

and ask yourself "Would they really try to do this?" . . . then you realize it's satire . . .

isn't is? . . .

[Emit]

8. I hope this is a joke...

I had read about it before on Rense, and they couldn't confirm the story--couldn't find any evidence that Frist really plans to propose such a bill. I can't either---

This site states that it's satire, and not to take the article seriously. I didn't know that before I made the OP. Edited to add: Point being, yes, you know it's really bad when you have to stop and think, is this real, would they really do this?!

<<snip>>

SATIRE ALERT:

Beware of a certain article currently making the rounds of the Internet that describes legislation in Congress (introduced by the redoubtable Senator from Tennessee, Bill Frist) that would compel the American Psychiatric Association (APA) to add a new mental illness, "political paranoia," to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder (DSM).

Folks, this article is a satire....
<<snip>>

http://www.mackwhite.com/archive42.html

[ck4829]

4. It's a joke, right?

Questions from the PPI

"I think that Dan Rather is unbiased"

"I supported John Kerry"

[DeaconBlues]

5. don't give the APA any ideas

next thing you know they will have developed a pill for the "disorder" that will be mandatory for half the population which will go for 5 bucks a pop.

[Odonata]

6. lol...

That's great! I especially love the other headlines "Fallujah Enjoys New Notoriety: Greenest City in Iraq" and "Spaying, Neutering Promote Pet Promiscuity"

:rofl:

[AndyTiedye]

7. They Used to Send Dissidents to Mental Institutions in the Soviet Union

The Soviet Union used to round up dissidents and put them in "mental institutions"
where the kool-aid would be forcibly administered.

It most certainly COULD happen here.

[IChing]

9. PSYCHIATRIC Soviet Abuse

Logically, to the dedicated, egomaniacal tyrant, any opposition to or deviation from the state-sanctioned or politically correct line must be driven by insanity. This, in fact, was the view taken by the Soviets.

In their study Utopia in Power, Russian writers Mikhail Heller and Aleksandr Nekrich point out that those dissidents who persisted in violating Article 190 of the Soviet penal code criminalizing dissent could be confined in a mental hospital. "This meant," Heller and Nekrich noted, "in reality that anyone could be institutionalized on the basis of a doctor's 'expert testimony' for openly questioning the correctness of a political decision...."

Among those victimized in this manner by the Soviet "mental health" industry was Vladimir Bukovsky, a dissident who spent 12 years in the gulag, the Soviet prison system. Part of that time was spent in the psihuska, or psychiatric prison. In his memoir To Build a Castle: My Life as a Dissenter, Bukovsky explained the logic of Soviet psychiatry. The commissars, he wrote, "figured that it was impossible for people in a socialist society to have an antisocialist consciousness." Of his own experience with Soviet re-education, he recalled that Soviet psychiatrists "tried to prove to us that we really were crazy: first, because we had come into conflict with society, whereas a normal person adapts to society; and second, because we had risked our freedom for the sake of stupid ideas, neglecting the interests of our families and careers." source:http://www.thenewamerican.com/artman/publish/article_69.shtml

[Hugin]

10. Once again...

How exactly is Bill Frist qualified to make a psychiatric
diagnosis?

Is he qualified?

Is he overstepping his training?

I know he's an M.D., but, I thought his specialty was
cardiac medicine.

I don't think he should be messing with people's heads.

Nuff said.

[SmokingJacket]

11. Watch out for SWIFT REPORT -- it's satire.

And it's such subtle satire that it's usually not even very funny.

Honestly, I think they are practically a disinformation site. They really do contribute to people's skepticism about what's on the internet.

[autorank]

12. You humor is juvenile and insulting.

Posting this in Elections was a really insulting gensture. It did not go unnoticed.

When you post "humor" and "satire" it's always a good idea to label it as such.

The APA is not endorsing any such label.