there's no more evidence that Palin has a mental illness than there is

[cali]

that President Obama does. And the insinuation or outright declaration that she does is not only bullshit, terribly insulting to those with a mental illness. She's a horrible person does not equal she's mentally ill. It's akin to someone on freeperville using "he must be gay" as an insult.

[FSogol]

1. True, but is the jury still out on Sarah's followers?

:shrug:

[SoCalDem]

2. Yep.. she's a mean-spirited bully

She's deliberate in her attacks.

[rfranklin]

3. Yes, I think they removed narcissism from the official list of mental illnesses...

A Fate That Narcissists Will Hate: Being Ignored
By CHARLES ZANOR
Published: November 29, 2010

Scott Menchin

Not that they face imminent extinction — it’s a fate much worse than that. They will still be around, but they will be ignored.

The fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (due out in 2013, and known as DSM-5) has eliminated five of the 10 personality disorders that are listed in the current edition.

....The central requirement for N.P.D. is a special kind of self-absorption: a grandiose sense of self, a serious miscalculation of one’s abilities and potential that is often accompanied by fantasies of greatness. It is the difference between two high school baseball players of moderate ability: one is absolutely convinced he’ll be a major-league player, the other is hoping for a college scholarship.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/health/views/30mind.html

[DCKit]

19. I've known several people with N.P.D. whom I considered a threat to my person.

How can this NOT be considered a mental illness, at the very least, a serious condition?

If N.P.D. is, in fact, off the list, then no, S.P. is not (by definition) mentally ill. She's just someone small children, pets and nice people shouldn't be around.

Yowsa.

[Teaser]

4. any other lectures for us?

[cali]

5. just responding to bullshit. Don't like it? don't read it.

[daggahead]

6. She is an attention whore. n/t

[Crankie Avalon]

7. I don't know. She doesn't seem to have much of a conscience...

...isn't that the single most defining trait of sociopathy? Anyway, the more I see her, the more I come away thinking something is "off" with her. I can't help it.

[cali]

9. that you sense something about her isn't evidence.

she's a horrible person. that doesn't make her clinically mentally ill.

[Crankie Avalon]

12. Just curious, but did you think Bush Junior may have had a mental issue?

Did you ever read "Bush on the Couch"?

[cali]

15. No, I never read it.

Most of us have mental issues of one sort or another. That doesn't make us mentally ill.

[crim son]

8. How about a personality disorder?

Narcissism?

[steve2470]

11. +1 nt

[Solly Mack]

10. I actually do think she has some issues that could benefit from therapy

but as I'm not qualified to make a diagnosis, one way or the other ...it's all just my opinion.

I think a lot of people could benefit from talking to a professional...but that doesn't mean I think those people have a mental illness. I don't think it's necessary to have a mental illness to benefit from talking to a professional. Again, just my opinion.



I do think a lot of people who need help have fallen through the cracks - small cracks inherent in any system (because shit happens even in the best of circumstances) and those larger cracks created when funds are cut, hospitals are closed and ignorance and fear prevails. Again, just my opinion.

[cherish44]

13. agreed, I just think she's got a vile personality

and loves the attention

[Puzzledtraveller]

14. spot on

and continued attempts at justification for these theories makes the progressive cause look pitiful and desperate.

[cali]

16. the right does it far more than the left and far uglier.

President Obama is treated far worse on the right than Palin is on the left. And he's constantly being diagnosed with NPD by those on the right.

[howard112211]

17. The overuse of the label "mental illness" is indeed tiresome.

What constitutes a mental illness in a medical sense is pretty narrowly defined. And usually, it implies an impairment of some sort of a person's ability to make free decisions of their own.

Mental illness is used for all sorts of things today. Even such ridiculous claims as that a rich and famous male who is constantly approached by women who want sex, is somehow an "addict" if he takes advantage of this fact.

Very little of the "assholishness" of people can truly be attributed to mental illness. The human species, in its fully functional state, is capable of freely deciding to do a great deal of despicable things, including cruelty for fun, and similar things. It is what we evolved to be. It's just "the normal crazy" that isn't necessarily pathological. Eat, sleep, fuck and kill is just what we do, not a "sickness". Precicely because it is part of human nature to be an asshole or to kill, is exactly why we need laws in the first place.

Neither Hitler nor Stalin were likely severely mentally ill. Hitler was likely manic-depressed in the late stage of WWII. Likely a result of losing the war, and a quite "normal" reaction.

Attributing things to mentall illness that aren't truly due to mental illness does nothing more than to provide excuses for things that were conscious decisions.

[bullwinkle428]

18. I couldn't agree more, that people can have all of their marbles, and still be just rotten and evil.

[Politicub]

20. that water is wet?

[davidthegnome]

21. There's no evidence that I'm aware of

That does not necessarily mean that she is not. A large number of people with mental disorders go undiagnosed and untreated throughout their lives, for a variety of reasons. She could very well be mentally ill - which would perhaps (to some extent) explain some of her unrelenting rage and violent rhetoric. Come to think of it, her delusions could very well be considered evidence of mental illness, depending on who you are or who you ask.

That being said - regardless of whether or not she may be mentally ill she is still a horrible person and does not deserve sympathy for her words or actions on that possible status alone.

[kath]

22. She's a *classic* malignant narcissist.

[JohnnyLib2]

23. Thank you.

"terribly insulting to those with a mental illness" is certainly true. We have a long way to go in this area.

[ZombieHorde]

24. Whatever, you are just jealous of other people's tele-psychology.

Just kidding, recommended.

[donheld]

25. She may just be evil, like Dick Cheney.

I suspect Todd is behind a lot of her crap.

[MrSlayer]

26. She isn't crazy, she's stupid.

Vapid, vacuous, unfeeling and utterly incurious.