Personality Disorders

American Psychiatric Association (APA) defines personality disorders as "an enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that deviates markedly from the expectations of the culture of the individual who exhibits it".

My dog has a personality disorder. She is afraid of the fog.

A recent study shows 1 in 5 young Americans has a personality disorder. "Conclusions; Psychiatric disorders, particularly alcohol use disorders, are common in the college-aged population. Although treatment rates varied across disorders, overall fewer than 25% of individuals with a mental disorder sought treatment in the year prior to the survey. These findings underscore the importance of treatment and prevention interventions among college-aged individuals."

One must be a member to read the study, sponsored by the taxpayer. "This study is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and by the New York State Psychiatric Institute."

I suspect if one read the questions one could easily discern why a psychiatrist would think 20 percent of young people have a personality "disorder". It is also very easy to have a personality "disorder" since the APA has classified over 300 different disorders.

Science Daily has an article about the study.

The study tries to frighten parents into paying for the services of a psychiatrist. Parents are so into themselves today. They think if their children are happy then the parent's problems will go away. Parents should stop trying to make their children happy and instead try to make their children self reliant and independent.

It would be easy to estimate that more than 1 in 5 young people are unhappy, drink, have pierced ears and other pierced body parts, and have tattoos, and wish to be on American Idol. Most of these young people came from a "family" that did not have a father in the household.

Most of these young people have been indoctrinated by the government schools and their single moms that these young people are important and should be respected. These young people have inflated and convoluted egos because they know they have done little to earn respect. They also ask themselves why they are important.

Still, just because young people prefer to drink and party and pursue vices instead of virtues does not mean they have a personality disorder that requires the taxpayer to pay for someone to listen to the young person talk about themselves. The APA would like the government to pay for "treatment", (listening to young people talk about themselves). If your product will not sell to the market then get the government to force people to buy your product.

Charles Tolleson