Oh, the Poor Boy! Get Him Some Medical Help! This is another post involving supposed "diseases" that really grind my gears. A few days ago, I wrote about Oppositinal Defiant Disorder, which IMHO is just a crock. There are those that disagree with me, and I'll grant you I might see this stuff in a diferent light if it affected me on a personal, daily level. But I still think it might actually play out like this at the the secret meetings of the upper levels of psychiatric conferences: Psychiatrist 1: Well, I have another difficult, adolescent patient who throws violent tantrums, hits other children, and has even gone so far as to threaten his teacher with great bodily harm. I'm at my wits' end. Psychiatrist 2: I've had more and more of these cases lately, too. It makes me long for the good old days when you could just take these kids out behind the woodshed and dish out a little rough justice. Psych 1: I hear you, bro. But we can't allow that sort of thing in this day and age. And we can't just advocate giving mom and dad tranquilizers until the kids reach 18 and move out of the house. It's getting worse every day, with all these kids who have some sort of warped sense of entitlement. And we can't do anyhting to destroy their self-esteem, or we'll wind up losing our jobs here and be slinging hash until we're 85 years old. Psych 2: Okay, here's a thought. It might seem crazy, but hear me out. Let's say we call this a medical disorder or a disease, instead of just bad behavior. This gets the monkey off our backs and puts it back on the shoulders of the MD's. And if we call it a disease, we can suggest prescribing meds, right? Maybe we can't spank the living daylights out of junior, but we can get his parents to medicate him to the point that he's no longer a nuisance to his family and society. What do you say? Psych 1: That sounds like a plan, my man! High fives are exchanged at this point. And everybody wins, right? No one feels guilty or ashamed, and no one is held accountable. I think that's what makes America so great. Today's post is brought to you by this 16-year-old guy who flips out when his folks get him an old truck for his birthday, instead of the slick vehicle he was hoping for. 
Hey, kiddies, you get two great vids today. The first is the aforementioned teen who melts down when he sees his truck. http://www.mpgh.net/forum/73-videos_sharing/64087-wow_meltdown_kid_birthday_surprise.html The second is the same guy flipping out while playing World of Warcraft. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWBfLOZ2CjQ&feature=related Poor guy. He must be really, really sick to behave this way. Let's get him some love... and more inportantly, let's dignify his behavior by calling it a disease. In closing, here is a little cartoon. I give you these because I care. 
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