interesting, fairly radical, yet simple petition

[miriamjoyce]

"We, the undersigned, support the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) own goal of making its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) a scientific document, based on empirical research and devoid of cultural bias. A diagnosis of a mental disorder can have a severe adverse impact on employment opportunities, child custody determinations, an

Comments

[bratling]

i would support removing diagnoses that "are not based upon peer-reviewed, empirical research, demonstrating distress or dysfunction", but at the risk of oversimplification, by definition the majority is sane.

something has to be the baseline behavior that defines "healthy" and allows us to identify and treat unhealthy symptoms, and the only way to get that is to assume that whatever most people are, is the baseline.

but that's my pedantic side. practically speaking, anything that doesn't demonstrably hurt oneself or others should be considered acceptable. kills cats? not acceptable. has sex with trees wearing woven-grass girdles? well, if they're on your property or you've obtained permission and you feel good about it, have a blast.

(oh, man. where did i pull that image from?)

[bratling]

though "hurt oneself" is also an interesting judgment call

Indeed, and one I have deep reservations about. On one hand, hurting oneself is usually indicative of real emotional trauma and isn't fun for anyone involved. On the other hand, I have no right to stop you from doing something which doesn't hurt anyone else. But I sure as heck will discourage you from hurting yourself if I can.