(Untitled)

[dorantherook]

Psychiatry Ponders Whether Extreme Bias Can Be an Illness

By Shankar Vedantam
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 10, 2005; A01

The 48-year-old man turned down a job because he feared that a co-workerwould be gay. He was upset that gay culture was becoming mainstream and blamed most of his personal, professional and emotional problems on

Comments

[kendokamel]

I think that declaring "extreme bias" as an illness would set a dangerous precendent. I'm sure that there are, indeed, some individuals for whom that type of a diagnosis would make sense, but as was mentioned in the article, it could open a whole can of worms with regard to the legal system.

It could allow individuals to commit hate crimes (or gross discrimination) and not be held accountable due to this "illness".

[theydontloveyou]

i also agree with what you are saying. having this illness as a liability, with equal rights and discrimination laws, will allow employers to hire a person such as him with the guarentee to never see a gay person on job-site. and other repulsive ideas such as this.

[amade]

Aye, I agree.

Can of worms.

[stateofwonder]

Agreed. I'm wondering if there's not some way of accounting for the irrational mentioned in the article without inventing a new category of illness for it. Admittedly I know nothing about psychiatry, but wouldn't this fall in the realm of paranoia or some other disorder?

[beltpower]

It definitely sounds like a phobia of homosexuality.

[neuy]

well some of the people quoted in the article did suggest that it is a form of delusion. and a definition of delusion would be a "fixed, unshakeable belief which is not in line with one's social, cultural and educational background". and delusional disorder is a category in the DSM, i believe.

maybe it is important to consider if there will be any benefit to drag it out of delusion and give it a category of its own.

[theydontloveyou]

well, it's definitely a paranoia.

[hegemonyenemy]

i'm no psychologist, but i recommend immediate and intensive immersion therapy...heh.

[sunjoy]

I think stateofwonder is on the right track. If one is concerned with how people interact in society, "homophobia" or "racism" have clearly different meanings. On the other hand, if one is concerned about how the brain works, or more broadly about how people think, perhaps homophobia and racism are one and the same mental process. Thus what might merit an entry in the DSM may not be pathological homophobia or pathological racism, per se, but rather the condition of viewing and treating other people in terms of extremely rigid categories, and an inability to form moderate opinions

[fried_worms]

As to the legal consequences, I don't think that making something a disease automatically leads to a defense in court,

I agree, but just to point out things like "gay panic" have already been used as defense in court.