Hi 96 / Lo 71
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Hi 96 / Lo 71 |
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Volume 71, Issue 141,
Thursday, June 8, 2006
Opinion New disorder provides easy excuse Robyn Morrow
Sitting in traffic yesterday on Beltway 8, I found myself in a rather long line of cars waiting to escape the dreadful construction zones so familiar to Houstonians. I looked out my side-view mirror onto the shoulder and was not shocked to see a minivan speeding toward my car in hopes of escaping the confines of said traffic. The driver, as I expected, cut me off with not even an inkling of a "thank you," and I proceeded to throw a few choice words and hand gestures in response to his disrespect. According to doctors, my temper tantrum could now be considered a symptom of intermittent explosive disorder. Rather than chalking up a bit of anger to an act of venting frustration, some doctors have ridiculously decided to attribute road rage to a new disorder. A study based on a national face-to-face survey funded by the National Institute of Mental Health defines Intermittent Explosive Disorder as an illness involving multiple outbursts that are out of proportion to the situation, an Associated Press article reported. Outbursts may include threats, property damage or other aggressive actions and typically appear in adolescence, the article added, with the average onset age of 14. Although not everyone who displays road rage or other types of temper tantrums is afflicted with IED, doctors say some instances of spousal abuse can be attributed to this illness. How can we excuse such types of abuse as a mental disorder? Now irate husbands, wives or lovers can simply dismiss unruly behavior by claiming a "disorder" caused them to commit such crimes. We need to accept fault for our actions, not continue to lay blame on something that possibly might not even exist. While empirical evidence might exist to back up these findings, it's ridiculous that temper tantrums are now considered symptoms of a disorder. As a native Houstonian, I have experienced the pleasure of numerous encounters with road rage and find it nothing more than a way of expressing anger at the stupidity of bad drivers. By creating this disorder, doctors are just paving the way for more criminals to escape imprisonment or conviction for wrongdoings. Society already offers individuals more than enough tools to help the escape blame for just about any offense; we shouldn't be giving the guilty more ways to evade the justice system. How many times have we heard the "I had a bad childhood" excuse? Jennifer Hartstein, a psychologist at Montefiore Medical Center in New York, said she recently diagnosed IED in a 16-year-old boy, the AP reported. The boy, who "explodes and tears apart his room and throws things at other people," has also had his parents call the police to help control his unmanageable behavior. It's absurd this boy's parents would rather pawn him off into the hands of a psychologist or police than try a few parenting tricks of their own. More parents will undoubtedly choose this solution to deal with uncontrollable children rather than use their own parenting abilities to reform these behaviors themselves. We should not enable people to pretend that angry outbursts are part of a mental disorder. We are only letting people escape blame and are helping them find more ways to get away with bad behavior. Robyn Morrow, an opinion columnist for The Daily
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