That's how I'm feeling right now. This country is so FUBAR that I see no hope. (Footnote: the rest of the world may be as bad, but I live in the USA.) I got up in a fairly good mood this morning. We are currently in western Kentucky and, typical of August and September in the Ohio/Mississippi River valleys, I find the weather intolerably oppressive. Heavy, humid, super-hot air even before sunrise that forces one to stay inside in the stale, recycled, conditioned air. Cooler but hardly more pleasant. This, in my opinion, in and of itself is cause for mass public situational depression, but that isn't why I'm depressed. I'm depressed because I broke one of the rules; actually more of a strong recommendation; that I taught patients for almost forty years; viz. never start your day with newspaper, radio, television or internet news. Hanging my head in shame I admit that I read the news on my smart-phone while making coffee this morning. I knew better, and now I'm paying the price.
Why did I warn patients to avoid the news in the morning? Actually, I avoid the news whenever possible. The news is, by nature, depressing. As long as there has been people who disseminate news and information, those people have known that war, violence, death, destruction, etc., are what sell. They also learned that sensationalism, combined with the war, violence, death, etc., sells best. They learned that a headline like "volcano eruption feared" isn't nearly as good as "volcano eruption could mean end of life on earth". While it is important to be an informed citizen, it isn't necessary to expose oneself to a constant barrage of sensationalized misery. During World War II and Korea it sometimes took weeks to get war news. By Viet Nam we received morbid pictures and a body count at least daily. That was a new and unsettling experience. Now we sometimes actually see the war live. Do we need that? I don't think so. I don't need to see war live to know that war is horror. I don't need to watch people butchering each other so some fat cat in the US can get richer to know the truth that people are making fortunes from death and war. But I'm getting off onto a subject that deserves its own blog. Suffice it to say, we do not need to be constantly bombarded by news to be well informed.
My admonition not to start the day with news goes back into the early 1970s. There have been some really good times since then, and there have been some bad times as well. Good times or bad, my admonition was the same. I don't think we've ever seen anything as bad as the social-political climate of our country today. That, perhaps, is as upsetting as anything. It is also that which drains me of all hope.
We have always had a political struggle between right and left over Supreme Court justices. It wasn't that anyone doubted they were honest, upright citizens. We just knew that their political agenda was going to influence their decisions, so we wanted their agenda to match our own as best possible. But when was the last time that we had to worry about truthfulness, perjury or impeachable offenses even before they got the job.
I stopped using the word 'hate' years ago because I realized that we, as a culture, use the word to describe anything we disliked. Hate is a hostility usually based upon fear, anger or sense of injury. "I hate spinach," you say. You don't really hate spinach. It has never done anything to hurt or offend you. How can a plant make you angry? I doubt that you are afraid of spinach. You merely don't like its flavor or texture. Nevertheless, it is common to make a statement like "I hate spinach." That's why I stopped using the word. I honestly do not hate people. I may be very angry with them. I may detest what they represent and be extremely upset by them, but I must say that I have never really hated anyone.
With this in mind, we have all had politicians and presidents whom we dislike, and sometimes that dislike is extreme. I know I have. I won't bore you with who they are. Nevertheless, no matter how much I might have disliked them I never doubted their intentions or regarded them as anything less than honorable. That sure has changed. I was first introduced to our current POTUS in 2004 when I observed a person watching a television program called The Apprentice. I watched Mr Trump for a while. Back then it was professionally fascinating. Based upon many years of experience as the behaviorist for and director of a special secured psychiatric unit I recognized NPD immediately. In my 28 bed unit, I had four people at that time with personality disorders. The man I watched on television that night met all of the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of psychiatry) criteria for a serious personality disorder. You can imagine my reaction when, fourteen years later I see him in the Oval Office. All of my patients with a personality disorder as serious as his are either in jail or an institution.
Yes, the news that I read this morning was undoubtedly sensationalized. That's how they sell papers or their website. However, removing the sensationalism and looking simply at content I came away with serious doubts about the future of this country. It should be a frightful warning when we realize that each day we witness heartless, selfish, crude, rude, violent, bigoted and often blatantly illegal behavior wrapped in a flag, carrying a cross and consider it a normal day. A normal day?! How can such behavior ever be considered normal? But it is beginning to become just that.
Is there any wonder why I was quickly depressed. The problem is that depression is not an option. The situational depression which plagues so many of us as we look at our deteriorating world is an understandable product of our society. We must accept it as that. Depression causes personal withdrawal from the world. That doesn't really help. It doesn't lift the depression nor does it address the cause for the depression. The really hard medicine to take is to accept that we must continue to be active participants. Being an active participant is a matter of personal choice and personality. For some of us it is simply supporting a candidate or organization that represents our views, and, of course, voting even if you feel it is an act of futility. For others it is manning the trenches and working in the thickets of the political world. Whatever our individual level, it is something which must be done or my fears for the future will soon be reality.
We have always had a political struggle between right and left over Supreme Court justices. It wasn't that anyone doubted they were honest, upright citizens. We just knew that their political agenda was going to influence their decisions, so we wanted their agenda to match our own as best possible. But when was the last time that we had to worry about truthfulness, perjury or impeachable offenses even before they got the job.
I stopped using the word 'hate' years ago because I realized that we, as a culture, use the word to describe anything we disliked. Hate is a hostility usually based upon fear, anger or sense of injury. "I hate spinach," you say. You don't really hate spinach. It has never done anything to hurt or offend you. How can a plant make you angry? I doubt that you are afraid of spinach. You merely don't like its flavor or texture. Nevertheless, it is common to make a statement like "I hate spinach." That's why I stopped using the word. I honestly do not hate people. I may be very angry with them. I may detest what they represent and be extremely upset by them, but I must say that I have never really hated anyone.
With this in mind, we have all had politicians and presidents whom we dislike, and sometimes that dislike is extreme. I know I have. I won't bore you with who they are. Nevertheless, no matter how much I might have disliked them I never doubted their intentions or regarded them as anything less than honorable. That sure has changed. I was first introduced to our current POTUS in 2004 when I observed a person watching a television program called The Apprentice. I watched Mr Trump for a while. Back then it was professionally fascinating. Based upon many years of experience as the behaviorist for and director of a special secured psychiatric unit I recognized NPD immediately. In my 28 bed unit, I had four people at that time with personality disorders. The man I watched on television that night met all of the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of psychiatry) criteria for a serious personality disorder. You can imagine my reaction when, fourteen years later I see him in the Oval Office. All of my patients with a personality disorder as serious as his are either in jail or an institution.
Yes, the news that I read this morning was undoubtedly sensationalized. That's how they sell papers or their website. However, removing the sensationalism and looking simply at content I came away with serious doubts about the future of this country. It should be a frightful warning when we realize that each day we witness heartless, selfish, crude, rude, violent, bigoted and often blatantly illegal behavior wrapped in a flag, carrying a cross and consider it a normal day. A normal day?! How can such behavior ever be considered normal? But it is beginning to become just that.
Is there any wonder why I was quickly depressed. The problem is that depression is not an option. The situational depression which plagues so many of us as we look at our deteriorating world is an understandable product of our society. We must accept it as that. Depression causes personal withdrawal from the world. That doesn't really help. It doesn't lift the depression nor does it address the cause for the depression. The really hard medicine to take is to accept that we must continue to be active participants. Being an active participant is a matter of personal choice and personality. For some of us it is simply supporting a candidate or organization that represents our views, and, of course, voting even if you feel it is an act of futility. For others it is manning the trenches and working in the thickets of the political world. Whatever our individual level, it is something which must be done or my fears for the future will soon be reality.
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