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Bitterness To Be Classified As a Mental Illness
Some psychiatrists are trying to get excessive bitterness identified as a mental illness named post-traumatic embitterment disorder. Of course this has some people who live perfect little lives, and always get what they want, questioning the new classification. The so called "disorder" is modeled after post-traumatic stress disorder because it too is a response to a trauma that endures. "They feel the world has treated them unfairly. It's one step more complex than anger. They're angry plus helpless," says Dr. Michael Linden, the psychiatrist who put a name to how the world works.
I'd be bitter too if I had four fingers and no torso.
So when is Cynicism getting added to an ever expanding list of mental disorders that one more pill can set right?
You mad
It also appears to have no avenue of sexual expression. That too, can be embittering.... All kidding aside, wtf??? I better not be paying into some disability fund for all the cantankerous bastards I know out there...
I have Asperger's. Diagnosed, not self-diagnosed like so many on slashdot.
Bitterness as a symptom of my Asperger's. This would explain a lot of the "delusions of inadequacy" side of my personality. I work so hard at some stuff that I'm just incapable of, like having a real career where I'm not exploited.
A lot of my paranoia is related to this as well.
I'm so lucky to be in a company now that respects my talents, and allows me time to deal with my mental illnesses; but not everybody is that lucky.
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
I have fought for the classification of bitterness into the mental illnesses several decades ago but people laughed at me. Still bitter about it.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power lost.
Grow up. Life is harsh and you need to grow up and understand that things aren't always going to go your way. Learn to deal with it like an adult and move on.
... least 99.999% of slashdot must be bitter because they are without girlfriends.
How about my girlfriend who likes TV and Facebook a bit more than the average person? I mean, that's gotta be a new mental illness. Probably easily treatable with a $300 bottle of pills from the big pharma's right?
These people who seem to need to classify every single possible emotional state as an illness have some serious mental issues.
So all developers are ipso facto mentally ill? It would explain quite a lot.
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
Of course this has some people who live perfect little lives, and always get what they want, questioning the new classification. The so called "disorder"...
Is this supposed to be funny, or is the submitter suffering from some embitterment himself?
I know some people love having their personality labelled as a "disorder" because they believe it then excuses their actions. But also having a label like this can help people cope. Having a label can help you wrap your head around your own thoughts and behaviors, make you feel like you're not uniquely screwed up and alone, and figure out what steps might help you improve.
"They feel the world has treated them unfairly.
I don't think the world has treated me unfairly, I just happen to share it with 6 billion fucking cunts I can't stand.
What's wrong with that?
.
Trolling is a art,
And psychiatrists have boat payments to make, dammit!
At the rate things are going, this will soon become so serious that it can only be treated with a brand new, expensive drug just invented. It's a derivative of the drug they use for Restless Leg Syndrome, only it costs a lot more.
You sound bitter...
So I guess this means that emo isn't whiny, post-pseudointellectual narcissism? Man, Fall Out Boy is going to have a field day with this...
All ex-wives and ex-husbands really are mentally ill!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Yes, mmhmm. How does that make you feel?
Well, technically you still haven't met me, but.. I'm a liberal who is generally happy content with my life. I would say I have never met a conservative who isn't a racist bastard, but that stereotype doesn't quite cover all of you. That said, why has this become a liberal vs. conservative or Bush vs Obama issue? This is an idiot psychiatrist vs. common sense issue. The human existence has long been one of suffering, ergo many people are bitter. That's the way it works. Don't even get me started at the overdiagnosis of ADHD or the confusion between sadness and depression.
But then I realized the cable was blue, so I only gave it one star. I hate blue.
Check out Sarcasma, a sarcastic take on just that question. :)
http://www.sarcasma.net/sarcasma_002.htm
It just makes it easier, and more convenient to have people locked up in the rubber room. Hate the IRS? You're just bitter. We have "treatment" for that now. A little "reeducation" oughta fix you right up. Gettin' close to that Twilight Zone where everybody had to think happy thoughts, or the kid would turn you into a jack-in-the-box.
Todos mis movimientos están friamente calculados
I submit "Compulsive Classification" as a mental disorder, but everybody thinks I'm paranoid. I have proof.
Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
Basically, I am sure I have it because I am so annoyed all the time at all these doctors and their oddball patients.
It has gotten to the point where I am seeing most of the world as annoying.
- I am not bitter about it though.
Liberals who are not happy or content with their lives etc. are not bitter. You need to keep up with the times.
Bitter people are the ones who cling to their guns and religion - and if these folks are by definition mentally ill, then they can easily (in the legal sense) have their guns removed - for their own protection of course.
This "medical" definition of bitterness only applies if the religion being clung to is a Christian cult. If a person clings to a "religion" because their "holy man" promises them 72 virgins in paradise for bashing in a child's head with a rifle butt, or blowing themselves up in a crowded marketplace - well that person is not bitter or otherwise mentally ill.
You either believe in rational thought or you don't
As I understand it (though I'm not a psychologist) a mental disorder is classified as such when it detrimentally affects the life of the person who suffers from it. So not all people who seem to be bitter a lot would necessarily have this, but if it causes them to start losing or cutting off friends, or impacts their decision making in a negative way, it would be classified as a disorder.
So it's no surprise that excessive bitterness can be a disorder. So can excessive happiness - ever heard of manics?
Instead of prescribing pills, doctors will prescribe bullets... bitterness all gone ;)
Hope is the currency of fools
A little bitter, eh?
Who would like to bet that some big pharmaceutical company has a patented medication just for 'Bitterness'.
Of course they can't get the health insurance companies to pay for expensive prescriptions unless it is a mental disorder. Otherwise taking the medication would be an 'elective' treatment, not a medical requirement.
"They feel the world has treated them unfairly. It's one step more complex than anger. They're angry plus helpless," says Dr. Michael Linden, the psychiatrist who put a name to how the world works.
Yep. I'm angry because I'm now classified as mentally ill, and I'm apparently helpless to prevent this expansion of mental illness diagnoses.
Ha ha, just kidding about the "now" part.
The enemies of Democracy are
I would just like to convey my sympathies to all those who have become embittered due to the traumatic stress of a world fraught with unfair competition, divisiveness, and discrimination. If you were born ugly and attractive people have more opportunities in life, that is no reason to be bitter. If you have been informed that you are somehow not good enough but not explained in what way, that is no reason to be bitter. If you are black in a predominantly white-controlled area and can't seem to get a fair chance in life, that is no reason to be bitter. If you are white and in a predominantly black-controlled area and can't seem to get a fair chance in life, that is no reason to be bitter.
There are many acceptable ways to respond to adversity in life so long as it is not angry or bitter in any way. If you happen to respond to such circumstances with anger and bitterness, fear not! We will not hold it against you, nor will we hold you responsible for it. We have declared that this is a mental illness and soon there will be treatments available for it. While the treatments will not elevate your social status in any way, you will be more accepting of "your place in life" so that your inner spirit will be more peaceful and docile. You will be better suited to serving those you had once resented for so long.
That's because, in general, liberals realize that there are tons of real problems out there that should be solved.
Ignorance is Bliss, it's been said, and I find the corollary, "Understanding is Unhappiness", to be the cause of typical liberal cynicism.
I'd also note that all the happy conservatives I've met are those who are deliberately ignorant, or just plain without conscience.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
So we'll have 'Thought Disease' instead of 'Thought Crime'? great...
and not a one to give you any nookie?
yup that would tend to make one bitter.
Of course, your problem might also be related to poor eyesight. According to a statistic I saw somewhere on the internet, approximately half of the world's population would be dicks. With a small enough sample size you could have just hit a string of mis-identifications. Remember, in real life, the RNG does not have a "streak compensator" built in.
You either believe in rational thought or you don't
I own 2 -- one for home use and one for the road. That road sometimes leads to my workplace.
I think the difference is that this disorder speaks to an individual who remains bitter after a particular "traumatic" (at least to them) incident they can't get over, where there is a known cause, that can be treated, versus a generally bitter disposition.
This is a case where the diagnosis could lead a psychiatrist to apply methods to help the person cope with the traumatic event versus treating bitterness as an inherent personality trait. If an event alters the baseline, rather than just having a high-bitter baseline, there is a lot more that can be done to the stimulus or event causing it. There are people with a non-bitter disposition that would return to a non-bitter disposition should they be able to overcome/work-through/whatever that particular incident.
Forgive my spelling from time to time. I'm often posting during short breaks.
Remember folks: once it's a mental disorder, your therapist can charge your insurance to "fix" it to the tune of 1-2 hours per week, every week.
If it's a personality flaw, people have to pay for the therapy themselves.
This kind of stuff (bitterness, generic meanness, "depression" to the tune of "I'm not enthralled with life every moment") is a mental illness because insurance has to pay.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
Fuck that.
In 1992, I saw this abstract in the Journal of Medical Ethics, now on-line for your delectation.
"In a review of the relevant literature it is shown that happiness is statistically abnormal, consists of a discrete cluster of symptoms, is associated with a range of cognitive abnormalities"
Hoo yah.
"And the meaning of words; when they cease to function; when will it start worrying you?"
Another reason why they should just legalize it...
It sounds like an attempt to diagnose these guys and what is left of the Republican party.
Very often, people confuse simple with simplistic. The nuance is lost on most. - Clement Mok
So SCO indeed did make all slashdotters ill. Let's sue them!
Table-ized A.I.
What do you think about maybe we need some human beings as psychiatrists every now and then?
</drsbaitso>
Remember folks, you're not normal unless you have a mental disorder. If they haven't found your disorder yet, just give them time. Eventually they'll classify all feelings and emotions as disorders, and then we can be one big happy (but not too happy) dysfunctional family.
Hey, Scilon, the French-Government-vs-UFO-cult championship bout was last night and a dozen threads ago :)
I'd also note that all the happy conservatives I've met are those who are deliberately ignorant, or just plain without conscience.
Or just plain dumb.
Not all conservatives are stupid, but stupid people tend to be conservative.
the world is full of bastards and now I'M the mentally ill one
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - Evelyn Beatrice Hall, re Voltaire
Get used to it and deal with it positively.
Aha, but he _can't_ get used to it, no matter how hard he tries. That's when a doctor starts saying, "Hmm, maybe this is a real problem."
Get used to it and deal with it positively.
This is why mental disorders have a stigma.
Read it again. He *IS* dealing with it, and positively. And it's not just being "paranoid about something sometimes." It's about it being a long-term thing that keeps going, with enough severity to affect your life. There's a history of mental history on my mom's side of the family, and while I firmly believe that my mother's full of shit when she claims she has issues, my uncle suffered from panic attacks that literally left him cowering in a corner. It took a fairly strict meds schedule to improve his situation, since he had a chemical imbalance, where his brain simply didn't make enough of a certain chemical.
Canada: The US's more awesome sibling.
Better stop posting on /. Jurily. Your e-meter rating drops a point for every post you make.
Eat sleep die
An unspoken rule of arguing : never make a claim that can be disproven with a mere anecdote.
In other news, I know lots of liberals who are very happy with their lives!
You just got troll'd!
Shrinks are quacks, and have mad up so many mental disorders that everyone has two or three of them, and they can't wait to sell us snake oil pills. No one is normal, according to them.
The Uncoveror: It's the real news.
So you don't think there are any "real" problems out there that need to be solved? Poverty, homelessness, starvation, war, and genocide are all things of the past or "perceived" figments of my bleeding-heart-liberal imagination? I suspect you may be a very blissful person...
Every real thing is perceived too, unless the observer is just too blind to perceive it.
I still recall a Ren and Stimpy episode where Ren's got this happy helmet on that makes him nothing but happy and in the process drives himself nuts to break it. Can't help but think we're all heading there eventually. Nothing but happy helmets on our heads.
But cynicism I think keeps the world interesting and honest, let's not get rid of it completely, k guys?
*happy happy joy joy happy happy joy joy*
...in bed
Who would like to bet that some big pharmaceutical company has a patented medication just for 'Bitterness'.
How about a spoonful of sugar?
Get your own free personal location tracker
You should only diagnose disorders you can treat without drugging them. The rest is just life.
I wish I could mod this post -100 WTF?!?!?!. My grandmother suffered from mental illness (hospitalized many times) most of her life. Then a psychiatrist prescribed lithium and she was better. Your opinion is utterly groundless and utterly devoid of any merit whatsoever.
Never hear of shell shock, eh?
We don't talk about mechanical stress being so unreal that broken bones are just character flaws. Why assume the nervous system is so perfect that no experience could cause it to fail or malfunction? Why assume that the mental system is so perfect that no experience could cause it to fail or malfunction?
Mechanical stress breaks bones. Nervous system stress can cause arrhythmias and tachycardia. Mental system stress can cause inability to perform.
I would tell you more, but I'm not the expert. Instead, walk through those doors and talk to someone who knows much more about it than I do, "Cthulhu, next!"
...can I get some government cheddar and have my student loans forgiven by a court because I have a mental illness? That would be nice. Kthnx.
This could be good for married men all over America. Benefits and compensation :)
That's because, in general, liberals realize that there are tons of real problems out there that should be solved.
They do? Why do they keep inventing so many solutions for problems that don't exist then?
So bitterness is deemed a mental illness, whilst homosexuality isn't.
Oh wut
Misanthropy has an ICD code of 301.7. Even if there was a pill for it, I wouldn't bother to ask anyone for it. Maybe if you left it on the table and didn't talk to me or anything... but why would I want to get over who I am? What some call cynicism I call basic lucidity. Why would I want a pill to get rid of that?
So are all the happy liberals ignorant as well? Are the unhappy conservatives enlightened?
Most of the happy people I have met, either liberal or conservative, are that way because they don't let politics ruin their life.
If there's oppression to be found, don't dance around it, WIPE IT OUT. By force if necessary. Just take the bull by the horns and fucking solve the problem. It shouldn't be made more complicated then that. When you do, it makes for more "worrying" because now the issue has gone from bad to worse.
Since you've got all the answers, take your brilliant plan and just do it. Make sure to post your triumph on Slashdot so we can learn the secret of "taking the bull by the horns and fucking solving the problem". I know we'd all like to hear that story.
I am not a crackpot.
His hands are made entirely of middle fingers. Now that's bitter.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
The only thing I can think of why they don't classify greed as a mental illness is because..... they are greedy.
I believe we all are broken in different ways and thus we all have problems we have to deal with. The real question is "Is your problem extreme that you are in need of help so you can function relatively well in society?"
You wouldn't like my plan as it involves warfare against dictatorships. Because you know, that would just be "evil" of me or some such notion.
By going after the root cause, it solves many problems. Liberals hate warfare regardless of the results however. They would rather support the people of a nation while those same people continue to be raped and beaten into submission.
Life is not for the lazy.
you know? I can relate to the article.
I *am* bitter. I studied my ass off in college, got good grades, and have two engineering degrees. (and, a minor in CS since this is slashdot). I've worked hard at my jobs, I'm good at what I do, and I'm a good person.
However, I got fired two years ago because I found one of the executives embezzling from the company. I live in a smaller town (250,000 pop) that's doesn't have many (any?) extra $100k+ jobs. I look around and see the ignorant MBA types driving their new lexuses and getting big bonuses...and, fuck yeah, I'm bitter. I've applied for some $60k jobs, and am rejected by being overqualified. The FEW I could get an interview with said something like, "well, you'd leave us as soon as you got a higher paying job." I can't argue, they're right.
I'm not fatalistic about it, though. I'm not going to snap. BUT, I am angry. I'm bitter. I have dreams seeking revenge. This experience has challenged one of my basic beliefs that if you do good work and are a good person, karma will help you. I no longer believe that. I don't want to be a back-stabbing, lying asshole, but I sure would like the big house, new car, and plasma TV those folks seem to have.
So, rather than be smug & smarky that your life is perfect, be aware that some times bad things happen to good people, and those good people can have difficulty dealing with that. Not everyone has hit a big speedbump in life. Yet.
i too tag people with labels as a way of dealing with my own insecurities
pleased to meet you
You are a cunt.
So what will they do about Scotland? It seems to be full of bitter, sad people. I didn't know it was a mental condition, I thought it was just how Scottish people were.
Mind you if I lived somewhere where it was cold wet and windy and they made me wear a skirt with nothing under it, I'd be bitter too.
And then there's the beer. Oh, and haggis ... and bagpipes ...
"Cats like plain crisps"
My problem is too many idiot liberals trying to "solve my problems" for me. That, and taking public money to solve everyone's problems for them.
I disagree about warfare against dictatorships. While that may eventually deal with the root cause, it causes too much collateral damage and is very expensive.
The optimal move would be warfare against dictators and remove the root cause directly with minimal to nil collateral damage and substantially lower cost.
Though there are the obvious problems with this;
a. It's substantially trickier.
b. It's very vulnerable to abuse towards your (the attacking country or leaders thereof) own interests, rather than those of the people living under the dictatorship.
upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
You wouldn't like my plan as it involves warfare against dictatorships. [...] .By going after the root cause, it solves many problems.
Yeah, those liberal dumbasses should have a look at Iraq or Afghanistan if they think that kind of stuff doesn't work.
I'd also note that all the happy conservatives I've met are those who are deliberately ignorant, or just plain without conscience.
This is pure silliness.
I am not a psychologist but don't you think, people who marry have some kind of disorder otherwise why would they marry ? P.S : Gone nuts since my marriage.
-- It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. -- Aristotle
Ignorance is Bliss, it's been said, and I find the corollary, "Understanding is Unhappiness", to be the cause of typical liberal cynicism. I'd also note that all the happy conservatives I've met are those who are deliberately ignorant, or just plain without conscience.
Or "If I didn't know any better, I'd be better off."
You wouldn't like my plan as it involves warfare against dictatorships. Because you know, that would just be "evil" of me or some such notion.
So that's the plan? Invade dictatorship, depose dictator, be greeted as liberators? I can't understand why those "liberals" don't like it. It is uncomplicated. Simple, even. You did remember to mention the children with flowers, right?
I am not a crackpot.
So all those people who for 8 years were terribly angry and bitter about our Commander in Chief... they officially had a mental problem?
Being greeted by liberators and children with flowers would be nice, but that's not the reason to liberate a country from dictatorships and oppression. You don't because it's the "right thing to do" for the sake of humanity.
I can't understand why those "liberals" don't like it. It is uncomplicated. Simple, even.
Because simple and uncomplicated solutions often devoid liberals of the power to micromanage. It makes them feel powerless and not in control of the situation. They hate that.
Life is not for the lazy.
Have you ever considered that you might be horrendously ignorant in lumping all liberals together as people who's ideal is "micromanagement"? I suggest you try reading some political writings by "far-left" liberals like Chomsky, who tend towards left-anarchism (the book "Understanding Power" is a good place to start). The major driving concept of much of the "far left" is the abolishment of all unjustified authority that subjugates some humans under the oppression of others. It's kind of like libertarianism, except not willfully blind and ignorant to the fact that the accumulation of vast riches and capital by a tiny minority leads back to just as horrible coercive authority and enslavement as any "big government" nightmare.
The micromanaging, coercive liberals you probably have in mind are just the "centrist" liberals who are bought and paid for by the same type of big-money interests that own the Republicans, too (hence, the ones usually elected) --- the liberals that still believe in the Capitalist and "market solutions" claptrap that perpetuates the interests of a wealthy, powerful elite. So many of the problems in Africa and around the world have come from allowing Western megacorporations to exploit and pillage under the guise of the "free market," actively destroying attempts at local, community-based organization and production. Third-world countries are coerced into dependence on foreign technology --- pesticides, fertilizers, crop strains, pharmaceuticals --- sometimes through disgustingly hypocritical methods like selectively dumping "food aid" or "medical aid" in targeted areas just long enough to drive local producers out of business. The UN and mainstream liberalism aren't to blame for the world's problems; they are just pawns of the global corporatist hegemony.
oi, wait for it...
wait for it...
Rush Limbaugh Listener
what? no LOLZ?
Because warfare, unlike foreign aid, is consequence free.
With advanced apologies to those out there who are suffering from PTSD....:
The A.P.A., after having held a deliberative emergency session, has decided to expound upon and give an official label to "bitterness" as a mental illness in much the same way that "shell shock" has been more appropriately renamed to Post Traumatic Stress Disoreder.
Bitterness shall henceforth be know as: Negative Experiential Perception of Reality Syndrome (NEPRS). It is best explained by the following image:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vinegar_Tasters
uR iGn0ranc3, Their Power
And the horse they rode in on.
What the fuck are this guys talking about...
Next thing you know, the next Charlie Bukowski will end up in a mental prision or something
NO SIG
Just as well. For some reason, I don't see Dr. McCoy making a lot of these diagnoses.
Like any industry? They require growth: How to do that?
Well, simple: CREATE MORE CLIENTS!
(or @ least, potential ones)
Fact is, you see this with gov't. & law enforcement, creating new "little laws & ordnances", thus, creating more criminals (or, potential ones) - same thing here in the psychology/psychiatry industry as well!
APK
P.S.=> Everyone's looking to scam/work an angle, or, haven't we ALL seen this from our own "industries" here in the U.S.A. the past decade or so now? I was told this is how it was done in various "tyrannical despotic empires" since time immemorial by my history profs in collegiate academia (Jesuits), & it hasn't changed - they also told us, "whenever you see new little laws passing, ask yourselves 'who stands to profit by it' & QUESTION EVERYTHING" &, imo @ least? They were spot-on correct! apk
Being greeted by liberators and children with flowers would be nice, but that's not the reason to liberate a country from dictatorships and oppression. You don't because it's the "right thing to do" for the sake of humanity.
What if it's not? In our world, from our perspective, maybe. What about from the perspective of someone else? Take the Chinese for example. The majority is satisfied or at least indifferent with the government. Just because that's how we do in America doesn't mean that's how everyone else should do it. It certainly doesn't give us the right to force it on everyone else either.
We must get past the idea that we are controlled by some magical "soul," and realize that all our activities are the result of electro-chemical reactions.
Mental illness or disorders are misnomers. It should really be classified as desireable and undesirable actions. We shouldn't excuse undesirable actions, and look at ways to modify behavior with chemicals, training, or surgical methods
D6 63 0D 70 89 81 BB 8E 7B 7C 5F 5D 54 EA AB 73
Thankfully, we've got plenty of counter examples. Bush tried it in Iraq, Clinton tried it in Somalia and Bosnia, and the end-result is the same old cluster-fuck.
Warfare is not a solution. It's merely a different approach to resolving political differences.
Until you get that, your opinion on the matter matters not.
Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
There's a big difference between work and having a job; the first is necessary to get things done, the second I can only understand, and that not viscerally, as some sort of S&M game other people are into.
This is just another excuse to drug people with drugs that fuck people up more than they thought they were. All for a profit, of course.
I hope his parents, relatives, and their friends: Encourage his socialisation, but don't force it. Don't force his acceleration at school, but encourage it. Don't let him believe other people will be fine with his not being normal, because most of them won't (and Asperger's people tend to loathe lies), but don't try to make him normal, either. (Yes, they messed up with me, and I am bitter about it....) (Auto-diagnosed 1994, confirmed by professionals 1996, 1999, 2003.....)
I'm happy for them. I feel that every person who has a problem should be able to get it dealt with without the condemnation of others. After all, those with problems should do all that can be done to get rid of those problems.
As for me, I'm a sufferer of Compulsive Optimism and Joy Syndrome (COJS). I was diagnosed with this 4 years ago because people kept telling me I was "too happy," "didn't get depressed," and "was far too easy going." Now, I understood all that but I was happy either way. I had a good life and I was content.
But my friends and family got me to see a psychiatrist and, in the last 4 years, I realized that what I had was a serious problem. I've been working hard at being a far more cynical, bitter, and depressed individual. I want to break free of my overly happy and content self that was ill and instead become a healthy, neurotic, and pessimistic individual. I really feel I can make it.
(Oh darn, looks like I lapsed back into my old frame of mind. Better take my pills.)
"don't dance around it, WIPE IT OUT"
You mean like Iraq, Afghanistan, and Vietnam, cause it worked out so well there.
Iraq is success story. Each year post invasion, the rate of unemployment went from 50-60% in 2003 to 23-38% in 2009.
Since the peak of 1980, the nominal GDP of Iraq has steadily shrunk to merely $12.3 billion in 2000. However removal of sanctions, after the overthrow of Saddam, had immediate effect. The nominal GDP had reached $55.4 billion by 2007 due to increase in oil output as well as international prices. In 2006, the real GDP growth was estimated at almost 17 percent. Wikipedia
And it was an epic failure because he never followed through. When engaging a war, you will always lose when doing it in a half-assed manor. You're either committed or not. No exceptions.
Obama had better take note of this when dealing with Afghanistan. Success is obtainable as it's all about will power. Does this administration have the will power to see this through the next 10 years? One would hope it does.
When dealing with tyranny and oppression, it's the only solution. Not simply A solution. If you can point out the contrary to me, by all means do so.
Life is not for the lazy.
Each year post invasion, the rate of unemployment went from 50-60% in 2003 to 23-38% in 2009.
Nice. I'm not sure Iraqis consider 23%-38% unemployment a success. As of now, it's a craptastic hellhole. It's an open question whether future efforts can stabilize the country, or whether it will be torn apart.
When dealing with tyranny and oppression, it's the only solution. Not simply A solution.
I see you completely missed the point in that statement. War does not exist outside the political sphere, outside the realm of human interaction. As for counter-examples, you can start with Hannibal's campaign against Rome. A spectacularly successful war, which still ended with Carthage ceasing to matter within Hannibal's lifetime.
Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
Here's some advice towards happiness from a conservative who is neither ignorant nor without conscience: if you didn't break it, and you can't fix it, stop worrying about it. It is simply not your job to fix all the problems in the world. Your shoulders are not that broad, and you're not expected to carry that weight.
Instead, focus on this: stop screwing up your own life. Stop screwing up other people's lives through your direct, measurable actions. Take responsibility for (i.e., work to make better) the unintended consequences of your actions. Make your own life good, and spread the goodness to those nearest you. These are things you can actually do.
Do these things and you'll be happy, because you'll be productive and a service to your community. Spending all day worrying about shit you can't affect in any way just makes you a useless (and sad) lump.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Oh? And it wasn't a hellhole before the invasion? And to top it all off, your comparing their standard of living now to long standing western and eastern democracies within a short period of time? That's intellectually dishonest of you, and you know it!
These things take time, and it's progressing rather well all things considering.
In what way did I miss the point? Your example of Hannibal seems to have made it for me. That is, tyranny and oppression can only be dealt with through force. That's exactly how Hannibal handled it too against the Roman Empire. Of course, success is never guaranteed...
Life is not for the lazy.
Man, you must not live in the bay area. Liberals here are so naive sometimes. You wouldn't believe how many people I've talked to who actually thought Bush was going to call martial law and cancel the election before Obama could get voted in. To get to that level of idiocy you almost need to be wilfully blind. Idiocy is not one sided.
Qxe4
samzenpus, you owe me a coffee and a new keyboard
Several years ago, my ex wife was close to getting her second set of Computer Science/Music degrees (first time in the early '70's), and she became extremely bitter, and felt the world has treated her unfairly, and she was often angry for no reason, and vehemently jealous of anyone "with money", and every weekday started verbally trashing me as soon as she walked in the door after work, it was a nightmare.
I finally had to divorce her, and she went even further into her depression/self destructiveness, and eventually after losing her housing and fiends she was diagnosed with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), and got some kind of treatment, and then she tried several times to reenter my life, but I refused all contact, she was poison.
Although, I do hope that she was able to find a doctor savvy enough to help her, she sure seemed tortured.
"His parents paid his rent, paid for his Volkswagen camper... Man, I'd BEG for that disease. No diagnosis required, and the BENEFITS."
Umm, this sounds really petty of you. I can't tell if you're trying to be ironic, or alternating jealousy with sarcasm or whatever, but just because you're parent(s) don't give a shit about you doesn't give you the right to judge.
I'm an orphan myself, but if some guy gets stuff from his parents, I say good for him. If he gets my tax dollars for his illness, its an entirely different matter...
I like the way liberals invent solvable reasons why the obvious solutions will never work; and, claim the solvable issue can NOT be solved. Example, problem Global Warming; solution Nuclear Power. I posted about it when Union President Obama stopped the work nuclear disposal system out west. The posters on this site said the main reason Nuclear Power would not work is NIMBY; that is a fixable problem; if, the US Government and Press would do its job of explaining the Nuclear Power pros ans cons compared to all other major Electrical generation systems. Tim S PS: I am pro solar and wind; I just know they are not yet ready to supply all the USA power needs.
After bitterness, the next problems redefined will be sourness (just not liking anyone) and saltiness (liking everyone enough to want to sleep with them... and telling them).
You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
I was thinking the same thing about every grad student. Treated unfairly, angry, helpless... that about sums it up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDvSNRFamOU
Guilty as charged! Now where can I get my handicapped parking placard?
Many people have reasons to be bitter in the course of normal life it is a fact of living, It helps to define us as a culture to have adversity and loss that at times can be painful, and at times very personal. I thing the defining difference that exist is the support of the people that have have experienced this and had the help of others "not feeling like your alone" My personal experience with this is as follows. I was diagnosed with a serious degenerate muscle/neural disease young and was facing a shortened life span there is no cure just pain management and i was on very high doses of prednisone, I lost a friend in a drunk driving accident "he was the drunk" My brother hates me to this day for stopping him from going with him that night. I was a sickly 120lbs 6'1 got my ass kicked a lot for this,the boys father, a Vietnam vet who when he saw me the day of the funeral told me if i went he would kill me, shoot me dead. School also became a nightmare i lived every day, i could not talk to anyone, i was a villain for being happy my brother did not die that night, but sad anyone did die that night. I got distant from people and bitter. My last job i really needed for the money, ya know bills, I lied about my medical history to get it, i lost the girl of my dreams due to my bad mood swings who would have thought? Then my job, I was a model employee never called in never late,always did overtime had no problem with any others but was told i was fired and told to F*ck off. Soon after i became too ill to work anymore. Lost my car my home. For years i was under the believe he found out i had lied to get the job, and i understood. And then one day a friend of my ex girlfriend told me that my ex GF had been sleeping with the bosses son,yes shortly after finding out i was working there she did this for revenge i suppose. I was very bitter and became suicidal for a long time... I moved over a 1000 miles away severed all contact with anyone connected with my past and got married to a very kind wonderful person, have had some major drawbacks in my medical condition since my move but my life is still better then it ever was...I owe it all to the friends my wife and our wonderful children and my new life i have made here. Now at 40 year old i am a proud new grampa!
The love of good Whiskey,Woman,Weed is all i need.
I figure I'm just bitter enough to tell you all to go fuck yourselves.
If I was any less bitter people would get left out.
We couldn't have that now could we?
Aha, but he _can't_ get used to it, no matter how hard he tries. That's when a doctor starts saying, "Hmm, maybe this is a real problem."
If my bank account is empty, that's a real problem, and its not something that one starts overlooking at some point. But it's not a problem that a doctor can help with.
Was it the place for and responsibility of the Americans to intervene?
They did a lot of creative work in the area that people who had some kind of objection to the system or harboured injustice were mad and should be locked up.
I live in a pretty poor part of London and I watch our borough council (Tower Hamlets, for Slashdot Brits) mess people about, break promises and betray people (and then spin about how great they are) on a daily basis. These are people, often, who are not very articulate (poor english too, sometimes) and may not have a great many mental tools for dealing with this (the necessary tools would probably be the patience of a saint, anyway).
So, this bitterness is quite normal, understandable and (for me) not a mental illness. I fear that what I describe goes on elsewhere too.
On y va, qui mal y pense!
No wonder the Kool-Aid Man is so pissed off, looks like someone forgot to add the cup of sugar.
Regards, Lex
What a crock of shit. Some people are just negative in their world view - often for some very petty and silly reasons.
I have a sister-in-law who is a total downer and a petty person. She cannot let go of anything - shes still carrying baggage from when she was 7yrs old and her brother was picking on her.
I believe in the statement attributed to Abe Lincoln: Most people are as happy as they decide to be.
Its not the years, its the mileage
It's about it being a long-term thing that keeps going, with enough severity to affect your life.
It's only a mental disorder if it is not normal to be unhappy in his circumstances. Even long term unhappiness is not a disorder if there are good reasons for it.
The guy was diagnosed with Asperger's; that's his medical problem. That this causes him problems that make him unhappy is not a medical problem, it's an expected and normal consequence. He hasn't been diagnosed with depression, paranoia, or anything other mental disorder.
His doctor can give him a pill that will make him happy and not worry, but that's not a good thing, because unhappiness serves a purpose, namely to get people to change their circumstances. People with Asperger's have a good shot at being happy, just like everybody else, but just like everybody else, there are no guarantees.
Well then, the Linux loving Slashdot crowd straightaway qualifies for this categorization. They're quite bitter about Windows, y'know!
If a shrink diagnoses you with Embittement Disorder, punch him in the nose and refuse to pay his consultation bill. There's the chance that you'll be cured instantly, by Bitterness Transfer.
Some psychiatrists are trying to get excessive happyness identified as a mental illness named post-traumatic happyness disorder. Of course this has some people who live perfect little lives, but never get what they want, be happy about the new classification. The so called "disorder" is modeled after post-traumatic stress disorder because it too is a response to a trauma that endures. "They feel the world. It's one step more complex than death. They're happy plus helpless."
Now they tell us.
I thought they already had a word for this: Republican.
Just think of the 'advantages' of having bitterness classified as a mental illness/disorder:
All those awkward folk who get themselves wronged and deprived of justice -- they can be reclassified as mentally ill, and maybe compulsorily treated with some happy pill, maybe locked up. And finally, they'll come to realize that there is justice after all, and they'll get to love Big Brother .....
-wb- :(
Hah, libs are all nuts. I love it! I have yet to meet a liberal who was happy or content with their lives.
You sound quite bitter about it.
On a more serious note, progressives are by definition never satisfied; they feel that there is always room for improvement. This is not bitterness, however. It is more like a painter always trying to improve the picture, never satisfied with what he's made. The opposite is the conservative, who thinks things used to be better in the past and tries to recapture that ideal moment. Both can become bitter when they are set back for prolonged periods.
And by the way, you do realise that the opposite of the Liberal is the Authoritarian, don't you?
There used to be a time when if you were wronged you could simply kill the perpetrator(s) and do the time / hang / whatever. But nowadays you can't even get access to the real bad guys anymore. You don't know their names, let alone get near to them. Of course theoretically the people who shield them are equally guilty, but killing a few of them isn't going to matter, nothing would change.
People want to fight (not necessarily litterally) for a good cause. It's in our nature, it's pretty much what it means to be human for a lot of people. But if you devote enough of your life to others for it to matter, you'll screw up your own life. So what do people do all day? Well, most people sit at a desk all day achieving absolutely nothing. Shoving some numbers representing pennies around in a spreadsheet, while the director can't figure out how to spend his next billion. Coding up some boring routine in a program that's going to be replaced within ten years by an open source alternative that in fact already exists. Having to write up reports on the consequences of municipal policy decisions, when the council has already stated it will press ahead, reports be damned. Lifes wasted. I guess rulers like that - wasted lifes are predictable. You can capture them in numbers, plot them in charts and lay the tracks for them. And when something happens to someone personal, even then they're powerless, not because of the consequences, or because of power, but simply because the enemy is hidden, or in some cases because there's nothing there to fight.
This is what life is like in modern society. People can't have personal fights anymore, and usually can't do much for progress. But people are people. They have empathy and brains that yearn for good causes. And daily we're bombarded with the harsh realities of what the planet's like. Terrible illnesses and afflictions mowing people down by the millions, often preventable and only continuing because of evil people's utterances and doings. People subjugating their brothers and sisters, in ways too violent, horrible and sick to contemplate, because of fairy tales in dusty books. A tiny fraction of the planet massing most of the wealth, using it mainly to gather yet more, draining the planet, while people are starving or die slow, gruesomely painful deaths because they can't pay for their medicine.
Some people take this in good humour. Some snap. The rest are, at least to some extent, bitter. The only difference between most people I've seen is how they deal with it. I try to escape in literature (including film and anime, as well as the classics) and coding; life is simpler when you're preoccupied with something. Other people I've met have other ways of dealing with it. Should we all take pills to be happy? Frankly, if someone were to offer me such a pill, I would draw my knife and stab him right then and there. I'm still human - bitter, but proud.
"The cure is quite simple: we merely amputate the head."
Can they do that? Add to my list of mental illnesses after the fact???
Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
I expect that if you slaughtered 60,000 civilians in any country, and sparked off a civil war in which a further 600,000 died, that would cause a material decrease in unemployment. Good news for the survivors no doubt.
Bitterness is now easily treatable by internet therapy. Sufferers are encouraged to vent their frustration by posting mentalist rants on comments boards. It works wonders I assure you.
It all depends. Is there oil there?
Kid-proof tablet..
Your ignorance on this matter is astounding and is only dwarfed by the size of the universe.
Awesome !
I'm gonna use that quote in my next flamewar.
From the same people who tried to reclassify shyness as a mental illness so they could shove more antidepressants in us! Pretty soon, every emotion imaginable will be classified as a disease, and of course there's gonna be a pill for that. Expect Grammaton Priests at your door any moment now.
I have a synonym for pted. It is called being a teenager.
Psychosomatic heart disease in american civil war soldiers? Preposterous!
Post traumatic stress in the 1800's? Not on your nelly!
Your statement that people suffering from PTSD should die however does have some historical precident. You'd have been great at executing "cowards" and "traitors"
I would work on your idea of modern though.
Well, at least now all of us Cleveland sports fans can get insurance to pay for our psychiatry sessions. I wonder if there is a 'Wait Till Next Year" syndrome also?
The thing you should take away from this news is that none of the "disorders" of the DSM actually exist. They are names for observed behaviors. They are decided by vote. No science is involved. None of the doctors and psychiatrists know what causes them.
PTSD is the only disorder with a suspected cause. But there is no evidence that the substance of a flash back or PTSD event is the cause of that event.
When Army Engineers building the ALCAN highway inside the US and Canada in 1942 began to have mental breaks no one connected it to "battle fatigue" or "shell shock." But it was the same mental break.
How do I know that? I have investigated a simple problem of human physiology for the last six years.
The living arrangements the Army uses allow Subliminal Distraction exposure. SD is capable of a variety of mental outcomes.
Symptoms of SD exposure are fear, paranoia, panic attacks, depression and thoughts of suicide.
Uncontrollable and unremitting unhappiness is a possible outcome of SD exposure. Remember the Virginia Tech shooter. Interviews of roommates revealed he had behaviors to allow Subliminal Distraction exposure. His video rant showed he had emotional problems with bitterness. Acting on it he killed thirty two people
VisionAndPsychosis.Net is my Internet scratch pad. You can perform a psychology demonstration that allows you to witness something disappear while you observe it in peripheral vision.
So now I'm mentally ill? And here I thought I don't get any respect, now I get less!
Nobody "WIPED THEM OUT". That's why they're still a problem.
Eliza, is that you?
Invite people to Bitterness is not a mental disease. eff OFF Dr. Michael Linden
Down with that sort of thing!
http://www.facebook.com/groups/edit.php?members&new&saved&gid=90185421735#/group.php?gid=90185421735
come and join ze Group on FB (but quick before ze Germans get there!)
"You know them. I know them. And, increasingly, psychiatrists know them. People who feel they have been wronged by someone and are so bitter they can barely function other than to culminate on slashdot."
- There, fixed that.
sudo apt-get lost
Correct! Centralized control with broad sweeping measures typically fails. Local problems are best solved with local solutions. By the way, “liberal ideology” does not promote government micromanagement. The Wikipedia article on “Liberalism” states its “support for: freedom of thought and speech, limitations on the power of governments, the rule of law, an individual's right to private property, and a transparent system of government.” Please get off the neoconservative bandwagon that attempts to paint liberals and conservatives as polar opposites. Go review your American history with particular attention paid to the party shifts that occurred when Jefferson ran against Adams.
Wrong. You just traded one failed policy for another. If you go in with guns blazing, you are still trying to micromanage from higher levels. The correct answer is: not your fucking problem.
“It” is always more complicated than you think, no exceptions. Nearly any large-scale action is going to have severe unintended consequences. Are you familiar with Iraq?
(Funny. CAPTCHA is “warfare”.)
I mean, is there a diagnosis for wanting to be a psychiatrist? There *is* the old joke is that the folks going into psychiatry are all crazy in the first place, and figure if they can cure others, they'll be able to cure themselves.
It also doesn't address the perfectly *reasonable* reaction to real-world situations that one has no control over; continuing on down this path literally leads to Brave New World, drugs to sleep, drugs to wake up, drugs to....
I can also comment as to my opinion of *most* psychiatrists: consider One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, or, to be downright brutal, Joe Haldeman's 1968.
Finally, I can go back to what I've read about Freud, with his "Civilization and Its Discontents", which I gather is basically "this is the way it is, and stiff upper lip and all that, and anything else, we'll have to treat so you can stiff upper lip it".
I've always considered that a failure of nerve, since it didn't go to the next step of "let's change civilization to be more human-centric".
mark
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=90185421735&ref=nf
Hellhole is relative. By your definition, probably. Yes, they had secret police and a fairly oppressive government. They also had sanitation facilities, power, and other infrastructure which we bombed out upon invasion. They had competent public servants with decades of experience who we promptly declared criminals when we outlawed The B'aath party. Employment rates were higher before the invasion. While this may turn out for them in the end, it's far from decided, and as it stands, they're worse off by every measurable economic metric. GDP is rather an unfair comparison unless you compare it to pre-sanction levels, and using numbers from 2003 (brutal sanctions, Iraq couldn't sell oil, just starting to recover from the global recession in 2001-ish) is utterly disingenuous, not that you probably care.
Please explain how Hannibal handled a nonexistent entity (the Roman Empire). It was the Roman Republic. He spent 15 years in Italy, and was unable to come to a decisive finish due to Carthaginian authorities diverting resources to Iberia and Roman control of the sea (preventing Hannibal from getting siege equipment that would let him take major cities), combined with trouble at home (Numidia specifically). Initial success (including what is possibly the most crushing defeat in military history for the Romans), left to languish with limited manpower, dwindling public support in Italy, and multiple fronts from the home government. The Romans (Fabius Maximus) took to a strategy of harassment and delay without any open engagements. Sound familiar? It's an oft-repeated story, yet somehow people convince themselves that "quick, decisive" wars will automatically "shock and awe" the native populace like life is a video game.
As an aside, the Punic wars had fuck-all to do with "tyranny and oppression." They were purely power struggles, with neither side being particularly virtuous. Unless I'm mistaken, "tyranny and oppression" can also be dealt with through other means (British India being a notable example, though there are others historically). Most of the time, dealing with "tyranny and oppression" through force leads to another radical in power when the "force" isn't pressing anymore.
"The more corrupt a society, the more numerous are its laws." -Tacticus
I think it's real because I was on the other side of this fence three years ago, getting what I want and so sharing what I had, never knowing that one day I would be made to fell sorry for that. From the experience, I have been lessened by it. After I suffered a serious accident, two of my closest friends hurt me in ways I am still learning to deal. My Doctor diagnosed me with mild depression as a result of my experiences.
Without going into the details, enough of my other friends recognised the sacrifices I had made to help them and counseled me, knowing I was hurt. I recognised I felt bitter and actually still do, affecting the last three years of my life costing me employment opportunities, making me question my sense of self-worth. How many nights awake have I spent? I can't say or that I am clear of this stage of my life but I think that labeling this 'Embrittlement syndrome' is the wrong way to think of something that is actually symptomatic of what I tend to think of as a victim of Selfish Cunt Syndrome (S.C.S).
Everybody here knows these types of people, you are probably friends with one. The thing is it's important to recognise a relationship with a selfish cunt in any setting, work, friends and family and steer a wide berth around them or slowly isolate them out of your life. These people will make you bitter. Surviving S.C.S will cost you years of sleep, at work you will find it hard to focus because you will not be able to get the thoughts of how angry you are out of your head. It will define the terms of any new relationships and will also ruin those new relationships, because inadvertently you will take the anger out on the people around you.
Despite the fact that I still, almost daily, have these angry thought's in my head, my life has slowly started to turn around. What you don't realise is that those type of people sap a lot of energy from your own life. Time, money and more importantly time you should be spending with other people.
I am telling you this because the geek and nerd persona are particularly vulnerable to the people who suffer from S.C.S.
I wasn't wary and have been vulnerable because there is nothing to prepare you. This doesn't mean that all my friends were like that but S.C.S sufferers taint your other relationships with other people. You are angry and you don't know why. They humiliate you and you don't know why. They take advantage of you and you don't know why. You make the effort, they don't and you don't know why. They take and take and take and never give back and you don't *understand* why. It's emotionally draining. Becoming bitter is a long victimisation process that sufferers of S.C.S inflict on people long before the final act of betrayal. It's was hard and painful lesson to learn that I was stupid and trusting enough to let those people into my life. Don't fall for it like many creative types do.
To survive S.C.S you will eventually have to confront them in a constructive manner. What I mean by that is you will have to be very considered in communicating your feeling in a way that does not demean *you*. They will avoid you and try desperately to avoid encountering you because they don't want to experience the pain they have inflicted. At the same time the potential for self destruction is almost overwhelming because the anger can consume you to destroy your reputation or worse. Don't do it.
For victims of S.C.S (and that's what you become) the perfect method of achieving this is a return receipt email or old fashioned registered mail. Registered Snail Mail is actually superior because the S.C.S sufferer cannot easily duplicate your words and use them against you to futher humiliate you. It's that potential for humiliation you must be wary of, so rather than trying to hurt the person back, disarming honesty and how you feel about things will help *you*. However getting the message to them is like na
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
I am embittered everyday, I may be suffering from this new ailment, or I could be like the rest of the global population and temporarily feel like this until, I pick myself back up again, and start again on something different.
The more you invest into something and it fails, the more bitter you will be because of it, but it is how you deal with that that makes you who you are, if you stand back and think f*cker...just took my spot...i should shoot him...welcome to the club, bu then you consider other views to the situation, like maybe when he comes out with a cane, you think..."its ok that he took that spot i was waiting for, he has trouble walking..." etc....
You are what you think....(as well as what you eat).
I think greatness everyday, for myself, for people around me, for humankind in general....but don't rob me of my
experience by labeling as a bad thing, because without it I would be lame in dealing with other situations.
This is what ambition starts from.... next time I wont get stuck, or next time I will get that shot....
Positive reinforcement is only present with an opposite catalyst!
Me and Skeeter, the tiny pink manatee that lives in my ear and tells me to do things, are excited about this. Skeeter has been feeling a little bitter about how his life turned out lately.
"You can't really dust for vomit" --Nigel Tufnel
You are terribly misinformed.
http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=93
Educate yourself.
"half-assed manor"
Tell me, who is the lord of Half-Assed Manor?
Here is my understanding: The psychiatrist can only get paid by the insurance company if they are actually treating SOMETHING. So, for something to be "treatable," the individual needs to be diagnosed with something wrong. This cycle has led to the creation of many, many "conditions" requiring treatment. One that comes to mind is developmental math disorder, whereby one is in need of medication and/or treatment in order to learn math.
No single raindrop believes it is to blame for the flood.
Does everybody else deal with their paranoia by using Google Earth to scout good places to set up a sniper nest to shoot at random into skyscrapers?
Not that I've ever given into my mental illness to that extent, but it is something that crossed my mind as a way to get some revenge and exit the normal economy at the same time.
Thoughts of my wife and son kept me from doing it- me going to jail would harm them. But that's *NORMAL* thinking for the paranoia side of my mental illness, and I can easily see somebody with my mental illness becoming a terrorist- and one who isn't stupid enough to get caught by having all of the sniper deaths in a single jurisdiction.
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
There are a lot fewer guarantees with being happy if you can't get out of your mind the insult some kid gave you on the bus 30 years ago.
That's Asperger's. Or rather, it's one of my symptoms of Asperger's. The depression and paranoia are sub symptoms of the disorder- along with the stimming, migraines, disgraphia, inability to understand body language, inability to have empathy for other people, inability to understand when I should stop typing because I'm boring everybody to death....
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
Idiots like you ruin the world.
I have a friend psychiatrist which reminds me of your story. Whenever she talks to people, she will bring up all the negative things about some people in her work, what her boss, coworkers, etc. have said and done to her. She will tell how they "gang up" on her, and how they will take revenge for her telling the "truth" how the place is run / how they should do things. At any place she will rebel against any "unfair/wrong" practices, and make alot of noise - involving as many people as possible, against maybe 1-2 people she don't approve of. Telling stories about the people and how bad they are, Thus she will try to get sympathy for her "story", while the listener really have no clue what's really going on. But on the surface, it seems she is right that there are some truly cruel people at her work. We tend to agree with whoever is nearest our face at any given time.. unthinkingly..
Of course, this is how she portrays it, but if you try to point it out, she will deny that of course. If you try to point out that maybe the boss have some positive points also, she will absolutely try to convince you the guy's the Beast and find more and more negative stories about him, while still denying being too negative about ANYTHING.. She's blameless, and that's her compulsion.. To shift all blame to some external enemy. If you try to point out ANYTHING to her, she will blame/attack you for lying about her, the situation, or anything, other than try to look at herself and her attitudes and behaviours - thus no progress can really be made by criticism.
That they gang up on her, is a recurring self-fulfilled prophecy. I don't think it needs explaining, it should be deducable from the above description.
I figured out one day we were supposed to meet. Because I needed to pack for a trip, I didn't check my phone. Turns out she was late, and in a very strange mood: like soo furious and vindictive, and wanting to blame me for being so cruel to have forgotten her or something. I tell you, the most infuriating moods, are much more contagious than we think!
"Why did you disregard my phone call??" She demanded in an attitude full of bitterness and BLAMING attitude, while being SO sure she is RIGHT about how I must have seen her calls and decided to ignore her or something (mind you, I arrived on time - while she was late! I had just been too busy packing for a day..) I immediately disapproved of her attitude about it, just because of the tone and the strange / mad tone of her voice, so didn't say sorry, but said I had been too busy preparing for a trip. This didn't please her, and she was absolutely determined I was a culprit, and spent the next 20 minutes trying to convince me I was evil-doer of some sort.
(Tip: Best thing is always to just say SORRY, and never go into details or explain too much - but be precise WHY IT HAPPENED using as few words as possible and that YOU ARE SORRY (even if you aren't!). Such person NEEDS you to get the blame (whatever that is), and anything you try to defend, will just heat up the argument.. _Anything_ you say or try to explain away, will just continue the person's downwards spiral, until you are ALSO an entangled mess..At least I am not strong enough to withstand the emotional onslaught.. and anyway, the argument will never end until it has exploded)
You see, such vehement bitterness, other people will not tolerate - while the person themself will not be aware of their own bitterness! If someone blames you, or blames anyone very very harshly, even just by the tone of the voice, it will not be swallowed down easily, and we react to it all too quickly. This is normal human behaviour and called "an argument". However, when prompted by abnormal bitterness like described above, it turns into an abnormal argument where both parties see themselves as victims.
This is because the real perpetrators (you and her, and I mean this in a _helping_ way mind you, not blaming - but in the way that what you can take responsibility for - gives you strength and power - so ultimately Ever
Iraq is success story.
If that were true, I'd hate to see what a break-even looks like.
I am not a crackpot.
"half-assed manor"
Tell me, who is the lord of Half-Assed Manor?
Wasn't that a short-lived British sitcom in the '70s?
I am not a crackpot.
Here's the real deal.
IF bitterness is classified as a mental illness AND gun owners are bitter about the prospect of getting their guns confiscated
THEN
the government, under the guise of banning weapons owned by the mentally disturbed, takes their guns away.
Take a trip to Stockport. Locate nearest Manchester City fan (probably wearing a Barca shirt this week).
And there you have living breathing proof of post-traumatic embitterment disorder.
But it sounds very familiar for me.
Let me tell you why: I've been bullied for more then 12 years, and it resulted in a behavior that sometimes can be a little bit... hard for others to understand. Most people I meet don't have a clue what is going on, but I feel almost always paranoid that whatever I tell them is going to be used against me some time later on.
The biggest problem I have with this is that I realize what I'm doing... but I can't change it. It's not only bitterness, it's also hate, it's also disappointment.
Yes, I'm in treatment, because I started to realize that this was not only making it a very tough time for others... it's also a daily battle against myself.
The main thing that aches the most is that I have to pay lots of money for this treatment. While those who originally caused it just had their fun with me. And live happily every after. I feel the urge to take revenge... sometimes.
I feel that it's quite unfair. It costs me >$300 a month for treatments while those bullies just walk around now without probably having a clue of what they did.
Oh yes, I did meet a couple of them later on. But none of them ever said how wrong they were. I'm pretty sure that if they would have the chance, they would do it all over again.
I want this trouble to end.
I thought about killing them, but that's not a solution. But quite frankly, I don't see any other way. It's revenge I want to take and it's something I'm pretty sure of that is legitimate.
Well, it is to me. Restoring balance...
I see people around me and talk with people who had minor problems in comparison with what I had, but I fail to see what the big deal is.
One person told me that she almost killed herself, but didn't do it and got better over time.
She told me the story to offer me a perspective... that I'm not the only one with trouble.
I didn't tell her that I tried twice and that I've done lots of other things, because she clearly thought that her problem, which she overcame was much more important and better then mine.
Lots of people are like this...
It's called "detraumatising": you give a much worse example to illustrate to the person that his/her problem is not a big deal, just a minor nuisance. The effect is pretty predictable: the person who gets to hear the story feels misunderstood and quits.
I didn't tell that person what I really thing about her "suicide-confession", but I'm willing to.
Now I'm going to stop typing... my hands are shaking just writing about it.
Let me make it clear to you one more time: I would like nothing more then these feelings and this state to STOP, the sooner the better!!!!
It's NO fun.
Glad I see my therapist soon...
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