Fun with Psychological Disorders

ODD or Oppositional Defiance Disorder is my favorite psychological disorder.  And, yes, I have a favorite.  I’ve always liked this one because for many years I thought my husband suffered from ODD.  People with ODD blame others for their mistakes. They frequently have temper tantrums and angry outbursts, and they struggle with authority. Most importantly, they purposefully annoy others. While this may appear to describe every teenager on the planet, it is not a common disorder.  Young ones with ODD have a hard time making friends and doing well in school because their outbursts are rather off-putting.

But, as I examined the DSM, I realized Hubs probably didn’t have ODD.  Honestly, I was just making excuses for him because he is difficult.  After much thought, I realized his disorder wasn’t on the DSM at all, so I decided to create a disorder for him.  I call it CDD or Compassion Deficit Disorder. Those suffering from this disorder have trouble feeling any empathy for others.  When they should feel empathy, they express annoyance.  Their motto is: “That’s what you get,” and while they show no compassion for struggling friends or family, even their children, they feel an inordinate amount of compassion for kitties and cute furry creatures.  It is this conflict of their compassion that makes the disorder so easy to identify.  

And if my husband has CDD, I suffer from an entirely different disorder.  It’s called Hyper-Empathy Disorder (HED) and can be described as having an overabundance of feelings that aren’t even necessarily one’s own.  The sufferers of my fictitious disorder feel the emotions that others near them feel even more intensely than the actual subjects.  They feel the feelings people with CDD should feel but cannot.  They struggle to watch horror films and anything suspenseful, and they fall apart if anyone is upset with them.  Furthermore, if they see a car accident or a particularly emotional commercial, they might start crying.  And, that’s why they hate crowds and crowded places like Disneyland.  

I really hate everything about Disneyland.

P.S. I ordered this magazine for the library if you want to read it.
P.S.S. Psychological disorders are serious, and aren't funny at all.  But when you have one, making light of it can make it more bearable.
P.P.S.S.  Learn the DSM and try to identify the characters you read and the characters on TV with disorders.