Month: March 2016

Why Anti-Authoritarians are Diagnosed as Mentally Ill

Source: Why Anti-Authoritarians are Diagnosed as Mentally Ill, by Bruce Levine, PhD, 2012/02/26

In Bruce Levine’s career he as spoken with hundreds of people diagnosed with ODD & ADHD. An astonishing number of these people are also anti-authoritarians.

In graduate school, I discovered that all it took to be labeled as having “issues with authority” was to not kiss up to a director of clinical training whose personality was a combination of Donald Trump, Newt Gingrich, and Howard Cosell.

Many anti-authoritarians who earlier in their lives were diagnosed with mental illness tell me that once they were labeled with a psychiatric diagnosis, they got caught in a dilemma. Authoritarians, by definition, demand unquestioning obedience, and so any resistance to their diagnosis and treatment created enormous anxiety for authoritarian mental health professionals; and professionals, feeling out of control, labeled them “noncompliant with treatment,” increased the severity of their diagnosis, and jacked up their medications. This was enraging for these anti-authoritarians

Prenatal testing is about to make being pregnant a lot more stressful — Quartz

Source: Prenatal testing is about to make being pregnant a lot more stressful — Quartz

The anxiety-inducing experiences of some women, coupled with the extensive marketing and commercial success of some non-invasive pregnancy testing, has experts worried.

A positive result is 79% likely to be wrong.

Indeed, manufacturers often say it’s up to doctors to inform women. But doctors may not understand these stats either. In a recent study quizzing MDs and medical students on the mathematics of screening tests, three-quarters of respondents answered incorrectly.

Why Cryonics Makes Sense – Wait But Why

Source: Why Cryonics Makes Sense – Wait But Why

The more I read about cryonics—i.e. freezing yourself after death—the more I realized it’s something we should all be talking about.

Cryonics is the process of pausing people in critical condition, in the hopes that people from the future will be able to save them.

because Dylan Thomas said it best:

Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.