Sunday, 24 February 2008

i dont think racism is mental illness



"I don't think racism is a mental illness, and that's because 100 percent of

people are racist,"

...said Dr. Paul Fink, in WAPO ("Psychiatry Ponders Whether Extreme

Bias Can Be an Illness").

"If you have a diagnostic category that fits 100 percent of people,

it's not a diagnostic category."

We already have diagnostic categories for delusions, obsessions,

anxiety, phobias, and depression. Do we need a separate category for

"pathological bias?" Would it change our approach to these patients?

Would their treatment be any different? Should we be doing research to

find out? Personally, I don't buy this, but is that just my prejudice?


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