According to the study’s authors, the traditional diagnostic system being used today wrongly assumes that any and all mental distress is caused by a disorder, and relies far too heavily on subjective ideas about what is considered “normal.”
Several decades ago, after the breakup of a relationship for which I had held high hopes, in an effort to get a better handle on what to expect in relationships I approached a clinical psychologist who served with me on the board of directors of a mental health halfway house to sign me up to take an MMPI [Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory]. I had to go through a "professional" because ordinary mortals can't just take the test and have the results mailed to their home. So he set it up, I went to the testing center and took the test, and a couple of weeks later his office called and said the results were in.
But he wouldn't just send them to me. He made me come in and see him in his office. And the results were basically fairly straightforward, but he said there were a couple of areas where my attitudes were "outside of statistical norms." As it happens, those were the areas that had led to the demise of the relationship, so it wasn't a surprise. In fact, it was exactly the confirmation I was looking for. But the psychologist's response was to want to immediately have me sign up for one of his men's group therapy sessions so I could "adjust" my attitudes to fall within the statistical norms.
I told him I had no interest in adjusting those attitudes, thanked him for getting the test run, and I asked for the report. He refused to give it to me, citing a state law that (a) applied to psychiatrists, not clinical psychologists, and (b) prohibited release of patient information to
third parties without the patient's consent.In the end, I turned to another psychologist friend, who had shrink #1 send him the report ... which he (#2) promptly handed over to me.
What the shrinks consider "normal" is not necessarily what real people might think of as normal. And what the shrinks label as abnormal may just be old-fashioned morality.
