`DISORDERS' ERODE RESPONSIBILITY.

Byline: MARI WERNER Local View

IF you somehow anger another driver on the freeway and that driver runs you off the road and threatens you with a gun, you might think he or she could be arrested and convicted of assault. Think again.

According to a recent psychiatric study, people who do such things aren't responsible for their actions; they're suffering from a mental disorder called Intermittent Explosive Disorder.

You may think that you yourself have a choice about whether or not you use threats or violence to vent your frustrations. If you choose to live by some personal code of right conduct -- or if you're just smart enough to recognize that such behavior is destructive of everyone's well-being, including your own -- then apparently you're a ``normal,'' responsible person.

However, if you choose to let loose your frustrations and use your car or some weapon to take revenge on another driver, you're not irresponsible, you just have a disorder. You can't help it.

By this theory, it seems there is really no such thing as choice. If you make the right choice, it's just because you don't have a disorder. And if you make the wrong choice, it's because you do have a disorder and therefore can't help it. If you internalize this way of thinking, it would seem to relieve you of the need to consider your actions or choose at all. Just let it all happen.

If you're of a mind to think drugs such as Prozac are good recreation, you could probably even see a benefit in making what most people would consider ``wrong'' choices. You won't be considered responsible or held to account and it could get you some feel-good drugs. One would hope most people don't think that way, but those that do are undoubtedly getting some encouragement.

The question is why so many studies and so many labels, and where is this leading?

Scores of new disorders are literally voted in with each new edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostics and Statistical Manual. One of this manual's main uses is billing insurance companies. If the syndrome is in the book, the label can be applied to a person, drugs administered, and the insurance company billed. So it's a way to put lots of people on drugs and make lots of money for drug companies.

Consider also the drugs' side effects. The drugs prescribed for these disorders have long lists of adverse reactions and possible side effects. Prozac's possible side effects include confusion, emotional instability, nervousness, impotence, insomnia and many others. Warnings on Prozac state that you may need to be monitored for worsening symptoms of depression and/or suicidal thoughts. (Is there something backward about giving this to a guy that carries a gun in his car and threatens other drivers?)

But it goes further than that. These labels are also used in the legal arena. A psychiatric label can be used to deny you custody of your children, overrule your wishes in business or property dealings or in your will. It can be used to hold you indefinitely in an institution without your consent and without charges or trial, or force you to continue taking drugs regardless of how they're affecting your life or well-being.

Bearing that in mind, consider that the current manual contains some 370 mental disorders, including such things as Sibling Rivalry Disorder, Mathematics Disorder, Caffeine Related Disorder and Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder -- the latest term for PMS. If there isn't one in there that fits you in some way, you're a freakishly ``normal'' human being.

Many people have been made to believe that these disorders are actual medical conditions based on chemical imbalances in the blood or brain. However, there is no scientific evidence to support this. Psychiatric studies simply find percentages of people who behave in certain ways. Then labels are given to the behaviors and they're classified as diseases or mental disorders.

Psychiatric labeling goes further than encouraging irresponsibility and drug dependence. It goes a lot further. This is a multibillion-dollar industry that is sapping private and government resources, seriously eroding civil liberties and ruining people's lives.

Organizations such as The Citizen's Commission on Human Rights (www.cchr.org) have been saying for years that there is more trouble coming from this quarter than people think. Fortunately they're also working to do something about it. It's time more people joined the effort.