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July 21, 2006

Broadway and Denny: "Go Back to Your Country!!"

D: When you have a second, I'd like to know a little bit about Borderline Personality Disorder.
R: The 'symptoms' section of the Wikipedia article on BPD is a good place to start. The thing with all personality disorders you have to remember is that they are not black or white, or put another way, they aren't "either you are borderline or you're not". Every person has elements of each of personality disorder. Our tendencies are towards some more than others. A Venn diagram could be useful. Anyway, personality disorder labels are useful for communicating a large amount of information in a short space, I think usually between mental health workers. And personality types are constitutional, whereas mental illnesses are superimposed and are easier to mollify. Meaning, you can treat a manic/depressed/psychotic episode, but you can't treat an antisocial/avoidant/borderline/etc personality. I think I might get done early today. I'll give you a ring.
D: I guess the reason for my curiosity is, I want to know if the mental state of Americans is in a perilous place. I'm not convinced we can truly handle the stress and anxiety of being a nation at war. I've been reading about bombings in London during past wars, where people could see the skies darkening. Surely there's something we can't see damaging us immediately today, surely this war is taking a toll on our collective mental health?
R: ...
D: This came up because I overheard a conversation about a just-married woman whose husband got deployed for 7 months to Iraq. I tried to picture how they would start a life together after his return. I hate to think about what they brainwash all the young people who go into the military to think about foreigners. It surely can't be good news for the next generation of Americans -- and the future of this country -- if its people are taught to mistrust the rest of the world.
R: ...
D: ...
R: I've been working in the VA hospital. The 'V' stands for veterans. I talk to guys everyday now about being in wars, the Korean, Vietnam, Gulf War, etc. It makes me think of war as part of the human experience now. The effects are a little different for every war and generation I guess, but the gist is the same, nightmares, trouble with re-entry into society and a state of hyper-arousal. Or, another way to say it is, post traumatic stress disorder.
D: ...
R: I saw a girl at Logan Airport saying goodbye to her soldier husband last year. He was going to fight an unjust war for us mostly willfully ignorant Americans. She was crying, and wearing a long pea coat, he was quiet.
D: ...
R: ...
D: Howcome nothing's happened, really, after the Downing Memo.

Posted by Dipika at July 21, 2006 7:11 AM

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