Are Tea Partiers Suffering From PTED?

Posted by Sir Four at 8:14pm Feb 12 '10
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Post-Traumatic Embitterment Disorder, under consideration to be added to the DSM-V, was first described by a German psychiatrist who observed a set of symptoms in people after Germany's reunification.

In his 2003 paper, Dr. Linden noted that PTED is similar to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), except those with PTSD suffer intense fear and anxiety after experiencing a life-threatening event. Those with PTED were hard-working and mentally healthy people until a triggering event destroyed their core values and shattered their basic beliefs.

"People feel wronged, humiliated and that some injustice has been done to them," reports Dr. Linden.

"These people don't have the feeling that they must change, but rather have the idea that the world should change or the oppressor should change, so they don't ask for treatment," Dr. Linden points out. "They are almost treatment resistant. Revenge is not a treatment."

I don't know if this is a real disorder or not, but for me it helps explain the rage and craziness coming from normal-looking middle class people at tea parties and Palin book signings. The Republicans they had supported led the country down a calamitous path, with the Bush administration ending amidst crushing job losses, massive deficits, stock and real estate market wipe-outs, and two unending wars. Rather than confront this reflectively, their pent-up (perhaps suppressed) rage exploded on the new guy, the villain of the story, Barack Obama.