Treatments for mental illness for conservatives? Maybe!
As liberals, we love the memes that say “Conservatism is a mental illness.” We love poking fun at Republican clowns whose beliefs are so different from our own. But let’s look at this from a different perspective. What if conservatism really is rooted in pathology?
I spoke with a friend who has a master’s degree in psychotherapy and asked her if she believes that conservatism is a mental illness. She pondered my question and said “let’s allow the science to answer that.” Her analysis is below.
1. Mental rigidity
Mental rigidity, as seen in the use of fallacies, a clinging to tradition and a refusal of accepting new things or ideas (like new technologies or new views on situations) can be a sign of pathology. Flexibility is associated with health, while rigidity is associated with mental illness, as many mental health problems involve a rigid mindset.
(Source)
2. Conservatism is heritable.
Preferences for authoritarianism and right wing ideas are largely explained by genetic differences. This was seen as twins raised apart tended to have similar ideas.
(Source)
3. Fear and aggression
Fear and aggression are emotions that are characteristic of conservatism. While these are emotions that people often experience under normal circumstances, an excess of these emotions can be linked to mental health issues. Hostility and mistrust as they appear in Conservatism can have a similarity to paranoid personality disorder, characterized by a pattern of distrust and hostility. (Source)
4. Low intolerance for uncertainty
Another characteristic that was found to be related to conservatism is a low tolerance for uncertainty, meaning that people have a difficult time accepting the lack of control over some things in life. This was found to be a common factor in many emotional disorders and mental health issues, such as anxiety disorders, obsessions and others. There are lots of options for treatments for mental illness if the problem is low intolerance for uncertainty. (Source) (Source)
5. Assumption of the worst motives in people
Assumption of the worst motives in people and a search for conspiracies or ways that something can be turned against the person are also characteristic of the paranoid personality disorder. Claims that there is a conspiracy or that some new ideas or laws will harm the person directly are common within Conservatism. For example, statements like saying that Obama becoming a president is based on a massive lie has a similar pattern of searching for conspiracies that can directly harm the person as appear in paranoid personality disorder. (Source)
6.Paranoid Personality Disorder
Lack of trust in others is characteristic of paranoid personality disorder. It is also a common conservative attitude. For example, some people have spoken out against a different healthcare (Obamacare) or welfare system because they believe that the people who are living in poverty would exploit those systems. Often, this is paired with saying that the people will do so by taking the conservative’s money or their taxes, leading into ideas of harm that are outlined above. We’ll have to work harder to find treatments for mental illness when the illness is simply stupidity, though. (Source)
7. Borderline Personality Disorder
Conservatism often involves a black and white worldview, a worldview that recognizes us vs. them as two extremes with no medium areas or no possibility of compromise. For example, stating that there are only two sides to an issue the wrong and the right one, while the person who takes the wrong side is also portrayed as evil, immoral, depraved and so on. Even if the opponent is not shown as evil, the worldview is still polarized in two extremes. This type of thinking, also known as all-or-nothing thinking or black-or-white thinking, is characteristic of personality disorders. These characteristics of Conservatism can be linked to a more limited thinking that is more heavily dependent on stereotypes and cliches, dismissing information that is more complex and has more shades of grey. This type of thinking can be harmful and prevent the person from seeing the complexity of a situation in which many nuances are involved, such as situation involving complex social issues like poverty, human rights, equality and so on. (Source)
8. Odd or unusual beliefs
Odd or unusual beliefs are another characteristic of a mental health disorder known as Schizotypal Personality Disorders. These beliefs refer to those which are irrational and are not shared by the wider cultural group. For example, there are many Christians in the world. However, some people with Conservative ideas have beliefs that are not shared by the bigger Christian group even though they belong to it. An example is creationism, which goes against the established scientific ideas and is not supported by the whole group of Christians, many of which speak out against this idea. Sadly, there are no known treatments for mental illness when it’s disguised as religion. (Source)
9. Deception, narcissism and absence of guilt or remorse
A study linked conservative ideas with antisocial traits, specifically, three central traits, such as deception, narcissism and absence of guilt or remorse, known as psychopathy. These traits are linked to antisocial personality disorder, which is characterized by no guilt or remorse, breaking and bending rules to one’s benefit, having little empathy and other characteristics. (Source)
10. Sources used to research “Treatments For Mental Illness For GOP” Psychotherapist Says YES — With Citations”
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/3/prweb9255652.htm
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/aug/13/usa.redbox
http://www.yourmindyourbody.org/practicing-flexibility-for-good-mental-health
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evolutionary-entertainment/201206/conservatism-mental-illness
http://reason.com/archives/2004/10/20/pathologizing-conservatism
http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2003/07/22_politics.shtml
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3712497
http://psychcentral.com/disorders/paranoid-personality-disorder-symptoms
Closing
So do we need treatments for mental illness for Republicans I say why the heck not. Obamacare covers mental illness, after all.
