It's Not MY Fault, Your Honour...

Is it just me, or have we become the "Generation of Excuses"? It seems people nowadays will blame nearly ANYTHING, no matter how RIDICULOUS sounding it may be, instead of taking responsibility for their own actions. If they aren't blaming a fast food restaurant for their obesity or cigarette makers for their medical ailments, they're blaming the way their parents brought them up for their heinous crimes! Well, now the so-called "Cogniscenti" are giving an assist.

In 2012, the American Psychiatric Association is going to release a new edition of the "Diagnostics and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders", which you can think of as a sort of "bible" for psychiatric disorders.

Anyway, there's a version of the manual online, and it includes nearly 300 conditions, including several new disorders that, to be honest, don't sound like "disorders" at all. Here's what I'm talking about . . .

--If you're passive and inactive, you're not just lazy . . . you have Sluggish Cognitive Tempo Disorder.

--If you're going through a divorce and are having a hard time getting along with your ex, you're not just having a normal reaction to major emotional stress . . . you have Relational Disorder.

--If you're always complaining, you might not just be a whiner . . . you have Negativistic Personality Disorder.

--If you sometimes lose your temper and suddenly become very angry, you don't just have a bad temper . . . you have Intermittent Explosive Disorder.

--If you get a kick out of being appalled by pornography and other obscenities, you're not just a self-righteous prude . . . you have Mary Whitehouse Syndrome.

--If your kid is uncomfortable with his or her gender, they're not just struggling to figure out their sexuality and define who they are . . . they have Gender Incongruence.

--If you can't stop picking up bar skanks, you're not just a male slut with a high sex drive . . . you've got Hypersexual Disorder.

--If you get really moody when you're PMSing, you're not just a normal woman . . . you've got Premenstrual Dysphonic Disorder.

--And if you don't buy into every hippy environmentalist's latest scare tactic, you're not just a rational-thinking pragmatist, you've got Nature Deficit Disorder.

If you'd like to check out the 300 conditions in the APA's online manual to see if there's anything that you might be able to use the next time YOU'RE in trouble, you can read it HERE.