Wednesday, Nov. 03, 2004 - 5:25 P.M.

I was doing a little research on a little somethin'-somethin' and I happened upon the clinical description* for Antisocial Personality Disorder. Now, I’ll freely admit to having a touch of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. And, though the origination of the word really disturbs me, I’ll admit to being anal-retentive. I’ll even doggedly admit a case of mild Attention Deficit Disorder. But I had no idea I could add APD to my list of maladies. Incidentally, did you know there’s a “European” and an “American” description for APD? Well, you do now.

The (American) clinical description is indicated by a presence of three or more of the following:

1. Failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest;

2. Deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure;

3. Impulsivity or failure to plan ahead;

4. Irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults reckless disregard for safety of self or others;

5. Consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations; or

6. Lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another.

Listen, I’ve got #3 in the bag. I’ve got parts of #1 (if only you’d have known me as a teen. Oh sure, I’m a responsible adult now, but back then? Yikes.), as well as a part of #2 (would I lie to my teenage son so that I can have use of his ipod? An ipod that he bought, not me? Oh, yessss.), part of #4 (irritable? CHECK!) and part of #5 (if only my bosses were afforded space in this diary…). Thankfully, I don’t have any of #6. I’m hanging my hat on that.

I guess as a person I can be summed up thusly: I’ll be extremely uptight and fixated on making sure things are clean and neat and just so, but I’ll be too distracted by a pretty shiny thing to do anything about it. Then, I’ll get irritable and lie about it and tell you things were clean and neat all along.

In doing this entry, I ran across this web site. Enjoy.

*Source: mentalhealth.com

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© Purplecigar

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