Theron Bowers
Spero News
August 2, 2009

James von Brunn, the shooter (do I really need to say “alleged”?) at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum was odd, even by the standards of his kooky peers. White supremacist Stan Hess met von Brunn in 2004. Hess recalled that the creepy von Brunn was “very angry about society and the Jewish influence on the Federal Reserve”. At that time, von Brunn “alluded to violence”; he was a frustrated artist, who spent a lot of time peddling racist conspiracy theories on the Internet.

Is James von Brunn mad, or bad? Some say mad. Since Hitler’s infernos, psychoanalysts have argued that anti-Semitism or racism was a mental illness. Analysts have proposed several psychosexual theories explaining Hitler’s “lunacy.” Some speculate that he had an illicit affair with his niece. Others propose that Hitler had one testicle which led to feelings of inferiority. His self hatred was projected on to the Jews.

Today, the analysts are gone but the case for defining bigotry as a mental illness remains in a less bizarre form. Led by Harvard psychiatrist, Alvin Poussaint, many doctors have argued that haters have a mental disorder, pathological bias. Some psychologists are even conducting research on bigotry. James von Brunn is Exhibit A for the new mental disorder.

Extreme racism is only one example of the increasing faith in technology to cure our souls and fix our society. In 2012, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) will publish the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V). In May 2008, the APA released the names of the work group members. Last April, the 13 work groups reported on their progress, revealing that organized psychiatry is on the verge of including several ancient vices and new time wasters in this Pandora’s Box. Advocates have lobbied to expand the universe of the mentally disturbed with philanderers (sex addicts), spend thrifts (compulsive shoppers), the gluttonous (binge eaters) and internet gamers.

Read entire article: http://www.speroforum.com/a/20002/An-Expanding-Universe-of-Mental-Illness