I'll be darned. I've known some mentally ill people in my time, but I never realized there were so many of them:
You know them. I know them. And, increasingly, psychiatrists know them. People who feel they have been wronged by someone and are so bitter they can barely function other than to ruminate about their circumstances.
This behavior is so common -- and so deeply destructive -- that some psychiatrists are urging it be identified as a mental illness under the name post-traumatic embitterment disorder. The behavior was discussed before an enthusiastic audience last week at a meeting of the American Psychiatric Assn. in San Francisco.
Post-traumatic embitterment disorder, eh? The psychiatrist who came up with that label says it describes people who feel the world has treated them unfairly: "It's one step more complex than anger. They're angry plus helpless." Geez. You're around long enough, you're gonna feel angry and helpless once in a while, because, guess what, you got screwed and you can't do anything about it.
I feel a little PTED coming on right now, as a matter of fact. Gimme a pill, somebody.
