OPinion

oped@siwash.be.ca

 

  
   
     
  
  
 
  
   
  
   
  
 
   
   
    
  
  
 
  
   
 
  
    
  
   
  
  
  
  
 
   
 
  
 
 
  
   
 
   
 
  
   
  
   
   
 
 

ou're insane

ust thought we should let you know
y Ivana Kumptu

ound crazy? Read on.
S According to the Diagnostic
and Statistical Manual of
ental Disorders IV (DSM-IV) —
that is the diagnostic guidelines
psychiatrists adhere to when
deciding whether you are
“normal” or “odd” = few, if
any, Douglas Students could
escape falling into at least
one classification for “in
need of therapy people,” at
least once a day.
As proof I offer only a
few examples from the
DSM-IV index:

*Ever get nervous? “Gener-
alised Anxiety Disorder”
*Fight with your parents?

“Parent-Child Relational
Disorder”

“Caffeine-Related Disorder”
*Smoke pot? “Cannabis-Related
Disorder”
*Get drunk? “Alcohol-Induced

student, and their acquaintances who
got themselves admitted into 12
different psychiatric hospitals across
the United States. Eight of them
went into admitting wards, and said

Hence latent symptoms and prag-
matic diagnosis — you can be crazy
and not know it. Even with no
visible symptoms, a quagmire of
neurosis is simmering beneath that
placid surface.

Who cares where the term
“insane” come from anyway?
When you know that the first
“asylums” were big empty
buildings left over from the
days of “leper colonies,” you
get the gist of the word’s
post-modern meaning.

Fortunately for Douglas,
we have no ultimate authori-
ties — with the power to
scrutinize, hospitalize, and
demoralize — lurking about
our concourse. We have
PhD’s in every discipline
they heard voices saying “empty,” except psychiatry, at least according
“hollow,” and “thud” — symptoms of _ to the faculty and staff listings at the
a disorder to which there has never back of the Douglas calendar. Hence
been a single documented bone fide Douglas has no absolute judge
case. All were admitted with the wandering among us in true Freudian
diagnosis of schizophrenia and style, noting every idiosyncrasy,
eventually discharged “in remission.” innuendo, or latent neurosis hidden

Sigmund Freud coined the beneath our cultivated and civilized
perspective that not only could exterior selves. And we have no one
humans react to external stimuli but on campus, other than yours truly, to
most fears and anxieties were remind us that we are all technically
generated from our own delusions. insane!

They're coming to

take you away...

 

Disorder”
Like sex? “Hypoactive Sexual

Desire Disorder”
*Get a little kinky now and then?
“Fetishism”

Gay? “Gender Identity Disorder”

*Failing math? “Mathematics
Disorder”

*Get bored in class? “Attention-
Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder”

All of these listings in the DSM-IV
are enforced by the same laws that
govern your general practitioner’s
diagnosis.

Still not convinced? Need further
proof? How about the Stanford
University professor, graduate

Flunk your midterm? A little
depressed? “Depressive Disorder”
Moody? Ever get PMS? “Bipolar
Disorder”

Ever drink too much coffee?

hould we have the right to know our
pasts?

n adoptee contests changes to the adoption act
y Tammy Shewchuk

t’s not surprising that while
growing up I was asked who in
my family I looked like. I
ondered the same thing. I am 23
ears old and was adopted at birth. I

For my birth mother, it was a chance
for her to start burying a lot of pain.
However, not every adoptee or
biological parent is as lucky. Reun-
ions are fueled by expectations, hopes
rew up the only blonde with green and dreams that are not always met.
yes in a family of dark hair and dark Adoptees must have the right to
yes. information about their biological
Just after I turned 21, BC’s roots and vital medical information.
doption reunion registry connected Background knowledge and a

e with my biological mother. I physical connection are almost as
asn’t looking for a new family or important. These are a part of

or the reasons why I was given up knowing who you are and who you
or adoption at birth. I already had will become. However, biological
oth. I was looking because I wanted _ parents must have some rights to

io connect with someone who is a privacy.

hysical part of me. I wanted to stop On November 4, the BC govern-
ondering if the women I encoun-
red every day could be my mother.
The adoption registry system is
uite simple. The adoptee or a

ember of the biological family
pplies for a match. In the majority of
ases, no match is found and a search
egins, and in a minority of cases,
oth parties are already registered and
e match is quick.

In my case, the registry searched

r my biological mother and

quested her permission for the

lease of her information. She gave
er permission and we are now just
eginning a journey that started 23
ears ago.

BC’s current adoption system
orked for me. It enabled me to meet
y biological mother and I could
nally stop 21 years of wondering; I
ade a connection I needed to make
understand myself a little bit better.

ment changed the adoption act. Now,
adoptees’ right to know supersedes
their biological parents’ rights. Any
adoptee may receive a copy of their
original birth certificate with their
birth name and biological parents’
names unless it is specifically
requested to keep them closed.

Isn’t this like the Roger’s Cable
fiasco of unfair billing from a year
ago? Biological parents faced with
the agonizing choice of giving up
their child for adoption chose to do so
with the understanding that the
records were to be sealed. To change
the rules now is extremely unfair.

Changes to the adoption act should

be active as of the date of change.
Adoptions up until November 4
should go by the old system and the
records should remain sealed unless
requested otherwise. Adoptions
undertaken after November 4 should
be a part of the new system. The
current plan is not only unfair, but
dangerous.

The BC government’s changes to
the adoption act will have little affect
on me because I have already met my
biological mother. But I know from
experience how dangerous it will be
if we gain the right to knock unbidden
on each others’ doors with our
unrealistic expectations in hand.

2
°
=
a.
g
es
<=
eS
8

 

Wir:
Otherthan

ea celee
BEV Pa (olee

Come bring
Oma peta tated
- Poetry,

- Prose,
Fiction,
Non-fiction,

-(and

whatever

categories I’ve

al est-1-10 9)

down to

room 1020 so
we can put it
in a snazzy
anthology for

Ate

Cm ele te
in by the end
rey ang ab
semester the
anthology
should be
eyerbearemeltaarn
the
beginning of
gC peal
semester.

Thanks.

(And this
isn’t a
contest.
eWiria
something
different.)

Brought to you by
Mat Odi at-13
Publications
Society

 

 

 

The Other Press October 29 1996 3