What's Wrong With Your Kid May Be Wrong With You Too
It's no secret that the apple doesn't fall far from the family tree -- that disorders tend to be passed down from parent to child.
Yet with the new trend in slapping a psychiatric label on every kind of offbeat behavior or learning problem a kid has -- the number has tripled since the early 1990s, to more than six million diagnoses a year -- parents of these kids are starting to say, "Hey, that's me too!"
That's cool because it helps these parents understanding themselves -- and their own problems or quirks -- better. And sometimes, they even get to pop the same pills as their kids.
One of my hobbies is flipping through the DSM IV (the shrink's bible, that classifies and describes every psych disorder) and secretly diagnosing everyone in my family. So far, however, I have been unable to pin down my daughter's problem, other than being 4 years old and the self-proclaimed Queen of the Universe.
Hmm, interesting ... Maybe I think I'm the Queen of the Universe too? According to the DSM IV, that qualifies me for Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Yeah, that fits. Because it's definitely all about me.
Your Child's Disorder May Be Your's Too [New York Times]
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