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Because I Said So!
Season Two Coming in September!
Because I Said So! is a podcast by John Rosemond. John is the nation’s leading parenting expert and provides common-sense advice for raising your children. John is a nationally syndicated columnist, author and public speaker. His audiences are left feeling empowered, educated and entertained.
A family psychologist by license, John points out to all his audiences that “psychology has caused more problems than it has solved for American parents.” John’s mission is to be a counter-weight to the psychological parenting paradigm that was sold to America in the late 1960s/early 1970s, restore commonsense to the raising of children, and give parents the guidance needed to raise happy, well-mannered children who will, as adults, contribute value to culture and society.
Because I Said So!
What Is "The Spectrum"?
What is "The Spectrum"? Whatever it is, we're all on it, one way or another. In this episode, John discusses the COMPLETELY UNSCIENTIFIC NATURE of psychological diagnoses.
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You Got Yourself Some Children. Hey, john Roseman here, welcome to my podcast, my weekly hopefully. I'm now resuming that aspect of my activities and from this point on, hopefully I will be able to do a podcast every week. That may not be possible some weeks. For example, in early December, my wife and I are going to Eastern Europe. We're going to be colluding with the Russians no, just kidding, but anyway we're going to Eastern Europe for a couple of weeks, starting in Budapest and taking a Viking cruise up the Danube, something we've always wanted to do and so during that time there'll be about two weeks there I may not be able to publish a podcast. I'm going to try and put a few in the can so that, even though I'm gone, they will still be published weekly, but time will tell. For those of you who are joining me as newbies, so to speak, you can go to my website or sites johnrosemondcom, j-o-h-n-r-o-s-e-m-o-n-dcom, and I have another website, parentgurucom. So more information there, all kinds of information.
Speaker 1:So today's podcast is called the Weird Spectrum, the Weird Spectrum, the weird spectrum, the weird spectrum. So I decided to do this, and it was just a wild thought that came to me about a week ago. In the morning. I get up at like 5.30 in the morning, sometimes earlier than that, and I I go straight to the wall street journal and I read the wall street journal, and then I do the wall street journal, uh, crossword puzzle, and drink a cup of coffee, maybe two, and uh, while I'm doing all that and uh, then I go to apple news and I'm a subscriber to Apple News so I can I can get everything that's on Apple News, and so I was just kind of surfing Apple News I believe that's what young people call it. This article about, or by, or maybe a combination thereof, a podcaster who's apparently fairly well known and I'm not going to give you her name, she is female and she looks to be in her late 20s, early 30s, somewhere like that and she was talking about the fact that her therapist had recently informed her that she was on the spectrum on the spectrum, and that translates, by the way, to a diagnosis. A bona fide psychiatric, psychological diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder has been shortened colloquially to simply the spectrum or being on the spectrum. And so this podcaster this female podcaster, said that her therapist had just informed her that her diagnosis was autism spectrum disorder, but the way she referred to it was that her therapist had recently informed her that she was on the spectrum due to a trauma, an unspecified trauma, that she experienced as a child.
Speaker 1:Does it seem to you that people in the world today who achieve some level of celebrity, that they are inclined towards self-drama, self-soap opera? Does it appear that way to you? It does to me. I mean, it seems to me that there's a dis, and maybe it's only because these people are written about all the time, written about all the time and we hear about them all the time. But it seems to me that there is a disproportionate number of people in the celebrity industry, broadly defined find, who complain of having various psychiatric disorders. I've got a anxiety disorder, I'm clinically depressed, I'm bipolar. That would be Demi Lovato. She's bipolar. I'm not revealing any secrets here. She's made it public that she's bipolar. Ok, demi, why would you tell everyone that? You know? I mean these, these people just seem to have this compulsive, urgent need for attention, and it seems that the way to get attention du jour in America is to tell everybody that you've got some sort of psychiatric disorder. And so this podcaster, you know she's on the spectrum and she's on the spectrum because she was traumatized as a child.
Speaker 1:Trauma Trauma is a word I'm really getting annoyed, I got to tell you. Whenever I hear the word trauma, I just kind of cringe. You know it's so, here it comes. You know some soap opera about what happened to them as children. And I mean, you know, quite often not always, I mean sometimes I've got to concede Sometimes, these stories that these people come up with, if they are true, unfortunately they're no longer verifiable, so they can come up with anything they want to is what I mean, and I'm being kind of cynical here, but that's the truth. But it just seems to me that we have, in our culture, dumbed down the word trauma to the point where I'm starting to be traumatized when I hear it.
Speaker 1:Where did all this trauma come from? People my age are going to tell you, when we were young, and all the way up into our 40s up into our 40s probably the words trauma, traumatic, traumatizing were reserved for physical injuries of a life-threatening nature, like, hey, have you heard Benny suffered traumatic injuries as a result of falling out of a third-story window? I mean that sort of thing. These days, trauma, traumatic, traumatizing are seemingly anyway to me. Help me out here If I'm way off the wall about this. Let me know, but I mean email me, johnrosemanaolcom yes, I'm one of the AOL dinosaurs.
Speaker 1:Those words trauma, traumatic and traumatizing seem to be used by these Generation Z and X people to describe anything that is the least bit disturbing. Like you know, benny was traumatized when the class laughed at the goofy answer he gave an English class and now he's in weekly group therapy for kids who have been victims of crowd bullying. I mean, it's that kind of thing, it's just, it's. It's gotten two people my age. I'm going to be 77 fairly soon, november the 25th. Yeah, you can send me a gift if you want, come on. But anyway, to people in my generation, this kind of stuff is absurd. What you were traumatized when the class laughed at you. I mean it's absurd. You know you need to be slapped around. I'm only kidding, I just. I hear this sort of stuff and I become worried for America. I'm serious. I'm not absolutely certain, but I don't think kids in non-English speaking countries like China and Ecuador are going to weekly therapy sessions for the trauma of being laughed at by their peers when they said something goofy in class. The evidence suggests that this is an American phenomenon. The evidence suggests that American kids are overly reactive to even the slightest of disturbance to their fragile egos. If that's the case, then it goes without saying that American parents are failing in their patriotic duty, and it is a patriotic duty to raise emotionally sturdy human beings. That worries me, as it should anyone who loves this country, despite all of its stumbles throughout history.
Speaker 1:The spectrum I'm on the spectrum. What a fascinating concept. Apparently, being on the spectrum means you're sort of kind of weird. Sort of kind of weird. You're, I mean, diagnostically sort of kind of autistic, but maybe not full blown. You're on the spectrum. So I looked up autism spectrum disorder. I suddenly became interested. What really is this anyway? I suddenly became interested. What really is this anyway? You know, I saw Rain man and when I was younger, as a younger psychologist, the character that Dustin Hoffman plays extremely well. Didn't he win an Oscar for that or something? I mean, it's an impeccable portrayal of a classically autistic individual and that's the way people my age think of. Autism is a la Dustin Hoffman in Rain man with Tom Cruise Cruz. But people who are claiming to be on the spectrum today, the autism spectrum disorder, I mean what you know? They're a little weird. Maybe I don't know, but anyway.
Speaker 1:So I looked up autism spectrum disorder and the National Institute of Mental Health says quote people with autism spectrum disorder. And listen to this very carefully, folks. I'm going to parse it for you a little later, but listen to it. I'm going to parse it for you a little later, but listen to it. I'm going to emphasize certain words.
Speaker 1:The National Institute of Mental Health says quote people with autism spectrum disorder or ASD often, often have problems with social communication and interaction and restricted or repetitive behaviors or interests. You getting this? I mean, you getting this, I mean, I'm going to parse this for you later. But, ladies and gentlemen, this is absurd. People with autism spectrum disorder or ASD often have problems with social communication and interaction. Well, and again, I'm going to parse this more later, but what that means is that there are some people who have been diagnosed with ASD who often don't have problems with social communication and interaction, often don't have problems with social communication and interaction. But anyway, nimh says people with autism spectrum disorder often have problems with social communication and interaction and restricted or repetitive behaviors or interests. Repetitive behaviors or interests. Okay, I spend at least five hours a day on my laptop typing, writing, writing things, writing essays, writing scripts, writing chapters and books. Um, so I, um, I engage in repetitive behaviors. Am I on the spectrum? I mean, there's to be very honest with you. There are things about this description that are true of me, either presently or at some point in my personal history. Okay, I'll keep going here. National Institute of Mental Health. People with ASD may which means they may not also may also have different ways of learning, moving or paying attention. And then here's the real kicker it's important to note that some people without ASD might also have some of these symptoms. Did you get that? So, in effect, the symptoms are meaningless. It's important to note that some people who don't have ASD might also might have some of these symptoms. So the symptoms are meaningless. The presence of those symptoms means nothing.
Speaker 1:Okay, I was licensed to practice psychology by the North Carolina Psychology Board in 1979. And even though they tried to take it away from me three times and I had to hire big time lawyers, one of whom had a license to practice for the United States Supreme Court, I was. I voluntarily retired my license in good standing earlier this month, october of 2024, and was told by my psychology board, which has tried to take my license away three times and failed on all three occasions, was told. And, by the way, folks, that is unprecedented. That a licensing board comes after your license three times and fails three times, that is unprecedented. And what it says is that they were violating my constitutional rights. We proved that they were violating my constitutional rights and they had no choice but to basically admit defeat. Of course they never really did, but in effect they were defeated and they knew it. But amazingly enough, despite all of that, I was told I can have my license back anytime I want it.
Speaker 1:So I learned a lot in those 45 years, and one thing I learned is that not one psychological diagnosis has any scientific validity. Not one psychological diagnosis has any scientific validity. Psychological diagnoses are concepts. Their defining symptoms are subjective, they are matters of judgment. None of this is true of a medical diagnosis. You know, psychologists, psychiatrists, they, they want that. They are only slightly removed from being in the medical profession. But that's not true. And this thing about psychological diagnosis pretty much tells the whole story. Okay. So psychological diagnoses are concepts. Their symptoms are subjective, matters of judgment. Okay, the symptoms of leukemia are not subjective. The symptoms of heart disease are not subjective. The symptoms of bunions are not subjective. The symptoms of neuropathy are not subjective. The symptoms of, and I could go on and on and on listing valid medical diagnoses, not one is defined by symptoms that are matters of judgment. Only psychological diagnoses are defined by symptoms that are matters of judgment. So what I'm telling you folks? To cut straight to the chase, psychology and psychiatry are a hoax. All of these diagnoses, they are part and parcel of the hoax. Scientific diagnoses are not concepts, they are realities. Their symptoms are objective. The symptoms of leukemia can be measured, quantified.
Speaker 1:A scientifically valid disease can often be seen under a microscope or with the aid of a body scan like MRI. They can usually be verified with blood tests or tissue samples. None of that is true of psychological diagnoses. Just pick one, it doesn't matter. Psychological diagnosis is a figment of language. Where in the brain does one find the spectrum? Can the spectrum be seen under a microscope? Can the spectrum be seen by an MRI? Can the spectrum be measured with a blood test? What does the spectrum look like? Is the spectrum a scale of 1 to 10? If so, then what behaviors exactly differentiate a score of 3 from, say, a score of 5? What sort of disease can be diagnosed by asking a person questions about himself or making subjective appraisal of his behavior? What I'm saying, folks, is that the spectrum doesn't exist.
Speaker 1:Do some people have more difficulty communicating than others? Yeah, sure. Do some people feel more uneasy than others in social situations? Absolutely. It was true of me. At one point in time in my 20s and 30s, I had a lot of social anxiety in my 20s and 30s. Do some people cope with anxiety by engaging in repetitive behavior like singing along with the classic final station on Sirius XM as they drive from North Carolina to Georgia? Yes, sirree, that would be me too. All of that, by the way, describes me, as I said before, either in the present or at times in my past.
Speaker 1:Am I on the spectrum? Is playing a guitar every day for four hours a day yeah, I used to do that. I don't do it now Less pathological than drawing random geometric shapes on a piece of notepaper for four hours a day? Is playing a guitar four hours a day a repetitive behavior? Less pathological than drawing random geometric shapes on a piece of notepaper for four hours a day a repetitive behavior. Both people when asked why do you do that? Why do you play the guitar so much? Why do you draw geometric shapes four hours a day, every day? Are going to answer either I don't know or I like to. Why is the kid who doodles given a diagnosis? And the future Eddie Van Halen isn't?
Speaker 1:Psychological diagnoses, when you begin to dig down into them, make no sense. Maybe that means all psychologists are on the spectrum. After all, psychologists seem to be the only people in the world who think psychological diagnoses make any sense, so they don't make sense. If you think they do make sense, there is definitely something wrong with you, correct? I mean? That seems to me to be impeccable logic. Let's take the diagnosis that has enriched psychologists more than any other diagnosis ever. I mean, this diagnosis has enabled psychologists to buy Mercedes and to join country clubs.
Speaker 1:Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or, as it's popularly known, adhd. A diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is made on the basis of a person's behavior. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the Diagnostic Bible of the Mental Health Professions professions, lists, under attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, 18 symptoms, nine of which must be satisfied in order to legitimate validate the diagnosis. Every one of those 18 symptoms contains the word often, as in often fails to finish tasks. The question becomes how much is often, is it twice a day, four times a day? What is it? How many tasks, on an average daily basis, does a person have to leave unfinished in order to qualify for quote? He often fails to finish tasks.
Speaker 1:I'm talking here now about two of several hundred psychological diagnoses 298 to be exact. Psychological diagnoses 298 to be exact. So let me be perfectly clear what I'm saying about autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Also true of every other psychological diagnosis, 298 to be exact. They are all, every single one of them, completely bereft of even a shred of scientific validity, which means they are bogus, which means they aren't diagnoses at all. What are they then? They are ways of making money, they are a hoax, they are snake oil.
Speaker 1:In the age of managed care, which we entered in the early 1970s, an insurance company will not pay a mental health professional for services rendered to a specific individual unless the mental health professional provides the insurance company with a diagnosis. So you go to a psychologist, you're going to get a diagnosis, and it's been proven that perfectly normal people and it's been proven that perfectly normal people research has been done and I'm describing the research went to psychologists and told these psychologists that they were depressed or they were anxious, or they were hearing voices or whatever Okay. Or couldn't control their temper, had a problem with anger, blah, blah, blah, okay. So all these people go to psychologists. These people basically have no problems. They tell the psychologists they've got all these problems. Okay, if you did this with a medical doctor, he would give you a number of tests and he would say to you in one way, shape or form, you don't have a problem, you're imagining your symptoms. My tests indicate you have no problem. Every single one of the psychologists these people went to gave them diagnoses Schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, attention deficit, hyperactivity disorder, autism, etc. Every person who went to these psychologists just a random selection of psychologists, psychiatrists every single person was diagnosed. Every single person was diagnosed. None of these people had the problems they claimed to have.
Speaker 1:What does this mean? It means that psychologists cannot tell when people are faking symptoms. What does that mean? It means that psychologists should never be used as expert witnesses in court, because they don't know what they're talking about. If you can't tell who is faking symptoms and who is not, then you don't know what you're talking about and you don't know what you're doing, see, what you're hearing right now, is why my licensing board, the North Carolina Psychology Board, tried to take my license away three times. Psychology board tried to take my license away three times Because, I tell the truth, every psychological diagnosis is bogus.
Speaker 1:Since they are all equally bogus, a psychologist, upon seeing a person for the first, second, third time, might as well put all of them on small strips of paper. Them on small strips of paper. Put all 298 strips of paper into a hat, draw one out and tell the fellow and his insurance company well you're, let's see. Oh, look at this. You are schizophrenic. It's just, it's absurd. The practice of psychology, when you get down into it, it's like something out of a Lewis Carroll story. He wrote Alice in Wonderland. Okay, it's just absurd.
Speaker 1:In 1952, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, otherwise known as the DSM, contained 106 diagnoses. In 1968, that's 16 years later, it contained 182. In 16 years, between 1952 and 1968, mental health professionals discovered 76 new mental illnesses. Rounded off, that's approximately five new mental illnesses a year. If you don't think that's funny, you don't have a very good sense of humor. I mean, come on, people, that is just ridiculous. Today there are now I've already said it before twice in this podcast 298 diagnoses in the DSM. That means that in the last 56 years, since 1968, the mental health professions have discovered a whopping 116 new mental illnesses.
Speaker 1:Where were these mental illnesses before 1968? In 1968, I was an undergraduate psychology student. Psychology was not a way to get rich. Back then, psychologists were few and far between. They all drove used cars that wouldn't start on cold mornings. Today's psychologists are everywhere. They drive cars with names like lexus and belong to country clubs. How did that happen? Very simple the more things you have to sell, the more money you're going to make.
Speaker 1:I figured it out a while back. What did you figure out, john? Well, I figured out that psychologists are like car dealers and the diagnosis, or a diagnosis, is analogous to a car. You go see a psychologist and he sells you and your insurance company a diagnosis it's the equivalent of a car salesman selling you a car diagnosis it's the equivalent of a car salesman selling you a car. Let's just say the psychologist sells you like some psychologist sold that poor podcaster I was talking about at the start of the show. Let's just say the psychologist sells you on the idea that you're on the spectrum and then he helps you dig up some discomforting event that occurred when you were seven years old and he tells you that that event traumatized you and has caused you to be on the spectrum. So, like a guy who goes looking for a car and drives a new car off some lot, a person goes to a psychologist and drives a diagnosis out of the psychologist's office. Okay, keep following me here, folks.
Speaker 1:If you buy a car, you have to take it in for service every so often. Well same with a psychological diagnosis. Every so often. Well same with a psychological diagnosis. Except the service visits for the diagnosis you now have Are called therapy. Every week you have to get your diagnosis serviced by going for a therapy session. Yeah, it's like having your oil changed. The problem, I'm sorry. My wife says I'm the only person she knows who can make himself laugh. The problem with my analogy is that car dealers can be relied upon to do the job they're supposed to do.
Speaker 1:Mental health professionals, however. Well, slightly different story. Researchers have discovered that most people who go to mental health professionals again, this is research, folks, I'm not pulling this stuff out of my head just randomly Research has discovered that most people who go to mental health professionals, two out of three actually report either a neutral outcome In other words, they got absolutely nothing out of it All they did was spend money to spin their wheels or they report that the mental health person's advice or quote, therapy, end, quote, whatever that means made matters worse. Two out of three people who see psychologists report either no change or a change for the worse. A car dealer who had that sort of record wouldn't last I mean and this is really a stretch three months probably wouldn't last a month. Okay, so let's go back to the spectrum thing. Here again is what both the National Institute for Mental Health and Centers for Disease Control say about the spectrum, and I quote people with ASD often have problems with social communication and interaction and restricted or repetitive behaviors or interests.
Speaker 1:People with autism spectrum disorder may also have different ways of learning, moving or paying attention, different than what, different than who. And then the kicker it is important to note that some people who don't have ASD, autism spectrum disorder, might also have some of these symptoms. Okay, I'm going to break that down for you, showing you how meaningless that is. First, people with ASD often have problems with social communication and interaction. What does often mean Answer? It means nothing specific at all.
Speaker 1:I went to my doctor recently and a person in his office drew blood. And I don't mind having blood drawn at all. I'm one of these weird guys who watches as the needle goes in. I figured out a long time ago that if you don't watch then you're tensed up waiting for the needle to go in, and if you watch, you know exactly when the needle is going in and let me assure you folks, it hurts about as much as a mosquito bite. Anyway, so I went to my doc and a great guy and I was there for my annual physical which they don't even touch you anymore when they do a physical Someone in his office drew blood and a couple of days later I got my results back and everything was, you know, within the normal spectrum.
Speaker 1:A couple of things were a little high, but still not outside the normal range, like hemoglobin, and I don't even know what that means. I got to look it up. But anyway, everything had a number. So there were about 25 things biochemicals, substances in the blood and every single one of them had a number. Okay, what number is represented by the word often?
Speaker 1:Well, there is no number, so often means nothing. It, you know, to one person often may mean, well, he does that 10 times a day. To another, often may mean he does it only twice a day. And the fact that both people are using the word often one describing 10 times a day and the other describing twice a day what does that simply mean? It simply means that of these two people, one person is more impatient than the other. Okay, what does restricted or repetitive behaviors mean? Again, how many times and in what period of time does a person have to do something for it to qualify as repetitive? Okay, then there's the words may also. In other words, there's a possibility. The individual in question may have some odd thing about themselves. What is the possibility? Is it 20%, 50%, 90%? What is the possibility? Never defined Again, meaninglessness, and then the killer.
Speaker 1:It is important to note that some people without autism spectrum disorder might also have some of these symptoms. Right, I do so. The symptoms listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for the spectrum mean nothing, because a completely normal person, a completely functional individual, may display them. Like I said, I do. By the way, that also means that some people with autism spectrum disorder may not display any of those symptoms. They're hiding among us, but points should be obvious, folks. Autism spectrum disorder only illustrates a problem. That is true of psychological diagnoses, to wit, the definition is so vague and open to interpretation as to be completely meaningless.
Speaker 1:I'll let you in on a little secret. All human beings are on the spectrum, but not the autism spectrum. All human beings I figured this out. This is my discovery. All human beings I figured this out. This is my discovery. Don't try and claim it. All human beings are on the weird spectrum. Yep, all human beings are weird. That's a fact and that's what autism spectrum boils down to, doesn't it? Yeah, it does.
Speaker 1:The autism spectrum is just a pseudoscientific way of saying that people are weird. Some people are very weird, some people are only a little weird, but we're all weird. You're weird, I'm weird. All of God's children are weird. No other species is weird. The only exception applies to dogs, who can become weird if they're around really weird humans for a significant period of time. So we can communicate weirdness to dogs, maybe cats, but all human beings are weird. We are the only weird species.
Speaker 1:Human beings begin to be weird in childhood, begin to be weird in childhood. All children do weird things, all of them. They do inexplicable things, Things that make no sense. They're just weird. By the way, it doesn't take bad parents for a child to do something really weird. All it takes is being human. Most folks become aware of their weirdness in early adolescence. Their peers begin to tell them man, you just, you know you talk too much, and a lot of what you say, man, it doesn't make any sense. So in early adolescence, your peers begin to give you some feedback and you become aware that you are slightly weird, or weird to some extent. And those people, those people in their early adolescence, realize that if they want to be accepted by their peers, they need to keep their weirdness under wraps close to the vest. Most people realize the need to hide their weirdness from other people, but some don't. They just let their weirdness hang out their entire lives. That's really weird, that's really too bad. But it doesn't mean that the person needs therapy, much less some bogus drug. He may just need more doodle paper and that's a wrap.
Speaker 1:Thanks for joining me for another provocative episode of Because I Said so with your host, psychologist emeritus John Rosemond, johnrosemondcom. Parentgurucom. I've got a sub stack. It's Substackcom, this podcast. I'm writing four books simultaneously. I do have ADHD and I'm proud of it. Folks, again, I'm going to try and keep this up once a week. I'm definitely going to start doing it once a week after the first of the year, until then maybe a little haphazard, but I'm going to do my best to produce one of these things once a week. So please join me again, tell all your friends and, by all means, send me a birthday present. So coming by now,
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