Mocking the mentally ill is a fucked up, nasty thing to do.

[cali]

People who have breaks very frequently do so with religious delusions. Someone who has a very public break shouldn't be treated with scorn and mockery but with compassion.

It's an illness. Do we mock cancer patients?

I feel so sorry for that poor House stenographer. When she comes out of this, she will almost certainly feel deep humiliation.

[HereSince1628]

1. So is using aspersions of mental illness as a tool of bigotry.

The latter sets up the social environment for the former by building the scaffolding that supports stigma.

Which isn't to say that practice is going to stop anytime soon. Free-speech is defended vehemently, even by those who stand behind its palisade throwing out insulting language like snowballs.

[cali]

5. huh? I'm not clear on what you're trying to say.

[HereSince1628]

19. Re: using words referencing mental illness to disparage, damage, slander others...

as·per·sion ( -spûr zh n, -sh n). n. 1. a. An unfavorable or damaging remark; slander. b. The act of defaming or slandering.

"Dems" on DU and in the media regularly do this with respect to outlandish positions of republicans and behavior of the republican/teaparty base. The need for colorful disparagments about political opponents gives this practice a sense of being de rigueur. I have no doubt that someone seeing this reply will mount a vigorous defense of it, including disparagements about word police. So I want to be clear that I'm not telling anyone how to speak.

I'm only commenting on the nature what gets said and its influence.

Sociologically, this sort of speech functions as a chauvinistic display of 'us-ness' intended to display superiority of "our" group over "their" group which is weaker, less cognitively capable, and in the words of many down right mentally ill.

The last 3 weeks have been chock-o-bloc full of this sort of thing, and I'm quite sure everyone has witnessed it. I heard Bernie Sanders do it while on the radio with Thom Hartmann, just yesterday.

Mostly we don't think much about the effect of such remarks, considering them harmless amusing shared affirmations of the quality of opponents: "Anyone who knows us knows we are not bigots!" "You're taking this out of context".

Unfortunately, those words also create a society-wide gestalt about mental illness which makes having a mental illness a shameful and thus embarassing thing. Shame and embarrassment that, according to mental health professionals, contributes to the mentally ill being reluctant to seek treatment. According to surveys of caregivers/supporters, that shame also makes some family/friends uneasy and reluctant to even be seen dropping off a person at a mental health clinic.

Again, I am not suggesting any policing of language, I'm just supporting awareness of what that speech does.

on edit...so I failed to close the loop. Through this practice of using stigmatizing words that disparage the mentally ill, we create an environment that promotes laughing and making fun of a woman who quite publically appears to have broken down emotionally.

[Bunnahabhain]

35. Excellent post

and all well said. I have been a big proponent locally of programs tailored to mental health and homelessness. The two are so highly correlated it should be a national disgrace.

[Posteritatis]

92. Read like it was expanding on your point instead of attacking it

Mocking the mentally ill is fucked up; attacking people we don't like by implying or claiming they're mentally ill (as though that's a zinger) is also fucked up. The two forms of fuckeduppedness are tied at the hip so challenging them both whenever this comes up is great.

[trumad]

2. I don't know...

You were mocking freepwads yesterday---and everyone know's freepwads have feelings.

[Pab Sungenis]

97. There is a difference between mentally I'll,

stupid, and willfully ignorant.

The mentally ill should be cared for, the stupid educated, and the willfully ignorant mocked incessantly.

[reddread]

3. pretty stupid to hate the less intelligent as well

self service divide and conquer.
considerably less than gifted people are probably no less susceptible to the ocean of lies being floated by
a corrupt megacorporate commercial media than those of average or better than intellect.
But, at least they have a better excuse

[Logical]

4. So you know this person is mentally ill? Nt

[cali]

6. yes. I know and so should you and everyone else.

She had a public breakdown. No one chooses that.

[Logical]

7. Ok doctor. Nt

[cali]

8. You don't need to be a doctor to be educated on this.

[Logical]

44. Maybe this person is just rude and arrogant! nt

[pipi_k]

50. Or maybe

she has a mental illness.

But instead of giving someone the benefit of the doubt, people assume someone is just being a rude, arrogant ass.

Sounds to me like she had a break with reality.

[pnwmom]

67. Where is the dividing line between tea party fanatic

and mentally ill person? It's not so clear to me.

[snappyturtle]

76. +1 nt

[bpositive]

77. They are not mutually exclusive

[Whisp]

82. Bachman has been called Nutz and Crazy here a billion times...

I'm guilty of that too, so the OP sort of confuses me, but I do understand what she means.

but it should mean that for Everyone.

[Posteritatis]

95. "Mentally ill" is not a political state. (nt)

[pintobean]

9. No, you don't know.

She may have wanted to do that for years.

[cali]

15. I have a pretty good idea. It's absurd to suggest as you are that

she wanted to have a very public, humiliating break.

It's far more likely that she was suffering

I worked with people who had severe and persistent mental illnesses for years as an advocate. No, I'm not a psychologist or psychiatrist though I have a degree in psychology, but I'm familiar with what a manic break looks like: Just like this. And the religious content, rambling, pressured nature of her speech, is what has convinced me.

[pintobean]

20. So, it's an educated guess.

You don't know. If, rather than her religious rant, she had laid into the repubs, maybe calling them pitiful, dumbfuck freepwads, she'd be a hero here. How many people would just love to have the opportunity to rant on the house floor? Would you diagnose everyone the same way, or does it depend on the opinion they give?

[cali]

26. I would literally stake my life on her having a psychotic break

she's undergoing a mental examination. she's hospitalized. that's called a damned good clue,

[pintobean]

99. She is not hospitalized

After her bizarre behavior , she was taken to George Washington Hospital and spoke to a psychiatrist, then released.

http://nypost.com/2013/10/17/shutdown-hours-made-stenographer-snap-husband/

[MNBrewer]

107. Are you literally still alive?

[pintobean]

110. ...

[Javaman]

22. "I have a pretty good idea."

[Ichingcarpenter]

10. Her facebook likes

Other

LIFE Today,

In Touch Ministries,
Cross International,
Fit For Christ,
Upward Education In-Home Tutoring,

MN8 Foxfire,
HuffPost Impact,

Oh My God,

Campbell's Kitchen,

House Chamber,

Herbs & Oils World,

Family Talk with Dr. James Dobson,

TheFittChick,

Amicus Reporting,

Kanakuk Kampsand 9 more

https://www.facebook.com/dianne.fosterreidy


Yes it is her name she's from NY lives in Maryland.

She did have a breakdown but also said the same things during the breakdown her religious
leanings have said openingly.

[muriel_volestrangler]

25. How do you know? What she said is said in internet forums all the time

and in sermons, too. What's unusual is for a public employee to take a microphone when they should be doing their job and say it.

It's possible that she had a 'breakdown'. It's also possible she really believes that stuff, and just decided she couldn't keep quiet about it any more.

Imagine if she'd said "all the politicians are in the pockets of big business, who have no care for the USA at all - they're just out to line their pockets as quickly as possible. They cover up the massive fraud the banks have committed". Would you insist that was a public breakdown?

[cali]

27. where. and when. simple as that.

and if she'd said something to the effect of what you post- though what you said is coherent and what she said was not even remotely so, I'd say the same thing.

[muriel_volestrangler]

29. 'where and when' could be a calculated attempt for maximum publicity

We hope that congressional stenographers are neutral individuals who just do the job, but we don't know. I don't think your certainty is warranted.

[cali]

31. people remotely in touch with reality factor in the likely repercussions of behavior

she lacked that ability.

Oh and why in hell shouldn't congressional stenographers have political opinions? It's absurd to say they should be "neutral". Their behavior certainly should be but that's not the same thing as what you've said.


Uh, and she's in a hospital undergoing a psych eval. that's a big fat clue right there.

[muriel_volestrangler]

34. So, she's ill until proven otherwise, to you?

'Clues' are not proof; and an evaluation is not proof either.

If we're parsing what I said to the word: I never said they shouldn't have political opinions, either. I said we hope their neutral individuals.

[cali]

40. I would bet my life on it. literally.

so yeah, I'm sure.

[PassingFair]

55. You're pathologizing religiosity!

She has mental problems.

[jberryhill]

106. She was interviewed and released

So put that big fat clue in your pipe and smoke it.

[ljm2002]

62. I thought what she said was coherent...

...although not rational.

She said: "This is not one nation under god. It never was. Had it been, it would not have been -- no -- it would not have been -- the Constitution would not have been written by Freemasons. They go against God. (unintillegible) You cannot serve two masters. Praise be to God, Lord Jesus Christ."

Yes it took her a couple of tries to phrase her thoughts about who wrote the Constitution -- but those statements are as coherent as many we hear from people who speak publicly for a living. Just watch any news interview, the transcripts will show pauses and rephrasings. Yes she was speaking loudly, almost shouting, but then again, how else would she have been heard?

Personally I think she is a religious fanatic who cracked under the pressure and decided to have her say. Now maybe "cracked under pressure" implies mental illness -- but not to me. To me, it means she couldn't take it anymore and had to spout the Truth to the rest of us infidels who just can't see it because we are not chosen, like she is.

I really don't feel sympathy for her. A little compassion, at one level, maybe -- only because I believe she is brainwashed. But I doubt she would afford sympathy to someone who spouted off about (e.g.) income inequality, or about the folly of the Tea Party's antics in the recent debacle.

IMO she's one of the "Christian" sleeper cells planted all over our government these days. I'm glad she saw fit to spout her beliefs for all to see. We see what we are really dealing with, i.e. religious fanatics.

[snappyturtle]

79. +1 nt

[notadmblnd]

86. I thing she is willfully, blissfully ignorant.

And she finally worked up the courage to spout the shit she's been programmed to believe from the religious right and people like Glen Beck.

[MNBrewer]

45. She's not mentally ill, she's religious

it's very difficult to tell the difference some times.

[pipi_k]

52. I've known

religious people who were quite in touch with reality.


OTOH, people with mental illness tend to go overboard in their fanaticism. Which is what her rant sounded like. A full-blown crossing over from reality to fanaticism.

Who knows if maybe she has been on medication for a while...or a long time...and maybe missed a dose?

Or maybe she's suffering stress of a level that pushed her over the threshold?

[MNBrewer]

56. How does one tell the difference between mentally ill and sane religious fanatics?

[LuvNewcastle]

108. Religiosity and religious symbolism play a role in some mental illnesses,

schizophrenia especially. A lot of schiz. patients think they're hallucinations are coming from God or the Devil. It makes sense in a way, especially if those patients were raised in religious families. A lot of people in the Bible who had visions and heard voices and whatnot would today be considered schizophrenic.

[kestrel91316]

89. You call it a breakdown. I call it political grandstanding.

[bluestate10]

14. She showed signs of being mentally ill. Mentally healthy people don't do what she did. nt

[pnwmom]

68. Is what she did that different from 200+ House members

singing Amazing Grace to give them "resolve" before voting to shut down the debt ceiling and to allow the country to go into default?

[bluestate10]

11. The woman needs all the help and support that can be given to her. I hope she gets well. nt

[Douglas Carpenter]

12. I think that it would be highly unlikely that this public outburst was anything other than some

type of psychotic episode. It may very well involve some sort of religious or religious/political delusion. But that is not uncommon. I think you are right about this Cali. Whenever I am tempted to believe that liberals are just so much smarter than conservatives - I only need to look at some of boneheaded thinking here on DU to dispel that notion. We see in cases like this and on threads like this thinking that is no more advanced or sophisticated than the idiotic rants we all enjoy mocking over on Free Republic.

[cali]

17. I feel really sorry for her.

When she realizes what she's done, she's going to have a tough road back.

[Are_grits_groceries]

13. I agree with cali.

We don't know squat about her except that short clip.

I hope she gets help and a thorough examination. If she was just waiting for this moment to act the fool, that will be determined to some extent. I find it far fetched that she sat there day after day waiting for this moment.

Even if she does have RW beliefs, something broke in her and set her off. How serious it is remains to be seen.

I have suffered from depression for years. I don't wish that on ANYONE. Even if you don't care if some RW nut does break, the toll on those around them can be staggering. Kids and others around them don't deserve that kind of pain.

Compassion has flown out the window here too.

[Orrex]

16. It's unfortunate that she was working in such a visible, high-stress position

If she'd been a stenographer in a local courtroom, her break would not be subject to this level of public scrutiny.

Best wishes to her.

[Squinch]

18. Of course you are right. Not sure why some are arguing against your point.

I hope she gets the help she needs.

[get the red out]

21. I agree

I have two family members who suffer from bi-polar disorder and during a bad episode they can go into some pretty intense delusional thinking but once they get treated and get their brain chemistry back in line their behavior is completely normal. So many people just don't see how this could possibly be, but yet we understand that someone like me, who has high cholesterol despite making good health choices, can be put on the correct medication and see their level drop like a rock in about a month. It's just that brain chemistry going wrong creates such an in your face result, where I looked and behaved no differently when my cholesterol was 270 than I do with it at 150.

The brain is part of the body, mental illness IS physical illness.

[cali]

28. right. thank you so much for your post.

[madrchsod]

23. yes it is

mocking the mentally ill shows ones level of intelligence and compassion. in my opinion that level is 0.

[Silent3]

24. A breakdown can expose what has been hiding beneath the surface...

...while a person had previously remaining composed.

I'm not going to pretend to authoritatively diagnose someone like that House stenographer, but since I'm just voicing an opinion clearly labeled as just an opinion I don't need to meet clinical and courtroom standards of evidence just to express how I feel about incidents like this.

This woman didn't rant using Muslim outbursts or Shinto outbursts. It's highly unlikely to have a breakdown that makes you pull totally random ideas out of thin air that have nothing to do with your normal state of mind. The kind of stuff that spilled out of this woman isn't that unusual for some people in this country to believe, even if they keep their public conduct more orderly while believing it.

I doubt she would have found the time of her breakdown particularly stressful if she hadn't been terribly disappointed that the House didn't let the country burn down to spite Obama and/or to fulfill some ugly Dominionist beliefs -- points of view that I definitely consider "crazy", but which aren't in the realm of clinical mental illness.

The nature of this woman's breakdown is such that it's hard for me to feel much sympathy for her because I think she's accidentally revealed how ugly her beliefs have been and will be even when she's "all better".

[RobinA]

58. What Difference

does it make what she believes when stable? The poor woman had a breakdown. Aren't ALL people in that position deserving of our empathy? What's the difference between a psychotic religious fanatic and a psychotic liberal fanatic? She hasn't hurt anyone.

I work with psychiatric patients. I don't judge them based on their ideology.

[Silent3]

61. If that's your job, then of course you have to be prepared to ignore ideology

And even though it's not my job, if I were on hand in the real life situation when this woman broke down, it's hardly like I'd choose to mock her to her face rather than provide assistance and comfort.

When not involved like that, however, when I'm just sitting out there in the world at large seeing incidents like this happening in the world at large, I don't feel any particular obligation not to gasp and gawk a little and react more to the ugliness of the personality and ideology that likely helped drive this woman to a breakdown, to look at a bigger picture than just this one woman's problems of the moment.

It's not like my choosing to do nothing other than offer pity and/or sympathy would have helped this woman one bit anyway.

[Laelth]

30. I seriously doubt that she will feel humiliation.

I suspect she was doing what she felt was right. She's probably proud of herself for having the courage to speak "the truth" to a bunch of people who were aiding Satan, whether they knew it or not. In her mind, I suspect, the rapture is right around the corner, and she was taking the opportunity to save a soul or two while she could.



-Laelth

[cali]

32. I seriously think you're wrong. Most people who suffer a public break

feel just that and more.

Look, she was unable to grasp that her behavior would have serious repercussion. that's something that people in touch with reality do.

her fractured and pressured speech, the rambling nonsensical "message" are pretty classic signs of someone not tethered to reality.

[Laelth]

33. I will defer to your judgment on this.

I have no training is seeing the signs of psychological illness. I do, however, think it's a little spooky that we are quick to assume that those who disagree with us are ill. I am just not ready to go there.



-Laelth

[get the red out]

43. The circumstances

She may not even "disagree" with us. The circumstances of her outburst, and her having been a long time congressional employee, tend to point to a mental illness event IMO. I believe it is more of an insult to say she's a nasty right winger using her job to gain the limelight than to say the lady became ill for a time, personally. She may or may not be religious in her normal life. I personally know someone who is not religious who had a bi-polar episode and was telling people he was John the Baptist, seriously. He was ill, his behavior is normal again now.

[kestrel91316]

91. Her FB page shows her to be a typical fundie. Her husband says she's normal.

I happen to think she decided to do some preaching because she's a FANATIC.

[jberryhill]

102. Her message made perfect sense

It was only fractured because three people were trying to remove her from the podium.

She very clearly said that Freemasons wrote the Constitution, which is a well-supported factual statement. She believes Freemasons are evil - a widely held belief among religious and non-religious, and that therefore to call the US a "nation under God" is a mockery, and that God will not be mocked.

Her message was well within what millions of perfectly ordinary, sane Evangelical Christians believe. That is some 30% of the electorate, Cali. If that many people are mentally ill, then we might as well scrap the term.

[get the red out]

41. No, she will feel it intensely

Once she receives proper care and her delusions subside she will be quite embarrassed. The article said she was a long time employee in Congress; that means she has behaved within the normal range for quite some time. Something as simple as being prescribed steroids for a medical condition can counteract a person's mental health medications and lead to something like this.

[steve2470]

84. I agree, I think she will regret this intensely and be very embarrassed nt

[kestrel91316]

90. ^^^THIS^^^ - I happen to think she's just a true believing christofascist and that

no doctor will touch that with a ten foot pole by calling it mental illness.

[randome]

36. Well, if we didn't mock Republicans here, what else would we do?

[hr][font color="blue"][center]You should never stop having childhood dreams.[/center][/font][hr]

[reddread]

47. three possibilities come to mind

1. Organize for a better world for all
2. Hunt down and stamp out conservative mindsets with liberal reason and historical perspective
3. Hippy punch

[randome]

49. That's an excellent answer!

[hr][font color="blue"][center]You should never stop having childhood dreams.[/center][/font][hr]

[dawg]

37. How is it that she is any crazier than the people she works for?

Sure, she screamed a bunch of crazy stuff, but probably almost a third of those Representatives believe the very same things. They were willing to shut down the government and allow a debt default because allowing people access to health insurance is pure eeeeevil. Is that sane?

It it?

[cali]

38. time. place. intent.

speech pattern. incoherence.

[dawg]

42. No. I'm not letting it go at that.

What she said and did was totally rational and logical if one actually believed what conservative republicans have been saying. All she did was scream and rant. They were willing to grind the U.S. economy to a halt.

What did they think they would gain from this? How tethered to reality are these conservative congress members? How tethered to reality are the people that vote for them?

I agree that the lady had something of a nervous breakdown. But she didn't just snap and lose touch with reality. She lost touch with reality a long, long time ago. And there are people in places of power right now who are every bit as untethered .

[cali]

46. no. you're wrong. her speech pattern is indicative of

a break. Her incoherence is as well.

I won't make any statement on people in power being as untethered. I haven't seen, for instance, anything in Cruz's behavior or speech that compares to this woman's episode. He's repulsive. His rhetoric is awful and dangerous, but he's calculating.

I think that regardless of this woman's beliefs she did just snap.

We'll see

[dawg]

51. She had a nervous breakdown, for sure.

Why wouldn't she? The forces of evil had just triumphed, and all that was good about America had just been lost.

The point I'm trying to make, is that her nervous breakdown was not the problem. The literally insane beliefs that apparently led to the breakdown are the problem.

If I were in her shoes, and the Congress had just voted to execute all openly gay Americans, I might have snapped and started screaming too. Because I'd be certain that my country had gone off the deep end, and was now approaching a "Nazi" level of evil. No one would be safe.

Would I be crazy for having a breakdown under those circumstances? No, I would just be human.

I think her breakdown is just a sign of her being human, and not being able to hold up under the incredible pressure of the situation. The true problem, I believe, lies with her beliefs, that were so out of touch with reality that she took what should have been a routine vote to maintain government funding, as a triumph of Satan.

But she's not the only one who thinks that way.

And we *do* need to mock people who think that way. Silence is consent.

These opinions should *not* be considered normal or acceptable in any way. People need to realize that others will think something is seriously wrong with them if they espouse this sort of nonsense.

They should be *ashamed* of the things they have been saying.

This woman is just one victim of the insane, poisonous rhetoric that has been spewing forth from the mouths of conservative politicians and preachers over the last few years. It has to end.

They sound crazy.

All she did was believe what they said.

[Silent3]

63. "so out of touch... she took what should have been a routine vote... as a triumph of Satan"

Well said!

That's exactly why gawking and gasping with disgust kicks in for me a bit more strongly than any impulse to express compassion for her breakdown, especially when she's going to have people to help her out regardless of how I personally react, and my personal reaction won't matter one bit in changing her future well being.

[jberryhill]

104. Bullshit

You try to say anything while wrestling with three people.

[jberryhill]

103. She WAS coherent

What she said was standard Evangelical fare. Just because YOU are unfamiliar with their belief system, doesn't make it incoherent.

Three people were trying to physically remove her from the podium. ANY conclusion drawn from "speech pattern" in those circumstances is simply baseless, and in denial of the physical circumstances in which she was attempting to speak.

If you want to pretend to be objective, don't ignore relevant obvious facts.

[whttevrr]

39. I hope she ends up ok...

This woman needs help.

[Cali_Democrat]

48. What you're doing is diagnosing someone from behind a keyboard.

You don't know if she is indeed mentally ill.

Stop pretending as if you know.

You don't.

[pipi_k]

53. Well the same thing

is going on with people insisting that she is NOT mentally ill.

Just a jerk.

What's the difference, I ask...

Same keyboard psychologists, only with a different agenda.


Isn't it more compassionate...

More...Democratic...

to assume that someone having a public breakdown isn't doing it for attention, or to proselytize, or any of a dozen other nefarious reasons?

[cali]

54. yes, that's what I'm doing. so?

and yeah, I'd bet the farm on it.

[Cali_Democrat]

64. You'd bet the farm on it?

Well then why the hell didn't ya say so!

Who needs doctors when we have you!

[pintobean]

65. Up-thread it was her/his life. /nt

[pitbullgirl1965]

57. "It's an illness. Do we mock cancer patients? "

I've been known to do that: When I over hear people making cracks about the nut-house, making light of depression, bi polar, or the perennial favorite : schizophrenia sufferers.

So yes, yes I do mock cancer patients. It usually shuts people up.

I have no idea if this woman is mentally ill or if her fundie beliefs are a part of her or her illness. I hope she gets help. I don't respect her beliefs though. They are full of hate and intolerance, and if she goes back to work, she needs to leave that at home. I wonder how many people she may have bullied with her James Dobson Focus on the Fambly garbage.

[BluegrassStateBlues]

59. My official stance is that it was a protest and I will ridicule it as such. nt

[ljm2002]

60. I think you are wrong...

...I think she is a religious nut who cracked under the pressure as she saw her side losing badly.

I could, of course, be wrong about that. Anyway, given the enormous pressures with this debt ceiling stuff, and given that the "religious" right was instrumental in engineering the mess, it only stands to reason that when someone publicly breaks down and rants about religion and Freemasons etc., people will react, in some cases with mockery. It was a pretty theatrical moment.

I did not find it amusing, I found it scary. Because we know there are many, many people in government right now who were religiously home "schooled", who went to Liberty "University", and the like. It is truly frightening to think of how many of this type are in various positions in our government, attempting to wrest control away from this awful Enlightenment-inspired Constitution that our country suffers under.

Too bad if it is hard for her to be mocked. If she is mentally ill, it won't matter anyway -- she will get treatment and get better, hopefully. If she is not technically mentally ill, then her outburst exposed her thinking and she deserves mockery IMO.

[MNBrewer]

66. If we can't mock the mentally ill, can we at least mock the fanatically religious?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023872379

[steve2470]

69. I agree with you, very frequently delusional manic rants are religious in tone

I'd lay money on a manic break, despite the fact she was a conservative Christian. She had a $157K job as a House stenographer. Somehow I don't see a rational person jeopardizing that. If one does, one goes about it in a more rational fashion than she did.

[pnwmom]

70. If she has a mental illness, why is her husband

saying that he is proud of her for what she did?

Do they share a mental illness? Or are they both just normally f-ked up tea party people?

[Barack_America]

72. Direct quote, please.

I'm proud of her -and- I'm proud of what she did...are very different comments.

[cali]

73. uh, he didn't say that he was proud of her for what she did.

He said she's a sweet woman and he's proud of her.

You know she's in a hospital on a psych hold for an evaluation right?

And this is what she said:

“The greatest deception here is this is not one nation under God. It never was. Had it been, it would not have been. The Constitution would not have been written by Freemasons.”

that doesn't even make any sense from a syntax pov. it's total word salad.

[pnwmom]

74. Not any more word salad than what routinely comes out of Palin's mouth.

But I'll concede, she could have a mental illness.

(And so could Palin, for that matter -- though I think Palin more likely has a personality disorder.)

[pintobean]

75. You leave out "level headed woman of God"

"level-headed wonderful woman of God. I am proud of her."

[scheming daemons]

78. she is not in a hospital, cali. she is at home giving interviews to Fox

[steve2470]

80. link please ? I saw an emailed statement only to Faux

Last edited Thu Oct 17, 2013, 06:01 PM - Edit history (1)

eta, nvm, I found it:

http://nypost.com/2013/10/17/shutdown-hours-made-stenographer-snap-husband/

After her bizarre behavior , she was taken to George Washington Hospital and spoke to a psychiatrist, then released.

“The doctor was asking what was the message, what was the intent of the message?” her husband said.

“She goes: `I don’t know I just spoke what I felt God was putting in my heart. I don’t know who it was directed at’.”

Dan Reidy described himself as a Pentecostal Christian who believes strongly that God can communicate through individuals He said it was the second time God had communicated through his wife.

[Posteritatis]

94. Why are any (or even all) of those mutually exclusive? (nt)

[tenderfoot]

71. I don't think she's mentally ill - I think she knew exactly what she was doing. Being a disruptor.

eom

[atreides1]

81. Here's the problem

Unless someone leaks her evaluation, we will never know if this was in reality a mental breakdown!


Pat Robertson has said some worse things since 9/11...does this mean that he's suffering from a mental illness?


For all we know, unless we personally know this lady, this could be how she really feels and when she saw her chance...she took it!

[steve2470]

83. the key is intent, awareness of consequences, time and place

Yes, Robertson et al say some pretty crazy stuff...on their shows and in their forums. They don't interrupt Congress to spout insane nonsense and put their jobs on the line. Social appropriateness is the dividing line. The religiously deluded do their thing at home and in their churches, not in the middle of a session of a secular Congress.

If she leaves the hospital and says " Yes I knew I might lose my job and be subject to discipline at the very minimum", then I'm willing to chalk it up to religious fanaticism. We'll have to see if she really is willing to say that. Right now, I don't think so. If she had gone up to the dais and said, Ok, I'm going to lose my job over this but blah blah blah, then...ok..she's a religious NJ.

[BlueStreak]

85. If Michelle Bachmann gives that exact same speech word for word

people would just say, "Oh, that's just Michelle being Michelle."

Anybody who hears voices (of gods or anything else) telling them what to do is mentally ill. Unfortunately that seems to include about 40 million Americans and who knows how many Muslims worldwide. There aren't enough shrinks or drugs in the world to deal with all these people.

[kestrel91316]

87. I don't have any particular reason to think she is mentally ill. I DO believe she

is probably a garden-variety christofascist. Totally buys into the whole "Amurka is a CHRISSSSSSTIAN nation" thing. Her husband says she's wonderful and normal.

[steve2470]

88. “I’ve never felt better,” she said, “I’m glad that I fulfilled God’s mission for me, absolutely.

http://nypost.com/2013/10/17/shutdown-hours-made-stenographer-snap-husband/

Dianne Reidy was present sporadically during the half-hour interview, but spoke only briefly towards the end.

“I’ve never felt better,” she said, “I’m glad that I fulfilled God’s mission for me, absolutely. It lifted a tremendous burden. It was a very hard burden to carry as you can imagine.”

The minivan-driving mom worked multiple late nights during the 16-day shutdown, by her husband’s account....

Her husband said Reidy plans to return to work Tuesday – though they haven’t heard from her employer, the Clerk of the House.

Ok, she's a RW religious NJ. I'm thinking, barring probation on mental health grounds, she's out of a job. I'd like to hear her out on whether she actually planned this incident with full knowledge of the consequences.

[maddezmom]

93. Not sure she snapped or if it was planned after ready this....but it is the NYP

So who knows. Odd either way.

[we can do it]

96. So every religious nut-job is mentally ill? I suspected as much. But no I don't pity them.

Should we just ignore them when they condemn us to "hell" ? What about when they bully someone in the name of gawd they find "immoral" until they commit suicide? How bout a little compassion for them then? Gawd told em to do it. What about when they deny an abortion to a woman with an ectopic pregnancy?

- fuck them.

[BlueStreak]

100. If you hear voices in your head telling you what to do

Last edited Fri Oct 18, 2013, 04:36 PM - Edit history (1)

you are nuts.

If you believe there are angels out there planning the circumstances of your life, you are nuts.

If you believe that by talking to spirits, you can get favors, you are nuts.

But this describes so many people that insanity is considered normal.

If they lock this woman up, there are at least another 60 in that body that are every bit her equal on the bat shit crazy scale.

[we can do it]

109. True. Anyone who thinks there is a sky daddy listening to them and telling them what to do is nuts.

[libdem4life]

98. She was employed by the government as a stenograper making around $125,000 a year.She got furloughed

probably was unable to pay all their bills (hubby self-employed) stuck at home, panicked. Could have been she was having workplace difficulties already and insecurity as to back pay or going back to work. Even with government unions and such, I rather doubt she will have a job to return to.

Living in DC is really, really expensive. People have done far worse when their families and way of life are seriously threatened. Certainly she was "temporarily insane" as to undertake such a public act of desperation.

On the other hand, I do see why a Senator would grouse at only making $50,000 a year more than a stenographer, however.

[pintobean]

101. Furloughed? She was on the house floor, doing her job

[LittleBlue]

105. Agreed, Cali

I'll wait to see if it is due to mental illness before commenting. It's certainly bizarre enough to believably be mental illness, especially if she was overworked due to the shutdown hustle.