I am an extrovert
who has social
anxiety. It is to
be expected. I
am a Gemini.
It is said that
dogs yawn
uncontroll-
ably when
they are
anxious.
I gleaned
this striking
tidbit from
a Ted talk
given by a
man named
Jon Ronson.
Jon read the
entire DSM
(which is the
now larger
than ever
manual filled
with a list with
descriptions
of the 374
purported
mental dis-
orders) to
discover that
amongst his
own were
generalized
anxiety disorder,
nightmare dis-
order, in which
he has recurrent
dreams of being
chased by
creatures where-
ver he goes
who constantly
tell him that he
is a failure.
And he has
malingering,
which, accord-
ing to Psychology
Today, (accord-
ing to Google)
is “the purp-
oseful production
of falsely
exaggerated
physical and/
or psycholog-
ical syptoms
with the goal
of receiving
a reward.” I
am about a
third of the
way through
this Ted Talk
on YouTube
and I’ve already
received quite
the reward.
I linger long
enough to hear
how Jon met
with a Scient-
ologist (because
of course he
wanted to meet
up with a critic of
psychiatry), a man
named Brian,
who he asked
“Can you prove
to me that psy-
chiatry is a
pseudo-science?”
to which Brian
said “Yes, let me
introduce you
to Tony,” who,
as it turns out
is in Broadmoor,
which used to be
known as The
Asylum for
the Critically
Insane. That
is as far as I
have gotten.
I took a break
to write you
this quick note
about our trip
to the Pumpkin
Patch (which
you like to call
The Funny Farm).
We will take off
at 5 in the morn-
ing. Dress warmly,
in layers. There
may be a bit of
sun; be sure to
wear a cap or
something.
And we can
grab lunch in
Half Moon Bay
on the way back
up, and be home
by around 6pm.
Sound good?
I know that I
suffer from de-
pression. And
lately I have be-
gun to think
that I have a
set of imaginary
friends. Well,
lately? Act-
ually, I’ve had
them pretty much
as far back as I
remember. In
fact, that reminds
me, I must call
my friend Jim
this afternoon.
Anyway, I look
forward to see-
ing you this Sat-
urday. No negative
talk, remember?
The glass is al-
ways half full!
