What are emotional explosions? Are they symptoms of disease or evi-
dence of weakness? If explosions are symptoms, are the diseases physical
or psychological? Are mental disorders hang-ups that people should work
to overcome, or handicaps that require you to accommodate them?
The best answer is all of the above. The problem is, none of us,
experts included, is equipped to deal with this kind of complexity. The only
way to grasp anything so intricate as the human mind is by looking at one
little piece at a time. To the people studying it, however, each little piece
seems to be the one that makes sense out of the whole puzzle. Also, when
we study the mind, what we try to make sense ofis the same as what we’re
trying to make sense with. We believe what we see, but we see what we
believe. Experts disagree because, like everyone else, they judge new
information based on how well it fits with what they already know.
Why should you care about disagreements among experts on the
nature and treatment of mental disorders? There are at least three reasons.
First, what we think about explosive people, and what explosive people
think about themselves, is shaped by what the experts believe. Most of us
prefer experts who tell us what we want to hear, rather than what we need
to hear, so it makes sense to consider several sources before we make up
our minds.
The second reason experts’ beliefs matter is that they affect treat-
ment. You’re probably not reading this book to learn how to deal with
strangers. The explosive people in your life may be friends, family, and
coworkers, people you care about and want to help. Or want to gethelp.
And what mental health professionals think about the issues raised in this
chapter will strongly influence what sort of help they offer, and what
results that help will have.
Consider this: A common beliefheld by many explosive people is
that their outbursts are something that happens to them rather than some-
thing they do. Some treatment approaches unintentionally reinforce this
belief by paying more attention to the reasons explosive people are the
way they are than what they have to do to change. Spending six months
talking about the dysfuntional families they grew up in, or six minutes a
month writing prescriptions to correct chemical imbalances in their
brains, can give explosive people the message that they’re victims of their
history and biology rather than authors of their own fate.
What’s Wrong with These People? ❧ 29