Feeler Syndrome
Scott at Gene Expression asks why the mental health profession is wasting time with Asperger’s syndrome, when it’s hardly a debilitating mental illness. Jason Soon replies:
People who enter the psychology/psychiatry profession disproportionately suffer from a pathological condition called Feeler Syndrome. Symptoms include a deficit in concentration abilities, deficits in forming genuine interests in things as opposed to people, a tendency to prefer style over substance in conversation and thought and general dependence on social milieu and the approval of others for sustaining a sense of self-worth. Notwithstanding these problems sufferers retain a high degree of functionality. This is reinforced by the fact that the skills they have overdeveloped to the detriment of others allows them to get into positions of social influence. As a consequence such symptoms also come with a tendency to label others as deficient. Nonetheless the condition is not a hard one, as the wealth created by normals with adequate concentration and conceptualisation skills allows for the redistribution of resources sufficient to sustain these sufferers and allow them to lead happy lives.
Another commenter links Niall Ferguson’s political diagnosis: America has got Asperger’s syndrome.