If you thought the Trump party couldn’t possibly introduce any more odd laws or bills, you’d be surprised at this bill, which determines that any person disliking Trump may now have a mental illness. First, let’s refresh the definition of mental illness. According Psychiatry.org, a mental disorder is a disturbance in one’s behavior, emotions, or cognition, and impacts their daily lives. These thoroughly researched illnesses have certain criteria that you must meet to be able to get a diagnosis, and many individuals find getting a diagnosis a difficult and lengthy process. President Donald J. Trump and the Republican party have “very obviously” taken this into consideration, and their “very professional” therapists and doctors have discovered a new, life-affecting illness.
Trump Derangement Syndrome (or TDS for short) is a term used to describe paranoia in “otherwise normal persons” regarding policies of President Donald Trump. But of course, you can’t make up a new mental illness without throwing in some symptoms. Symptoms include “Trump-induced general hysteria,” verbal aggressions toward President Trump, and acts of aggression toward anyone supporting Trump or anything that symbolizes Trump. This was first introduced as a bill in Minnesota state which posed to modify the definition of mental illness and introduced TDS as an “illness.”
Online, many republicans or Trump supporters will respond to any post which seems to be against the Republican party with comments like “the TDS is bad with this one!” Who knows if they’re serious or just being ironic. Do these people really believe that you can diagnose someone with a mental disorder solely because they dislike or oppose a certain person or group? The term is rarely even used in real life; most people just use it as a weak online insult to try to “trigger” people who disagree with their political and social views and ideologies. These “keyboard warriors” are truly taking advantage of the fact that not much can be done about what they say online. They genuinely believe that bullying people on the internet and accusing them of having a “mental illness” will get them anywhere. It’s okay to have a different opinion than other people, but what is not okay is trying to attack anyone whose opinion is different than your own.
Students at Doherty are concerned about this idea. Junior Greyson Runnells admits to not previously hearing about this bill, but after hearing about it, he says, “I think it’s ridiculous to classify someone’s opinion as a mental illness.”
Junior Phoenix Patterson agrees, “I do think it is affecting others around me and classifying opinions as an illness as it could lead to a fight, or worse.” This does make sense, by separating people like this because of their opinions, people could fight, and this could lead to conflict.
Greyson adds, “It can lead to more negative stigma around actual mental illness.” By calling a separate opinion a mental illness, this could lead to more harmful ideas around people with actual mental illness.
Out of 10 students, 7 admitted to hearing TDS used as an insult on Instagram only. The other three revealed they had not previously heard it online.
This does affect many people and can even harm their actual mental health. It is completely normal to have a different opinion, but it is not normal to claim someone has an illness because of it.
