# Intermittent Explosive Disorder -- pathology or psychobabble? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 6, 2006, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intermittent-explosive-disorder-pathology-or-psychobabble/359558 "2006-06-06T01:15:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intermittent-explosive-disorder-pathology-or-psychobabble/359558/41 "2006-06-07T19:13:16Z")
> [@Diamonds02](#): > > Fear of an even playing field. Many people know that treatments and accommodations can be quite effective. Give someone a debilitating mental illness like schizophrenia or bipolar (who was once unable to cope with normal life demands) a pill, and they might become functional members of society. Give the dyslexic/LD student extra ten minutes on their tests, and they might score higher. Of course, as a result, there will be more people to compete with. You don’t think this is a little bit of a strawman itself? Or do you _really_ think the people who rolled their eyes at another new psy disorder in the news are all secretly terrified that freshly-medicated mental patients will take their jobs? You make good points elsewhere, but this sounds like just a chance to denigrate those who disagree. Sailboat ---
**Author:** ![Diamonds02](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Diamonds02](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diamonds02)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intermittent-explosive-disorder-pathology-or-psychobabble/359558/42 "2006-06-07T20:10:06Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > You don’t think this is a little bit of a strawman itself? Or do you _really_ think the people who rolled their eyes at another new psy disorder in the news are all secretly terrified that freshly-medicated mental patients will take their jobs? > > You make good points elsewhere, but this sounds like just a chance to denigrate those who disagree. > > Sailboat While I don’t think people clutch on their degrees or w-4 forms, I don’t think what I said was too far-fetched. I took “LD classes” or “resource” throughout my academic career. When I used to do really bad in school, people didn’t care. They just wrote me off as on of those “slow kids”. But when my grades started improving and making the honor roll, people (students and even some teachers) gave me shit for still using the services. They things like “Huh, you get better grades than me, why are you still going there to take your tests?” It wasn’t like the teachers there were giving me answers. I just took my tests in a quiet room, and I only had like fifteen extra minutes added. While those little things helped, I can’t see how it was unfair. I think if you give a non-LD/ADD person extra time or quiet areas, I don’t think it would make a difference for them, but it can make a lot of difference for someone with those conditions. Some people, especially older people like my dad, say things like “We didn’t have such and such kind of conditions while I was growing up, why do these kids get help these days?” ---
**Author:** ![Polerius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d78d45/32.png) [@Polerius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polerius)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intermittent-explosive-disorder-pathology-or-psychobabble/359558/43 "2006-06-07T20:31:33Z")
> [@Diamonds02](#): > > I think if you give a non-LD/ADD person extra time or quiet areas, I don’t think it would make a difference for them You bet your ass another 15 minutes wouldn’t help. In certain cases, that extra 15 minutes can make a huge difference. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intermittent-explosive-disorder-pathology-or-psychobabble/359558/44 "2006-06-07T20:41:56Z")
> [@Polerius](#): > > You bet your ass another 15 minutes wouldn’t help. In certain cases, that extra 15 minutes can make a huge difference. Yeah. I got ADD, but I’ve never had any need for extra time on tests, so I don’t take it. Those are one of the few circumstances where I can easily concentrate - those sorts of linear, mentally-absorbing tasks are easy for me. Even so, there’s times when an extra fifteen minutes would have been nice - and judging from my classmates, a lot of them felt the same. More than would be expected to be accounted for from learning disabilities. Depends on the test, of course. But essay tests? Those can expand into whatever time you give them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intermittent-explosive-disorder-pathology-or-psychobabble/359558.md?page=2)