May The Shrink Be With You!

Am I suffering from a borderline personality disorder when I tell my son, “Patrick, use the fork!”, or “Patrick, I am your father!” … ? At times I tell my wife, who has a horseback-riding addiction, “May the horse be with you.” Does that mean I need to spend some time on the couch?

According to an article in today’s The Guardian:

Thanks to the work of French researchers, we now have a detailed diagnosis of the mental health challenges faced by Star Wars’ (evidently misunderstood) arch baddie Darth Vader.

In a letter entitled “Is Anakin Skywalker suffering from borderline personality disorder?”, soon to be published in the journal Psychiatry Research, Eric Bui, a psychiatrist at Toulouse University Hospital, and his colleagues, will set out why Anakin (later to be known across that galaxy far, far away as Darth Vader) matches six out of the nine borderline personality disorder criteria as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/jun/09/darth-vader-shrink

It seems that applying some psychotherapy could have helped Anakin (and me), and it might even have prevented him from turning to the dark side. The scientists stress the point that using the dark side of the Force is very similar to using drugs. It feels great when used, but it alters your consciousness and you know you shouldn’t do it.

I promise, as of tomorrow, I will enter the necessary 12-step program and fight my addiction.

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A Novel by Wilfried F. Voss

I have fought a good fight,
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- 2 Timothy iv. 7

The Irish War is officially a part of history, but not for Finnean Whelan, an IRA veteran of almost 40 years. British Intelligence has produced evidence that he is the mastermind behind a conspiracy to assassinate the First Minister of Northern Ireland. For Whelan this is not only a mission of revenge, but marks the beginning of a journey into the past and the return to the one true love: Ireland. [More...]

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