I knew Global Warming Paranoia was a mental illness.
Now I have to be careful, that's stepping on my profession actually.
Below are just some psychological musings on all this, just myself kind of exploring some thoughts on this. There is place for conservation but there are also some people who go off the deep end.
When I saw THIS ARTICLE it kind of clicked for me. I'm not sure why the focus of an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder would be a global warming paranoia but it's very interesting. I've seen OCD with rituals and people having to touch things three times, for example, and I know OCD is very common in Muslim countries because of the rituals of cleanliness and the ritual hypnotic prayers. But I'm curious as to why the paranoia of global warming would impact the expressions of OCD.
What's interesting about this is global warming is a media driven phenomenon. In terms of science it's relatively new and as a noun or even an adjective the etymology of it is only from 1975-1980. Then being a media driven obsession, I would expect only to see it in western cultures - especially given the nature of the obsession is to turn off appliances etc. that are common to western cultures (unless you live in a tribal culture where you turn down the smoke on your fire or make your arrows smaller to conserve trees or something). Also being a media driven obsession (you can't blame the warming its self for the obsession) I would be curious what the social sets or social patterns of the people with OCD who are picking up these habits are that they are being exposed to global warming paranoia's - either media driven or socially driven.
What I have seen in OCD is (not always) a fear of ridicule on some things, things not being good enough. An example was one man who couldn't pay his rent because he just went through checkbook after checkbook signing his name all through the night and his name was never signed beautifully or perfectly enough that he could be proud to send in his check - so the rent wasn't just late, he got evicted and so did his roommate who didn't know about all this because the guy was too ashamed to tell him.
If you're interested, I'm reprinting a bit from the DSM IV or Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders - this is what we use to assess mental disorders in the medical and psychology field. (WARNING: If you are not trained to use the DSM, do not use it to assess yourself or others, assessments and diagnosis should be done by a competent and trained professional. Last thing I need is someone going off a bridge because they thought they had something they didn't and their self esteem plummeted because they didn't understand what they were reading but put too much stock into it - weird things happen in this world y'all and I'm aware of the human tendency to want to self-analyze and often it's not accurate or healthy as people tend to be overly critical.)
What is interesting though in looking through the DSM criteria for an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is that the notion of global warming is media driven and the media THRIVES on bad news and threats of catastrophes and harm to personal well being. Having studied the psychopharmacology of pictorial pornography, one thing I do know about the media or image processing in the brain is that the brain does not distinguish between images and reality. Depending on how significant the emotional arousal of the individual socially interacting with the media is (we interact with television and media, emotionally, mentally, socially, we remember and store the events we see as real and live no matter the media, we aren't just passively watching it) would, I imagine, impact how severe the obsessions are.
I can only imagine that in addition to the self-imposed social stigma of OCD, there would be the additional stigma of contributing to global warming in this instance and a result of either a low self esteem, or a high self esteem depending on how they feel they are doing with it all (and it would be artificial and not grounded, an unsound esteem) but it would be interesting to see how they perceive others in all this.
It would also be interesting to see the RANGE of obsessions though with a global warming OCD. For example, is this a person who rides a hemp camel and only eats solar powered tofu while spinning their own silk at a nudist colony? Or do they live a normal life and drive a hummer and live in Algores mansion but lose it when someone leaves an incandescent light on?
A. Either obsessions or compulsions:
Obsessions as defined by (1), (2), (3), and (4):
(1) recurrent and persistent thoughts, impulses, or images that are experienced, at some time during the disturbance, as intrusive and inappropriate and that cause marked anxiety or distress
(2) the thoughts, impulses, or images are not simply excessive worries about real-life problems
(3) the person attempts to ignore or suppress such thoughts, impulses, or images, or to neutralize them with some other thought or action
(4) the person recognizes that the obsessional thoughts, impulses, or images are a product of his or her own mind (not imposed from without as in thought insertion)
Compulsions as defined by (1) and (2):
(1) repetitive behaviors (e.g., hand washing, ordering, checking) or mental acts (e.g., praying, counting, repeating words silently) that the person feels driven to perform in response to an obsession, or according to rules that must be applied rigidly
(2) the behaviors or mental acts are aimed at preventing or reducing distress or preventing some dreaded event or situation; however, these behaviors or mental acts either are not connected in a realistic way with what they are designed to neutralize or prevent or are clearly excessive
B. At some point during the course of the disorder, the person has recognized that the obsessions or compulsions are excessive or unreasonable. Note: This does not apply to children.
C. The obsessions or compulsions cause marked distress, are time consuming (take more than 1 hour a day), or significantly interfere with the person's normal routine, occupational (or academic) functioning, or usual social activities or relationships.
D. If another Axis I disorder is present, the content of the obsessions or compulsions is not restricted to it (e.g., preoccupation with food in the presence of an Eating Disorders; hair pulling in the presence of Trichotillomania; concern with appearance in the presence of Body Dysmorphic Disorder; preoccupation with drugs in the presence of a Substance Use Disorder; preoccupation with having a serious illness in the presence of Hypochondriasis; preoccupation with sexual urges or fantasies in the presence of a Paraphilia; or guilty ruminations in the presence of Major Depressive Disorder).
E. The disturbance is not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse, a medication) or a general medical condition.
