The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Maybe This Explains My Problem

Posted on | January 10, 2012 | 25 Comments

“Anyone who follows psychiatry has noticed that the field is now in the midst of a debate that galvanizes its members every 10 to 20 years. At the center of the hubbub is psychiatry’s most sacred text: the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. . . .
“If you turn to page 898 of the current edition — past the glossary and the alphabetical index of diagnoses — you’ll find a list of 25 little-known illnesses. These are the ‘culture-bound syndromes’: mental illnesses that psychiatrists officially acknowledge occur only within a particular society. Take, for instance . . . pibloktoq, also known as ‘arctic hysteria,’ in which Greenlandic Inuit strip off all their clothes and run out into the subzero Arctic tundra.”
— Latif Nasser, Boston Globe, “Do some cultures have their own ways of going mad?”

HOLLIS, N.H.
When I left home the day after Christmas, leaving before dawn to fly off to Iowa, I was in a cheerful mood, and I remained optimistic even when I was forced to return the black Mustang to the rental agency.

But the past few days in New Hampshire, I’ve begun feeling increasingly glum, and uncharacteristic mood-swing that I at first attributed to being forced to take the Jon Huntsman campaign seriously. Later, I thought maybe I was bummed out by hanging around with those squishy RINOs from National Review during Saturday night’s debate.

It wasn’t until I picked up Sunday’s Boston Globe and saw that story about “arctic hysteria” that I realized I must be suffering from the same problem that affects the Greenlandic Inuit.

Perhaps this “culture-bound syndrome” known as pibloktoq has seized hold of me here in this gloomy northern climate. Perhaps there was an overlooked Inuit somewhere in my family tree whose hereditary influence is now causing me to suffer bizarre mood swings involving strange impulses.

All of this is to explain that I’m now about to hit the road to Manchester, where I’ll be covering the Primary Night excitement in New Hampshire. And if anyone sees me running around Manchester naked . . .

Well, that’s just the Inuit in me.

Category: Fear and Loathing in New Hampshire

Comments

25 Responses to “Maybe This Explains My Problem”

  1. Adjoran
    January 10th, 2012 @ 4:33 pm

    An alternative explanation for your funk is that Santorum is now giving $100 donors a free sweater vest.

    http://www.ricksantorum.com/

  2. Info
    January 10th, 2012 @ 4:48 pm

    There  may be just enough less light that much farther north to let plain ol’  Seasonal Affective Disorder kick in. 

  3. Zilla of the Resistance
    January 10th, 2012 @ 4:49 pm

    OMG can somebody please donate in my name? I want one! 

  4. Zilla of the Resistance
    January 10th, 2012 @ 4:50 pm

    Excellent point, Stacy is a Southern Gentleman accustomed to much more sunshine than the Yankees ever see this time of year! 

  5. Adjoran
    January 10th, 2012 @ 4:53 pm

    OT Breaking news  – Judge John Gibney, recently appointed to the federal bench by Obama, has issued an emergency stay on the Virginia ballot issue, citing irreparable harm to plaintiffs if ballots are mailed without their names.  He ruled there is still time to print and mail absentee ballots after a hearing.  Some take this as an indication he will rule for the plaintiff Perry and interveners Gingrich and Santorum, using the narrow issue of prohibiting out of state residents from collecting signatures.

    Typical for an Obama appointee, since none of the signatures were disallowed for being collected by a non-resident.

  6. Zilla of the Resistance
    January 10th, 2012 @ 4:57 pm

    Well then, Stacy, perhaps the time has come to get nekkid and do a little running around whilst in the Live Free or Die state. There are still plenty of open spaces without much people around where you can get away with that sort of thing there, just be careful of catching the roving eye of a bear or moose.
    Can you blog on a portable device while streaking in the great northern outdoors? Because that would be fun to read. take pictures.

    On a serious note, there’s a whole lot of occasional depression which plagues people of Irish and Scottish ancestry.   That’s why so many of my kin have drowned themselves at the bottom of a bottle. I wonder if there is something in the DSM chart for that? In college I had a professor tell me in Abnormal Psych class that alcoholism wasn’t so much a disease itself as it is a symptom of depression. Having come from a long line of melancholy drunken Irish people, that made sense to me. I don’t drink now that I am a mom, so I just get bitchy instead. I hope your dark mood does not last long and that you are feeling better soon and I implore everyone reading The Other McCain who is able to do so to please hit Stacy’s Freaking Tip Jar!

  7. newrouter
    January 10th, 2012 @ 5:23 pm

    “there is a strong likelihood that the Court will find the residency
    requirement for petition circulators to be unconstitutional. The
    authorities make clear that circulating petitions for candidates is a
    form of protected speech, and that the Commonwealth has a heavy burden
    to justify the restriction on speech by showing not only that the
    limitation achieves a valid state interest but also that the limitation
    is no broader in scope than necessary to achieve that purpose. As in all
    strict scrutiny cases, the state has a difficult task to demonstrate
    the propriety of its limitation on protected speech. For this reason,
    the Court believes that the plaintiffs have a substantial likelihood of
    succeeding on the merits, at least on the issue of the validity of the
    residency requirement.”

    http://blog.heritage.org/2012/01/10/breaking-more-gop-candidates-on-virginias-presidential-primary-ballot/

  8. Bob Belvedere
    January 10th, 2012 @ 5:23 pm

    …in this gloomy northern climate.

    ‘Gloomy’!  The trouble is, you’ve spent most of your time in the two counties of New Hampshire, Rockingham and Hillsborough, where all the Massholes have moved.  The rest of The Live Free Or Die State is anything but ‘gloomy’ this time of year.

    Get thee to The Lakes Region!  STAT!

    PS: If you do decide to run around in the all-together, please leave your hat on so we can tell it’s you on the newscasts.  Mrs. B. and I have been playing ‘Spot The Stacy’ since Iowa.

  9. Anonymous
    January 10th, 2012 @ 5:24 pm

    I thought Alabama winning would help.  

  10. Mike G.
    January 10th, 2012 @ 6:09 pm

    “And if anyone sees me running around Manchester naked . . .Well, that’s just the Inuit in me.”

    How’s the “eye bleach” concession up there in “gloomy” New Hampshire, eh?
     

  11. Anonymous
    January 10th, 2012 @ 6:23 pm

    How dare you mock my Innuit heritage! RAAAAACIST!

  12. Zilla of the Resistance
    January 10th, 2012 @ 6:29 pm

    If I ever manage to convince husband of the urgent need to escape from New York, I want to go live in North Conway.  I like that little town, and I love New Hampshire.

  13. Anonymous
    January 10th, 2012 @ 6:30 pm

    It’s Obamaphobia (aka progressivitis) and won’t resolve until sometime beyond November of 2012.

  14. NEW HAMPSHIRE PRIMARY HQ : The Other McCain
    January 10th, 2012 @ 6:59 pm

    […] beverages for me to be able to avoid profound depression — and perhaps an episode of “arctic hysteria” — when the votes come rolling in tonight.Mitt Romney, the sadistic RINO flipflopper […]

  15. dustbury.com » Snow angel alert
    January 10th, 2012 @ 7:03 pm

    […] Robert Stacy McCain has apparently chosen to wrap himself in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual o… [T]he past few days in New Hampshire, I’ve begun feeling increasingly glum, and uncharacteristic mood-swing that I at first attributed to being forced to take the Jon Huntsman campaign seriously. Later, I thought maybe I was bummed out by hanging around with those squishy RINOs from National Review during Saturday night’s debate. […]

  16. Mike G.
    January 10th, 2012 @ 7:54 pm

    I weren’t mocking yer Innuit heritage, but personally, if I decided to run around nekkid, I’d be sure to have some eye bleach available for any bystanders that felt the need for some. I’m just sayin’.

  17. Adjoran
    January 10th, 2012 @ 8:07 pm

    Which is exactly what I said, summarized instead of lazily cut and pasted.

  18. Quartermaster
    January 10th, 2012 @ 8:14 pm

    Actually it isn’t. He may have copied and pasted, but his post said a lot that yours did not. There is nothing wrong with copy and paste.

  19. Quartermaster
    January 10th, 2012 @ 8:15 pm

    RSM streaking the great northern woods? No amount of brain bleach will erase that picture.

  20. Quartermaster
    January 10th, 2012 @ 8:17 pm

    Now you know why the  real reason why the Yankees invaded the south. Depression will drive a man to war.

  21. richard mcenroe
    January 10th, 2012 @ 10:45 pm

    Who ordered the eyebleach?

    http://tinyurl.com/876vgww 

  22. Mike Rogers
    January 10th, 2012 @ 11:02 pm

    God speed to MD and SC, and sorry I wasn’t around for primary night fun. BTW, second hand reports of your Inuit funk have been, ahem, entertaining.

  23. Bob Belvedere
    January 11th, 2012 @ 9:43 am

    North Conway is quite lovely.  We like it, but hope to live in the Wolfeboro – Tuftenboro – Multonborough area.

  24. Bob Belvedere
    January 11th, 2012 @ 9:47 am

    Maybe.  Looking doubtful if Willard gets the nod.  But, hey, as Stacy has written: Mitt will make a lovely concession speech.

  25. Departing from Logan: Live Free or … : The Other McCain
    January 11th, 2012 @ 12:03 pm

    […] Romney Wins; Ron Paul Second; Huntsman Third; Gingrich, Santorum Fight for Fourth PlaceJan. 10: Maybe This Explains My ProblemJan. 10: Ron Paul and the ‘Not Romneys’Jan. 10: Rick Santorum Dodges an Issue?Jan. 9: Among the […]