Bullied by Diversity

For almost a month now I've not been posting because I've been actively censoring myself. Now I'm getting restless, the end of inhibition is at hand. I am tired of being bullied by "diversity."

I'm a psychologist who practices from what is called a "bio-psycho-social" perspective. That means exactly what it says, namely, when I think about anything psychological, be it a patient who has a problem, a construct I'm studying (for example survivor guilt), a review of some type of psychopathology, I first think "bio." What does biology have to do with this problem/person/disease entity? Biological factors are operating in everything, and I have to have them in mind, in order to move on to other levels of organization. If one of my clients tells me she's gotten depressed recently, I have to consider physical illness such as a thyroid malfunctioning, and I think about whether or not her depression might lift more quickly and effectively if she started a regime of anti-depressants, while also being engaged in a cognitive behavioral treatment of depression, in addition to some general supportive therapy. This then, is the "biological" part of the picture. It more elaborate than that, if someone has many depressed people in the family, they are likely to inherit genes that are vulnerable to depression.

Somewhere in the equation, as important as the biology of her mood state, I question her social situation and standing in her community. If someone is being put down by a boss, a close friend or family member, their likely to experience that awful sensation "my heart crashed." Then, the person gets depressed and forgets when and under what circumstances, the depression started. By tracing back their mood to the precipitating event, well its helpful. Often the dark mood passes. We need one another for limbic regulation --meaning in order to have well regulated comfortable state of being, we need other people being nice to us. If a person has been treated badly for much of his or her life, she might be used to being dysregulated, and might do little or nothing to surround herself with more supportive "regulating" people. She might engage in "self-sabotaging
behavior. If someone feels guilty about being better off than siblings or parents, she might feel she doesn't deserve to be happy, and if she is happy she will be making a loved one feel inadequate, simply by comparison. While there is of course a biological component to this, it falls more into the realm of what I call "psychological."

Finally, if someone is being put down because of group membership, namely gender, class, race, ethnicity, this too leads to a state of dysregulation, and I consider this to be the "social" component to the problem. Or should I say more accurately, the "socio-economic-political.' Here is where we can authentically take into account what people are calling diversity. Diversity may be a central issue, but no more so than is the bio or psycho component to a person's problems or sense of well being.

The diversity Nazis are being Nazis, rather like what happened in Germany. Only they are not promoting the "arian" race, but "minority" races, or really, some minority races. They are suggesting that the issue of diversity should be the most important issue over all other factors. Everyone is afraid to offer a different opinion, at risk of being called a racist or sexist. Everywhere I turn, there are people along with big organizations with a great deal of clout, pushing diversity, giving credence to a frightening trend in our culture. I am seeing people who deserve to be treated with respect, being ground down and harmed by the diversity police. Is the issue really about diversity, or is diversity becoming a bullying tactic, used in ugly political fights? Everyone is afraid of the diversity police, people are being silenced. Reverse racism is everywhere. The problem of male supremacy goes unmentioned. Diversity is not really about diversity, its about some kind of "payback" and therefore, its about oppressing yet another group of people.