Psychiatrists find new disorder in people who feel chronic bitterness
Post-traumatic embitterment disorder, modeled after post-traumatic stress disorder, occurs after someone feels so wronged that they are unable to function, dedicating their energy to stewing in feelings of revenge, anger and hopelessness. It is a long-lasting response to a traumatic experience, a problem that has become common and destructive enough for psychiatrists to call for it to be labeled as a mental illness at a meeting of the American Psychological Association last week. The disorder usually appears in regular people who work hard toward a goal they then see as being unjustly swept from under them. A feeling of being victimized pervades and they are left unable to move on. The condition is estimated to affect one to two per cent of the population, and could possibly be connected to cases where normal people snap and commit murder-suicides.