Economic Masochism or Bulltardation

Apparently some neuroscientist has come up with a fancy new mental disorder. He calls it "Economic Masochism". I call it "Searching for the truth" or "Trying to figure out what the hell is really going on."

You decide.

A quick fix of course would be to ban all negative words and symbols. We could spin everything in a positive way… oh wait… that would be the highly contagious mental ailment commonly known as BULLTARDATION.

The last global pandemic of Bulltardation finally burned itself out in 2007 after 'going global' for the first time in history. Academics and medical professionals still aren't sure if those who suffered from the disease had permanent brain damage before they became infected, or if it was a consequence of being ravaged by the disease. Either way, survivors of the disease will never quite be the same.

Catching the economic anxiety bug: “Hymie Anisman, a neuroscientist at Carleton University in Ottawa, has diagnosed a new and highly contagious ailment for the recession era: economic masochism.

It was a pal who first exhibited the symptoms many people are experiencing these days -- although this man's case is extreme.

"I have a friend who sits all day going through various journals online and various blogs as if he wants to find more bad news. He's read it all 20 times, he's knows what's there. It's almost like he's addicted by it. But every once in a while he'll get some little glimmer that will reinforce some little glimmer of hope," Dr. Anisman, who studies the effects of stress, said in a recent interview.

Indeed, whether they are seeking it out or not, people seem to be digesting unhealthy doses of bad economic news these days, through hysterical headlines, their own bank statements, their investment brokers' grim excuses or water cooler commiseration sessions.

Even those who still have jobs and who aren't depending on their life savings to enter retirement aren't immune, Dr. Anisman said.

All the doom and gloom of the market mentality may be helping make the economic dire straits a self-fulfilling prophesy.

"This is one of the problems of course in the economy is that everybody follows the leader even if they don't understand," he said. "Look at yesterday's stock market. Not much has happened other than to reduce the interest rate, the prime rate ... but the stock market suddenly went up 300 points on some ephemeral hope. We have this herd instinct. If everyone is feeling crappy, we feel the same way."

Uncertainty and a lack of knowledge is what the market mindset feeds on.

People who experience loss -- of their job or all their money -- typically feel depressed, said Dr. Anisman, while those who aren't sure what's wrong or who are waiting for the other shoe to drop are afflicted by anxiety without knowing quite how to cope.

He likens it to the contagious fear of another terror attack in the aftermath of 9/11 -- but on a much larger scale and with the potential to affect many more people.”