Normopathy – De Groene Amsterdammer

“Behave a normal man.”

“Behave naturally on your own.”

I remember VVD stickers. ‘natural. to do.’ I see them hanging, in a suburb, against a backdrop of manicured gardens and trees. natural. What is normal? CDA has been championing undefined “rules and values” for as long as I can remember. Is that normal? Even the Social Democrats are saying today that we need a “new normal”. The Netherlands seems to be run by ordinary morons.

When I think of “natural” I see: boiled vegetables. rented car Top 2000.

Psychoanalyst Joyce McDougall first described the term “normopathy”. There is a tendency, at the expense of your original feelings and thoughts, to conform to the position of the majority. It is also: the fear of individuality and spontaneity. Normoths are followers. They want you to tell them what to do. They want leaders. They are boys and girls who hide behind bullies in the schoolyard, laugh with them and become complicit.

Normothes grows in an environment where rules are enforced from above. At school, in the army, in business. I see corporals boys and girls barking at each other during the upbringing. ‘Push, you stupid bitch! Lift up!’ The future elite of a very cool country. Physiotherapy comes at the expense of humanity. I see an allowance relationship: “Sorry madam, I am taking your children from you because rules are rules.” Rules are always more important to the average lab than exceptions. Rules give you something to stick to. Structure. Beautiful and natural.

After World War II, there was a widespread social aversion to naturopathic. It was painfully obvious that the maniacal value system could quickly rise to normal. And soon ‘rules are rules’: ‘order is order’. He who gently adheres to the prevailing rule, without thought submits to the tyranny of present morality. There is no guarantee that manners will be good for you. This has already led thinkers such as Erich Fromm to believe that the sick in a sick society are in good health and that ordinary people are upset. The normal state as a pathology of the majority.

When I think of “normal,” I see: the silent cabin. neighborhood ban. Fruit from Albert Heine. You know you are in Holland when the trees grow exactly the same distance from each other.

Children look at adults. They do what they say, and what adults say is the truth. At some point, healthy people realize that adults are prone to error and realize that they have to think for themselves. Normobats are only terrified of power. As adults, they look around for support and validation. What does the neighbor think? Did you ask the teacher that? Shouldn’t we report it somewhere? Normal morbidity is often confused with stupidity, but this is wrong: ordinary morbidities are often above average intelligent. It’s more like unconscious greed than lack of intelligence. The prevailing belief is fear, the fear of taking responsibility for your thoughts and feelings. Fear of looking inside.

Mark Root wrote in his open letter to all the Dutch: “Behave normally or stay away.” But where? In recent decades, I have seen an increase in naturopathic, as well as in psychology itself, where deviant behavior is diagnosed pathologically more quickly. Diagnostic manuals are full of “diagnostics” such as Caffeine Intoxication Disorder (shivers after too much coffee) and premenstrual depression disorder (Monthly grief). People who deviate from the norm quickly end up with a psychologist. I see this in practice: many patients are overburdened by the expectations of normal society. We must work hard, we must have a partner, we must be happy, because this is Normal† Someone should go to the UWV, where the coroner tells her, “Don’t you just want to be normal and get back to work?”

She said “no”. ‘I do not want it.’