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10 Real-Like Superhero Counterparts

Copyright 2016 by Gary L. Pullman

Lately, superheroes have adopted additional alter egos, as admirers don their masks and costumes.

Although people may identify themselves as well-known superheroes to generate publicity for themselves or for other purposes, some men and women do seem both to resemble and to have, to a limited extent, some of the same abilities or technological capabilities as the characters after whom they name themselves.

Often, they have enhanced their natural abilities through intense, extended exercise and practice or by means of thorough research and development. Their training grounds may be gyms or streets, and their laboratories may be their garages, but these would-be superheroes often succeed in maximizing their own natural powers or in designing devices similar to those of the superheroes who use them. Others simply have their courage and their passion to help those in trouble or who are victims.

These are 10 real-life superhero counterparts.

10 Batman: Chris Banner

Part athlete, part inventor, and part detective, multimillionaire BruceWayne is a Renaissance comic book superhero whose powers come from within. After witnessing a mugger's murder of his parents, Wayne became Batman, dedicating his life to fighting crime. 

One of the Caped Crusader's biggest fans, Chris Banner, admits he's a bit batty. Obsessed, some might say. He's absolutely devoted to all things Batman. “Everything I have is a bat,” he confesses. “All my tractors have bats; my trucks, bats. Socks, underwear, you name it. I’m bat.” He even wears a Batman costume while he “patrols” Gotham City (actually, his hometown, Valley Center, north of San Diego, California). His Batmobile is a refurbished, 6.7-meter (22-foot) fiberglass 1947 Ford Galaxy (another report says it's a 1970 model), complete with a smoke generator. 

His “favorite TV show,” as a boy, he says, was Batman (1966-1968). Now, at age 49, Banner shows up at parties and charity events, driving his “Batmobile” and dressed in one of his four authentic-looking Batman costumes. The money he makes from paid appearances as Batman goes toward the purchase of new costumes. His appearances at charity events are always free. In 2014, he made a terminally ill third-grader's dream come true. The boy had expressed his heartfelt desire, through the Make-a-Wish Foundation, to ride in Batman's Batmobile. Banner made the youngster's dream a reality, driving him in the Batmobile while the boy operated the smoke generator and flipped lighted switches on the car's dashboard.

9 Captain America: Steve Voglezon

A patriot and a World War II soldier, Steve Rogers was injected with an experimental serum which enhanced his natural abilities. Embedded in ice, he was “left for dead,” only to awaken “years later” to resume his “never-ending battle for liberty.”

U. S. Army Captain Steve Voglezon doesn't dress as Captain America, except for a T-shirt emblazoned with an image of the iconic superhero. There's no doubt that his military training and his heart help him to emulate the costumed crime fighter. Recently, the captain happened upon a car crash in North Carolina. The driver and a passenger of one of the cars were pinned inside burning wreckage. Displaying his heroic nature, Voglezon didn't hesitate to assist. After “witness John Spurrell helped one of the accident victims get clear of the scene,” he videotaped Voglezon as he dragged one person a safe distance from the fiery car and then returned for the other. This time, he had to “force his way” into the vehicle to rescue the victim. “We're all called to do what we have to do,” he said. 

8 The Flash: Jamie McDonald

Like other superheroes, Barry Allen, the original Flash, has astonishing powers. He's especially quick on his feet. Nicknamed “The Fastest Man Alive,” The Flash can run at speeds approaching that of light (299,338 kilometers, or 186,000 miles, per second). He can also run up the sides of buildings, “across oceans,” and even “around the world.” His powers enable him to fight crime and prevent others from suffering the same fate as his mother, who was killed by a murderer who was never brought to justice.

British adventurer Jamie McDonald, age 27, who sometimes wears an outfit similar to The Flash's costume, doesn't run anywhere nearly as fast as The Flash, but his stamina certainly approaches that of the comic book superhero. He ran 8,047 kilometers (5,000 miles) across Canada “without a support team.” His marathon run took 12 months and raised ₤150,000 ($194,910) for charity. Voters on Facebook and Twitter chose his costume for him. His run wasn't uneventful. He suffers from tendinitis. He “permanently injured his foot.” He encountered temperatures of -40 degrees Centigrade (-40 degrees Fahrenheit). However, Jamie (“Flash”) McDonald has overcome worse: He “suffered from a debilitating immune deficiency and potentially fatal spinal condition syringomyelia as a child, spent the first nine years of his life in and out of children's hospitals and ran to raise funds for SickKids Foundation, Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity and the Pied Piper Appeal.” That's quite a superhero.

7 Green Arrow or Hawkeye: Lars Andersen

Green Arrow and Hawkeye are both superb archers who use their prowess with bows and arrows to fight crime.

Once a “spoiled billionaire” who was “completely self-absorbed,” Oliver Queen became a different person after he was left to die on an “desolate remote island.” Surviving by the skills he developed with a bow and arrow, he later took up the cause of justice, assuming the identity of Green Arrow.

Orphaned at a young age, Clint Barton ran away with his brother Bernard, and the boys joined The Carson Carnival of Traveling Wonders. When Clint caught his mentor, The Swordsman, counting stolen money, the robber “left Clint for dead after his protege fell from the high wire.” Clint survived, however, left the carnival, and ultimately joined the superhero team known as The Avengers.

If ever Green Arrow or Hawkeye needs someone to fill in for him, Lars Andersen would probably be his go-to guy. A master of “ancient archery practices” and a superb stuntman, he can do things only superheroes can, such as catching an arrow in mid-flight or firing multiple arrows at the same time. “His skill set is tremendous,” says Byron Ferguson, owner of the Bare Bow Archery School and star archer on the History Channel's show, Extreme Marksmen. Able to shoot three arrows in succession within .6 seconds, Andersen holds the world's record for speed. He shoots under one knee, shoots while kicking himself off a wall, shoots arrows as rapidly as if he were fanning a six-gun, shoots on his knees, shoots over barriers, shoots targets while spinning, hits beverage can pull-tabs in mid-air, shoots with his hand and foot, shoots targets on the fly, shoots left-handed or right-handed, and performs many other amazing archery feats. He always hits his target, dead center, whether the target is a traditional circle with a bull's eye or human silhouettes. 

6 Hulk: Sajad Gharibi

Subjected to gamma radiation while rescuing a teenager during an explosion that occurred during the testing of a new bomb he'd “designed for the U. S. Defense Department,” Dr. Robert Bruce Banner found that, when stressed, he transforms into the Hulk, a huge, green-skinned, muscle-bound “engine of destruction.” Once hunted by General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, the Hulk was pardoned by the president and later joined the superhero team known as The Avengers.

A 24-year-old Iranian weightlifter, Saja Gharibi weighs in at 350 pounds, and it's all muscle. He's known as the “Persian Hulk,” because his physique closely resembles that of the superhero Hulk, and Gharibi sometimes paints his skin green so he looks even more like the comic book character. He may not be more powerful than a locomotive (he's not Superman, after all), but Gharibi can lift more than his own weight: an impressive 386 pounds, in fact. Like the Hulk, Gharibi aspires to become a fighter. He hopes to become the next World Wrestling Entertainment "superstar."

5 Magneto: Nikolai Kryaglyachenko

After seeing his family killed by the Nazis, Max Eisenhardt married a Gypsy woman named Magda, and they had a daughter, Anya. “When his family were trapped in a burning house,” Eisenhardt, a mutant, discovered his magnetic powers, which allow him to control metal, unleashing them on the hostile crowd of normal humans who interfered with him. Fearing another holocaust, he became a staunch opponent of normal humans, forming a team, The Brotherhood of Mutants, whose nemeses were another group of mutants, the X-Men, led by Magneto's one-time friend, Professor Charles Xavier.

Although he's certainly not villainous like the X-Men's mutant arch-enemy Magneto, Nikolai Kryaglyachenko, age 12, definitely has a magnetic personality. In fact, he's pretty much a human magnet. How he came by his powers is worthy of a comic book story line. After shocking himself when he leaned against a lamppost on his way home from school, Kryaglyachenko found metal objects stuck to him. At home, other metal objects, including coins, a dropped spoon, and a nearby glass, stuck to him. While he can't command magnetism like Magneto, he's young yet. It's good he doesn't share the evil mutant's ambitions to conquer the world.

4 Mr. Fantastic: Jorge Ivan Latorre Robles

During “a rushed test flight of an experimental spacecraft,” the crew on board, Reed Richards, Ben Grimm, Sue Storm, and her brother Johnny, were bombarded with cosmic radiation, which transformed them into The Fantastic Four. The members each developed super powers. Richards is able to stretch his body to incredible lengths and to contort it into amazing configurations. Bullets and other objects are engulfed in, or bounce harmlessly off, his elastic body.

JorgeIvan Latorre Robles' resume might list some abilities similar to those of The Fantastic Four's leader, Mr. Fantastic. Robles can stretch his skin, dislocate his joints, and pop his eyes. He has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a condition which makes his skin loose and exposes him to injury and sun damage, but it also allows him to perform as La Chicle the Clown, a role that earned him a place in the Ripley's Believe It or Not book Eye-Popping Oddities.

3 Spider-Man: Patrick Priebe

Bitten by a radioactive spider during a field trip, Peter Parker acquired the arachnid's abilities. He is able to climb walls, cling to ceilings, and leap great distances. He has a sixth sense he calls his “spider sense” that alerts him to unseen dangers. He also possesses superhuman strength. A genius, he devised a “web-shooter” that fired strong, gossamer strands of webbing that stuck to virtually anything but would disintegrate an hour or so later. He'd seen his Uncle Ben killed by a robber, and he'd vowed to do all he could to prevent additional innocents' deaths at criminal hands. He fashioned a distinctive costume, and Spider-Man was born.

Like most superheroes, Spider-Man has his own way of getting about town. His alter ego, Peter Parker, is quite an inventor, and he put his skills to work to create a web-slinging device he wears on his forearms, under his costume. The press of a button causes a super-sticky web to streak from the nozzle of his device, allowing him to ensnare villains or use strands of the webbing to swing from one building to the next.

Inventor Patrick Priebe has created a similar “web-shooter.” His “homemade” electromagnetic device shoots “fishing line out of a wrist-mounted coil,” retracting it through the same gadget. The line is attached to a tiny “brass-tipped” harpoon, which embeds itself in Priebe's target. To better direct his aim, Priebe can project a laser beam onto his target before pressing the button that activates his web-shooter, something that never occurred to Parker or something that, perhaps, Spider-Man, with his heightened senses, doesn't need. 

2 Thor: Allen Pan

One of the Norse gods, Thor grew arrogant because of his great strength. When he “broke a truce” with the gods' enemies, the Frost Giants, almost starting a war, his father Odin, “stripped him of his hammer, his powers and memories” and banished him to Earth as a mortal, “crippled medical student Don Blake.” Blake became an accomplished and compassionate surgeon. Visiting Norway, Blake fled into a cave to escape invading aliens and found a cane. When he “struck the cane against a boulder, he transformed into Thor, while the cane became Mjolnir,” the god's hammer, and he joined a group of superheroes, The Avengers.

No one can lift the mighty Mjolnir but Thor himself. The same can be said for engineer Allen Pan's hammer. He created a version of the comic book superhero's hammer that, once it's set on metal, only Pan can lift. The secret's in the hammer's handle, which contains a “touch sensor . . . connected to a solid state relay.” Essentially “a switch that turns on the electromagnets in the hammer's head whenever anyone touches the handle,” the touch sensor-relay turns off the electromagnets only when a “fingerprint sensor embedded into the handle” allows the “hammer's programming” to recognize Pan and then turn off the electromagnets, allowing him to lift the hammer.

1 Wolverine: Colin Furze

JamesHowlett is a mutant and a member of The X-Men. He has unbreakable adamantine claws which, at will, he can extend and retract from his hands, between the knuckles. After leading a group of superheroes known as Alpha Flight to rescue a team of mutants known as The X-Men from their captor, “an island-being known as Krakoa,” Howlett, now calling himself, Logan, decided to join them.

Colin Furze has invented a pair of the hand-claws. Unlike Wolverine'sclaws, though, Furze's aren't made of adamantine, nor do they extend and retract into his own hands. Furze's versions are .30-meter (12-inch) long and stainless steel. Connected by wires to a backpack containing the electric motor that powers them, each set of claws is mounted to a sled-like apparatus worn on either forearm. By pressing a button, Furze causes the claws to shoot forward; another press of the button makes them retract. Running forward, with his arms stretched out before him, claws extended, Furze looks as impressive as Wolverine. Although Furze's claws may not cut through steel, the way Wolverine's do, they make short work of cardboard and watermelons and definitely could be hazardous to one's health.

10 Surprising Government-Built Towns

Copyright 2016 by Gary L. Pullman

With few exceptions, American cities tended to establish themselves slowly, over many years. Originally, they often clustered around trading posts, forts, ferry crossings, trail heads, crossroads, or mines. As business boomed, their populations swelled, and the settlements expanded. Education and culture became increasingly important, and schools, theaters, and other amenities appeared.

However, this is not the case with a small group of settlements across the globe. These towns were built by the United States, Mexico, China, Australia, and ancient Egypt. Were they centers for top-secret experiments or research? Homes to dissidents or outlaws? Evacuation camps for use in time of war or in the event of a catastrophic emergency?

The answers to these questions are as surprising as the existence of the government-built towns themselves.

10 Oak Ridge, Tennessee: Built to Build the Bomb

OakRidge, Tennessee, was built under a cloud of secrecy. Its purpose: to assist in the The Manhattan Project's creation of the nation's first atomic bomb. In 1942, the Army Corps of Engineers purchased 60,000 acres of farm land and constructed the town, which was intended to be only “temporary.” Oak Ridge was home to “two uranium-enrichment plants,” a “liquid thermal diffusion plant,” and a “pilot plutonium production reactor.”

 

Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 1942

Pre-fab housing, trailers, and dorms were envisioned as sufficient to house the 13,000 personnel the town would employ, but, within a year, the number of employees expanded by several thousand. Due to a lack of funds, the town was made to conform to the surrounding terrain as much as possible, and “kitchens faced the street to minimize the length of plumbing and utility lines.” Since letters of the alphabet designated the few types of housing designs, these homes were known as “alphabet houses.” 

Although the Pentagon needed the bomb by 1945, a number of technical setbacks threatened an already-tight schedule: leaking, misaligned vacuum tanks; failed welds; malfunctioning circuits; shorted magnet coils; and contaminated oil. However, these problems were solved, and The Manhattan Project was a stupendous success.

9 Mercury, Nevada: Built to Test the Bomb

Located five miles east of Interstate Highway 95 and 65 miles north of Las Vegas, Nevada, Mercury is off-limits to the public. With good reason, the military guards the town's only access: Mercury is located on the Nevada Test Site, or the Nevada National Security Site, as it is now called.

Mercury, Nevada

It was here, in 1951, that the nation's first atomic tests were conducted. To carry out these tests, the federal government needed hundreds of personnel and a host of facilities to support them. As a result, at a cost of $6.7 million, the Atomic Energy Commission built the town and its “temporary quarters, utilities, warehouses, mess halls, and administrative offices.”

Mercury became a year-round test site during the 1960s, when the PlowshareProgram and the Nuclear Rocket Development Station were added to the site. After an additional $15 million was spent in 1962 to expand construction, 10,000 employees resided in Mercury. Communications, health, medical, engineering, maintenance, repair, storage, dining, leisure, and other facilities were added to accommodate the additional residents, including an Olympic-size swimming pool, a chapel, a bowling alley, a laundry, a library, a barber shop, a service station, a bus service, a check-cashing service, and a Western Union office. Residents also enjoyed a variety of sports, including archery.

Today, however, many of these facilities no longer exist or serve other uses. Changes in Mercury's mission have reduced the number of required employees and, therefore, the need for extended support.

8 Boulder City, Nevada: Built to Build a Dam

In 1930, U. S. Bureau of Reclamation surveyors and engineers descended on the desert, 33 miles south of Las Vegas, Nevada, setting up temporary survey camps. These camps attracted the attention of down-and-out men who, hoping to secure work, swooped down on the camps, with no more than the clothing on their backs and the hope of attaining employment. Squatter camps sprang up overnight. 

Boulder City, Nevada, 1930

To house and keep watch on its workers, who had been hired to build the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River, the Bureau decided to build a town for them. Drinking, gambling, prostitution, and other vices were as near away as Sin City, after all, and it was important to the government to protect and control its employees, since sober workers were not only safe, but also productive. Architect Saco Rink DeBoer was hired to design the town, which was called Boulder City. As a result of its heritage, to this day, Boulder City prohibits gambling.

7 Army's Mock City: Built for Wargaming

A school. A mosque. A football stadium. An embassy. A bank. A helicopter pad. A subway station. Bridges. These are possible targets in the mock town built in 2004 by the United States Army on 300 acres of Virginia soil for use in urban warfare training. Care was taken to be as realistic as possible, down to the least details.

It took two years to build the town and six years to develop it. Now, the Army's Asymmetric Warfare Group uses it to train soldiers to fight in an urban environment, which poses different challenges than those encountered in natural terrain.

Army's Mock City

Among other things, the mock town will allow soldiers to learn how to fight “in a subterranean environment” and to “dismount a Humvee to avoid an IED [improvised explosive device] strike.”

6 Woomera Village: Built to Test Weapons

Named after an aboriginal spear-throwing device, Woomera Village, established in 1947, provides housing for Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) personnel who perform secret work for the government, testing weapons systems and unmanned aerial systems and launching rockets. Until 2003, Woomera was also a detention center for refugees, who are now held at the Baxter Detention Centre, near Port Augusta.

 Woomera Range Complex

Part of the Woomera Range Complex, which is about the size of England, Woomera Village is located in the Australian outback in south-central Australia. Its original mission was to launch experimental British rockets during the Cold War. 

The town's Heritage and Visitor Information Centre features videos and exhibitions about the area's history; its Missile Park displays rockets, aircraft, and other weapons; and Baker Observatory allows visitors to stargaze through a computer-controlled telescope.

5 The Sustainable City of Santiago el Pinar, Chiapas, Mexico: Built to Better Lives

In Mexico, the state of Chiapas constructed over 100 homes so impoverished children could live better lives. The Sustainable Cityof Santiago el Pinar was the first of four such “model towns” intended to be built. It provided a factory as a workplace and “modern conveniences, better schools,” and health care. Mexico's president, Felipe Calderon, dedicated the town when it opened on March 29, 2011.

The Sustainable City of Santiago el Pinar

Unfortunately, the town did not survive beyond the third anniversary of its construction. Family and culture were more important to the children and their families, some contend, than the opportunities the new town offered. Others suggest that the gas needed for the houses' stoves was too expensive and that the houses themselves were too small.

Since the city took possession of the town from the state, the two have disagreed about who is responsible for paying the bills, causing some residents to lose electricity or other utilities. Worse yet, an architect who has studied the town contends that the houses may notsurvive more than 20 years at most, due to the region's high humidity and the houses' construction. However, the Mexican government has not given up on its dream to better the lives of its poor citizens. All that is needed, officials say, is a more diversified economy than a factory could provide, community involvement, and a better vision for the future.

4 Tianducheng, China: Built for the Future

There's a replica of the Eiffel Tower at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel and Casino, but who knew there is also a replica of this celebrated structure in China? The original landmark, on the Champ de Mars, has also inspired a 354-foot-tall copy in Tianducheng, in China's Zhejiang Province. There are also copies of the Arc de Triomphe, European villas, and the fountains in the Palace of Versailles' fabulous gardens. Once the third phase of construction is finished, “a country club, a school, and a hospital” will be added.

Tianducheng, China

The 19-square-mile town can house as many as 100,000 residents, but, five years after its initial construction, it had a population of only 2,000. 

China has only begun to Westernize by building towns featuring European landmarks and artifacts. Thames Town includes Georgian and Victorian homes, complete with terraces, and Italian and German towns are being built as well. East may be east, and west may be west, but it seems, in China's newest towns, at least, the twain surely have met.

3 Chinese-built Towns in Angola: Built to House the Homeless

In addition to Tianducheng, Thames Town, and other settlements, China is also building several towns in Angola in order to house the African nation's homeless. The expansion of both population and urbanization have created a problem for Angola's long-neglected cities. Homes are in short supply. To solve this problem, Angola and China have formed a partnership to build new towns surrounding established communities.

Nova Cidade de Kilamba

Using funds obtained from oil-backed loans, Chinese financial institutions have already financed the construction of Nova Cidade de Kilamba (Kilamba's New City), 30 miles from Angola's capital, Luanda, and many others continue to be built. A few challenges have been encountered. Angolans are not necessarily sold on living vertically, in the government-built towns' high-rise buildings; housing costs were set too high to be affordable to many Angolans; sales procedures are complex; and infrastructure and basic public services are in short supply. 

If such difficulties can be overcome and the program is successful, it may be extended to other areas of Africa in which homes are unavailable to the many people who need places to live. 

2 Mock City: Built to Test Self-Driving Cars

A state, rather than a federal government, is building the 32-acre mock city near Ann Harbor, Michigan. Financed by Michigan State University, the local government, and automobile manufacturers, the model town, as yet nameless, is being built to test “connected” (“network-linked”) self-driving cars.

As the “robocars” drive along roadways, they will encounter everything a driver typically reacts to while motoring through an urban environment: traffic signs and lights, traffic circles, lane merges, road construction, and pedestrians—well, robopedestrians, anyway. The cars will also encounter “traffic jams and potential collisions,” thanks to computer programs designed to “code in dangerous situations.” The city's purpose? To allow engineers the chance to solve problems before the self-driven automobiles hit actual roads and highways.

In addition to automakers, “telecommunications, freight companies, big data management, traffic control, suppliers, insurance, [and] smart parking” businesses are likely to have a stake in the outcome of the research. The self-driven cars may also have environmental and health and safety benefits, “cutting down on traffic, pollution, and collisions,” which is why state and local governments are willing to pony up taxpayers' dollars to help fund the experiment. 

1 Akhenaten. Egypt: Built as an Ancient Nation's Capital (Complete with an “HOA”)

Most ancient cities developed more by happenstance than by design, but the ancient Egyptian town named for the pharaoh who built it, Akhenaten, was unusual in being a planned community. In planning what would become the nation's capital city, its designers intentionally included public spaces, complete with trees and gardens, with residential areas running northeast and southwest of the central government buildings. Although much of Akhenaten was without walls, the temples, the palace—itself a miniature village—and the administrative offices were protected by such structures. Broad avenues, “suitable for processions,” connected the temple at the town's center with the rest of the community, and the temple's walls could provide protection to royals and city residents alike in the event of an attack.

Layout of ancient Akhenaten, Egypt

Akhenaten's residents were governed by a homeowners' association of sorts: they were not free to do as they pleased with their own property; rather, they had to take into consideration the “rights and wishes” of their neighbors, compromising with them when necessary, as the “Contract between Taheb, daughter of Padineferhotep, and Pamerakh, son of Djehutiirdi” makes clear. After stipulating what would be done in constructing a house and how it would affect the neighbor, one builder states, “If I do not act according to what has been said above, then I shall pay you 5 pieces of silver . . . If you hinder my building, then I will act according to what has been said above . . . .”

Ancient Egypt gave the world many fine traditions; unfortunately, for some, the HOA may not be one of them. (Thanks, Akhenaten!)

10 Types of Mental Illness or Disorders That No Longer Exist

Copyright 2016 by Gary L. Pullman

For individuals outside the mental health profession, it may be surprising that types of mental illness and disorders are nominated, approved or rejected, and may later be redefined or eliminated altogether from the profession's “Bible,” the Diagnostic andStatistical Manual (DSM).

In 1951, DSM-I was established to standardize the classification systems regarding mental illness and the terms used concerning it. After review and acceptance by 10 percent of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) membership, the 145-page DSM-I listed 106 psychological conditions, classified into “neurotic, psychotic, and character disorders” and “six somatization disorders.”

The method of deciding which attitudes, behaviors, and values should be viewed as a mental illness or disorder has been sharply criticized by many. Some resent changes that seem to be due to political pressure or social activism. Others are concerned about losses of funding for treatment. Still others, including some psychiatrists, criticize the revisions because they are skeptical that mental illness exists at all.

Be that as it may, here is a list of 10 types of mental illness or disorders that no longer exist. We can make up our own minds as to whether they ever existed to begin with.

10 Combat Exhaustion Disorder

DSM-I replaced the combat exhaustion disorder with a milder malady, gross stress reaction, a decision which caused controversy. Critics charged that the change detracted from “identifying the negative reactions that many individuals had after experiencing combat.” The Army, in particular, was concerned about the elimination of combat exhaustion disorder because of the experiences soldiers had had in World War II, which had only recently ended. Subsequent editions of the DSM continued to add and delete types of mental illness and disorders based on majority votes by APA members.

9 Homosexuality

Originally, DSM-II, published in 1968, listed “sexual deviations” (homosexuality, fetishism, pedophilia, transvestism, exhibitionism, voyeurism, sadism, and masochism). As early as 1970, however, a social movement was underway, protesting the designation of homosexuality as a mental illness, and some psychiatrists were uncomfortable with the listing as well. A committee recommended homosexuality be dropped from DSM-II, and, in 1974, the APA removed it from the DSM-II's seventh printing. Impassioned laypersons had taught the professionals the error of their ways.

8 Manic Depression

Published in 1980, DSM-III did away with manic depression, replacing it with bipolar disorder. Although the latter term may be more specific and “more of a clinical term,” the motive for doing away with manic depression in favor of bipolar disorder also appears to have involved sociological objectives. “Manic” and “mania” are “stigmatized,” it's claimed, and “'depression' is used flippantly by the general public.” “Manic depressive” is also an “emotionally loaded” term, some contend, and “excludes the physical and/or cognitive symptoms . . . present” in the disorder.

7 Hysteria

The notion of hysteria originated in ancient Egypt. Specifically a female complaint, it was believed to be caused by “spontaneous uterus movement.” The ancient Greeks had a different idea as to the cause of the malady. Hysteria, they thought, was a type of “madness” only women suffered. Its was caused by the poisoning of their uteri “by venomous humors,” which were caused, in turn, by “a lack of orgasms” and consequent “uterine melancholy.” Bizarre notions about the uterus as a cause of wild mood shifts persisted throughout the Middle Ages, into modern times. In fact, until DSM-III was published, hysteria was listed alongside the APA's other assortments of mental illness and disorders. Like the uterus of old, the symptoms of what was once known as hysteria have moved. They are now listed as a “manifestation of dissociative disorders.”

6 Gender Identity Disorder

Caitlyn (formerly Bruce) Jenner

Gender identity disorder is a victim of the 2013 publication of DSM-5 (the APA has decided to use Arabic instead of Roman numerals to distinguish editions). a temporary mental state rather than an all-encompassing disorder.” Second, it prevents “a right-winger” from claiming “all trans people are mentally ill.” In other words, the change isn't motivated entirely by science; it's also inspired by social and political purposes.

5 Paraphilias

DSM-5 states paraphilias may or may not be mental disorders. (A paraphilia is an atypical, extreme sexual desire, the gratification of which depends on fantasy and may be directed at inanimate objects.) To be diagnosed as such, a paraphilia must meet two criteria. It must be of a particular “qualitative nature,” and it must cause “negative consequences,” such as harm or risk to others. Otherwise, it's just harmless fun. The same is true, now, of the other paraphilias, except pedophilia, all of which were once considered mental disorders. The condition no longer determines whether a person has a mental disorder. What determines the diagnosis is the person's feelings about his or her behavior or the reaction of the other party involved in the situation.

4 Asperger's Syndrome

DSM-5 also retired Asperger's syndrome as a distinct disorder. Instead, it's now subsumed under the “umbrella term” pervasive development disorders (aka autism spectrum disorders).

Symptoms that used to indicate Asperger's syndrome now signify the high-end of the autism “spectrum.” Such change is more than merely semantic, because it can “affect the diagnosis and treatment of millions of children and adults worldwide, as well as medical insurance and special education services.” There are also political consequences regarding the revision, one of which is that British hacker Gary McKinnon's Asperger's syndrome diagnosis “contributed to a government decision not to extradite him from Britain to the US on cybercrime charges.” This need not be a consideration in future criminal cases.

3 Mental Retardation

Mentalretardation as a developmental disorder disappeared with the publication of DSM-5 so the manual's terminology matches that of the World Health Organization, “other professional disciplines and organizations,” and U. S. laws. In place of mental retardation, the term intellectual disability is being used. Since mental retardation no longer exists, there's no need to bother with I. Q. test scores as one of the “diagnostic criteria” for identifying the condition, although DSM-5 continues to mention them in its “text description of intellectual disability” and the scores should be considered, along with other factors, in assessing an individual's intelligence. For the purposes of DSM-5, people can be considered intellectually disabled if they score below 70 on an I. Q. test.

2 Hypochondriasis, Pain Disorder, and Undifferentiated Somatoform Disorder

Fictional character Dot Cotton suffers from hypochondriasis

There's good news for those who once struggled with the hypochondriasis (formerly known as hypochondria), pain disorder, or undifferentiated somatoform disorder. These somatization disorders are no more. (“Somatization” refers to multiple, recurring medical symptoms without a discernible organic cause.) DSM-5 has eliminated them. As a result, “many, but not all, of the individuals diagnosed with one of these disorders could now be diagnosed with [somatic symptom disorder] (SSD).” The deletion of hypochondriasis, pain disorder, or undifferentiated somatoform disorder “removes the mind-body separation implied in DSM-IV,” which was published in 1994.

1 Mental Illness and Disorders?

Dr. Thomas Szasz

As psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Szasz predicted in The Myth of Mental Illness, mental illness and mental disorders themselves may disappear before long. His contention is that so-called mental illness is actually behavior caused by organic disease or associated with existential problems.

It appears the U. S. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) also views so-called mental illness differently than the APA. The organization “has launched an effort to transform psychiatry into what its director, Thomas Insel, calls clinical neuroscience,” an approach that “will focus on observable ways that brain circuitry affects the functional aspects of mental illness—symptoms, such as anger or anxiety or disordered thinking, that figure in our current diagnoses.” Although uncertain whether clinical neuroscience would cause “new definitions of illnesses,” the NIMH “seems poised to abandon the reigning

DSM approach” and to “transform diagnosis by 2020 . . . rather than modifying the current paradigm.” Such a revolution could lead to the disappearance of mental illness and mental disorders themselves.